If you see a domain or IP address in your consentmanager CMP that does not belong to you, you are not alone. This is a common situation and there is a straightforward explanation for why it happens — and a clear action you should take.
Why does this happen?
Every time your consentmanager CMP code runs on a website, the system detects and logs the domain or IP address it was loaded from. This is by design: consentmanager tracks all the places where your CMP code is active, so you can manage and control where your cookie banner appears.
An unknown domain or IP address shows up when someone else's website loads your CMP code. This can happen in several ways:
- A third party has copied content from your website, including the CMP script tag
- Your website's content is being embedded or mirrored on another site
- A developer or agency has accidentally deployed your CMP code to a test environment, a staging server, or the wrong project
- Someone is scraping or caching your site in a way that also executes its scripts
The system has no way of knowing whether that domain or IP belongs to you or not — it simply sees that your CMP code ran there and lists it for your review.
What information is available about the IP or domain?
consentmanager shows you the domain or IP address that was detected, along with the date it was first seen running your CMP code. This can help you figure out whether it belongs to a legitimate environment of yours (such as a staging server) or whether it is genuinely unknown.
If the domain or IP address does not match any website, server, or test environment you manage, it is safe to reject.
What should you do?
If the domain or IP does not belong to you: Reject it
Reject (blacklist) any domain or IP address you do not recognize and did not authorize. Rejecting it tells consentmanager not to display your cookie banner on that domain or IP. This means:
- Your cookie banner will not appear on that website
- Your CMP configuration will not be accessible from that domain
- The unknown site will no longer be able to use your consent setup
There is no risk in rejecting an unknown domain or IP. If you accidentally reject a legitimate one, you can always reverse the decision.
If the domain or IP belongs to you: Approve it
Approve (whitelist) a domain or IP address if you recognize it as one of your own — for example, a staging environment, a subdomain, or a secondary website where you intentionally want the banner to appear. Approving it allows your CMP to run normally on that domain.
Decision criteria at a glance
| Situation | Action |
|---|---|
| Domain/IP belongs to your website or a known environment | Approve (whitelist) |
| Domain/IP is unfamiliar or does not belong to you | Reject (blacklist) |
| Domain/IP looks like a test or staging server you manage | Set as test domain |
| Domain/IP appears to be a third-party or copied site | Reject (blacklist) |
| You are unsure | Reject for now — you can reverse this at any time |
What happens if you approve an unknown domain by mistake?
If you approve a domain or IP that is not yours, your cookie banner will be displayed on that website. This means your CMP is effectively running on a site you do not own or control, which is generally not desirable. If this happens, simply go back into your domain management settings and change the status to rejected.
What happens if you reject a domain that actually belongs to you?
If you accidentally reject one of your own domains or IP addresses, your cookie banner will stop appearing there. Your users on that domain will not see the consent banner. You can fix this at any time by going back into your settings and approving the domain.
How to manage your domains
You can review, approve, and reject domains and IP addresses directly from your consentmanager dashboard under your domain management settings.
For a full walkthrough of how whitelisting and blacklisting works in consentmanager, see: Managing Domains in consentmanager CMP: Whitelisting & Blacklisting
If you have further questions or need help identifying a specific IP address, our support team is happy to assist.