How to identify third party scripts on your website

Modified on Sat, 25 Jul at 10:30 AM

As more and more privacy laws pass, it is essential that website owners know what third party technologies they are loading on their website.

In other words, the era of saying 'I have no idea what's loading on my website' is not a good mindset to have, nor a good privacy practice!

In this article, we share multiple ways you can help determine what third party technologies are being used on your website

Watch this video in full screen on Vimeo here.

The video above covers three ways to do this (and is summarized below):

1. RECOMMENDED (and semi-advanced) - Inspect your code - Using a Chrome browser, visit your website in a fresh incognito window. Right click (anywhere on the page), click "Inspect", then go to the Network tab. Now refresh the page.

- You will see a bunch of 'network requests' come in under the Name column. Click the first Network Request at the top, and on the right side you will see the 'referrer URL'.

- Please look for 'referrer URLs'. Create a list of them. This will help you identify a comprehensive list of third party URLs that are called in when loading your website, and will help you work towards identifying third party scripts on your website.

- In addition to the Networks tab, you can also use the Application -> Cookies area of your inspecting tool. This can often provide you with clues and insights into what third party trackers are loading on your website. Note: not all cookies are non-essential; there are many cookies needed for security purposes and for other essential reasons. However you may find cookies that are not essential for your website, which you can then itemize to ensure you get proper consent to ensure they only load after a user accepts.

2. Use a (free) browser extension - browser extensions such as the Chrome Wappalyzer extension will quickly help you identify popular scripts you are loading on your website.

3. Use your website's backend - Ultimately, the backend of your website will be where all your third party scripts are located. Check the <head> area of your website (often found through your website theme's 'settings' area or loading in via plugins/modules) as well as the body copy (common features include Youtube Video, Google Maps, and Calendly).

After you identify the third party technologies you are loading on your website, you can go into your Termageddon license, click 'edit' for the Cookie Policy and Consent Tool, scroll to the bottom, and click "add Service". Then click 'predefined' and select/add the Service(s) that your website loads.