An honest warning first: we are not lawyers and this is not legal advice. It is what we check on every website we build and what we tell anybody who asks which legal pages a website needs. For the rest there are the official sources, which we link along the way.
The legal pages almost any website needs
It makes no difference whether it is a one-page landing or a shop: once the site belongs to a business, certain information has to be visible.
The legal notice: who is behind it
The page that says who owns the site: name or company name, tax number, address and a direct means of contact. In Spain the duty to identify yourself comes from Law 34/2002, on information society services, published in full in the official gazette.
It sounds like a formality and it is not. It is the first thing somebody checks when hesitating about paying you up front. A site with no name looks like nobody's.
The privacy policy: what you do with the data
It belongs wherever you ask for data: the form, the newsletter, the chat. It has to say who processes the data, what for, on what legal basis, who it is shared with if anybody, and how somebody can request it or ask you to delete it. Spain's data protection agency publishes a model information clause that works as a guide for what is expected to appear.
The cookie policy: what gets stored in the browser
If the site uses analytics, embedded maps, third-party video or advertising pixels, there are cookies. The policy explains which ones and what for, and the banner asks permission before switching them on. The agency has a guide on the use of cookies with the detail.
Terms of sale: only if you sell online
If there is a basket, you need terms and conditions: prices, shipping, timescales, payment methods, returns and withdrawal. If you do not sell through the site, this one does not apply to you.
The cookie banner: the mistake we see most
Of everything above, this is what is in the worst shape. The classic banner with a big "Accept" button and a small "More information" link does not meet the bar, because rejecting has to be as easy as accepting. There should be two buttons at the same level.
And there is a less visible part: until the person accepts, non-essential cookies should not load. Many banners are decorative: they ask, but analytics fired before anybody touched anything. Besides not complying, that pollutes the data you look at afterwards, as we cover in where your customers come from.
The form: the checkbox and the link
Three things we always check on a contact form:
- The box is not pre-ticked. Permission is given by the person; a pre-ticked box does not count.
- The privacy policy link sits right there next to the button, not buried in the footer.
- Only what is needed gets asked. If a name and an email let you reply, do not ask for an ID number or a date of birth.
That last point pays twice: fewer fields means more forms submitted. It is one of the few things that improves compliance and conversion at the same time.
Want to know what it would cost you?
We reply the same day. No commitment, no sales pitch.
Why copying another site's texts does not work
We get it, it is free and quick. But:
- The details belong to somebody else. We have seen sites carrying the previous owner's tax number and the address of a company that no longer exists.
- The cookies are not the same. Copy somebody else's list and you describe cookies you do not have while missing the ones you do.
- The text belongs to whoever wrote it. Copying and pasting somebody else's drafting brings its own problems.
Automatic generators are a reasonable starting point if somebody then reviews and adapts them. Copy-pasting from another website is not.
Where they go and how they are linked
The rule is simple: reachable from every page, which means the footer. Three links —legal notice, privacy and cookies— plus terms if you sell.
Two details that get forgotten: if the site is in two languages, the legal pages go in both, which we cover in a website in Catalan and Spanish. And the cookie banner has to let people change their mind afterwards, with a link to reopen the settings.
What we check when we build a site
- That the three pages exist and are reachable from the footer.
- That the identification details are the actual company's, with its tax number.
- That the cookie banner has accept and reject at the same level, and loads nothing beforehand.
- That the form has its unticked box and its link.
- That everything exists in whatever languages the site has.
We do not draft the legal wording: we build the pages, put them where they belong and flag what is missing. When the case gets complicated —a shop shipping abroad, health data, minors— it should be looked at by somebody who does that for a living.
What having this in order costs
The build side is included in our published plans: €100 a month for the one-page landing, €200 for the site with up to ten subpages, and €400, €750 and €1,500 for the plans adding articles, Google profile, reviews and campaigns. Excluding VAT, no lock-in, migration included.
Put another way: we do not charge separately for putting the legal pages in place or for setting the cookie banner up properly. It is part of delivering a finished website, the same as maintenance or having the credentials in your name.
The two-minute check
Open your site on your phone and do this:
- Scroll to the footer. Are there three links? Do they open?
- Open the legal notice. Are the tax number and address your current ones?
- Leave, clear the browser data and come back. Does the cookie banner appear with two buttons the same size?
- Open the form. Is the box unticked and is there a privacy link?
If any answer is no, you know where to start. And if you would rather we looked, send us your website address on WhatsApp: we will tell you what is missing and what can be fixed in an afternoon. No strings, same day.
Tell us what you need and we'll give you a price
We reply the same day. No commitment, no sales pitch.