Custom age gates that search engines can still read.
WordPress age verification should not cost you search traffic. I design and build age gates for alcohol, cannabis and other age-restricted brands: a single yes button or a date-of-birth entry, styled to your brand, remembered after the first visit, and laid over a page that search engines can read in full.
Or call or text (502) 387-1142Quillon Hill DistillingMossbell
Are you 21 or older?
You must be of legal drinking age to enter this site.You must be 21 or older to see these products.
Please enjoy responsibly.For adults 21 and over.
Quillon Hill DistillingMossbell
Enter your date of birth
You must be 21 or older to enter.
Sorry, not yet.
You must be 21 or older to visit. On your site, this message and where it sends people are up to you.
Welcome in. A live site remembers this answer, so returning visitors skip the gate.
Quillon Hill and Mossbell are made-up brands. The gate works, so try it. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
Quillon Hill DistillingMossbell
Are you 21 or older?
You must be of legal drinking age to enter this site.You must be 21 or older to see these products.
Please enjoy responsibly.For adults 21 and over.
Quillon Hill DistillingMossbell
Enter your date of birth
You must be 21 or older to enter.
Sorry, not yet.
You must be 21 or older to visit. On your site, this message and where it sends people are up to you.
Search engines do not click Yes.
Many age gates work by sending every visitor to a separate splash page first, or by holding the page back until someone answers. A person clicks Yes and moves on. A search engine crawler does not, and it can end up reading the gate instead of your products.
Google’s guidance for sites that must show an age gate is direct: lay the gate over the content instead of sending every address to one page, and let its crawler reach the content without being stopped. I build WordPress age verification that way, for distilleries, wineries, breweries, cannabis and hemp brands, vape shops and anyone else selling something with an age limit.
WordPress age verification that keeps every page readable.
Six things every gate I build does, whichever style you choose.
The whole page loads underneath
Your products, words and links are in the page itself. The gate is a layer on top, so a search engine reads the same page a visitor sees after confirming their age.
Every link lands where it points
No detour to a separate gate page and back. Each page keeps its own address, so search results, shared links and ads open the page they promised.
Search engines are not asked
Google recommends letting its crawler reach content behind a mandatory age gate without triggering it. The gate steps aside for search engine crawlers, and the page they read is the same page your visitors get.
Built to keep the page fast
A few kilobytes of code and no heavy image. It sits over the page instead of pushing it around, so nothing jumps when it appears, and the answer is checked in the browser, so cached pages stay cached.
Asked once, not every visit
The answer is saved in a small first-party cookie for as long as you choose. It records only that the visitor passed, never a birthday, and returning customers go straight in.
Keyboard, screen reader and thumb friendly
Screen readers announce it as a dialog, keyboard focus stays inside until it is answered, buttons are big enough for thumbs, colors pass contrast checks, and it respects visitors who turn off motion.
A yes button or a date of birth. Try them both.
Both open full screen over this page, the way they would sit over yours. Nothing you type is stored or sent.
The yes button
One question and two buttons. It is the quickest way in, which suits brand sites, tasting rooms and stores where the checkout asks for a date of birth anyway.
The date-of-birth entry
Month, day and year, and the gate does the math. It asks a little more of the visitor, which suits products where you want a typed date at the door. Phones get a number keypad, and the cursor moves to the next box on its own.
The gate asks. The checkout checks.
A click or a typed date is the visitor’s word for it. That is the right job for the front door, and it is why the real check belongs in the checkout.
On a live distillery store I built, the checkout asks for a date of birth whenever alcohol is in the cart, pickup orders included. A buyer under 21 is stopped before payment, and the order keeps the date for the records. I build the gate and the checkout to work together on WordPress and WooCommerce.
From the Gate to the Front DoorIllustration with a made-up order, not a client store.
Custom means it looks and behaves like your site.
Designed like the rest of your site
Your logo, typefaces, colors and photography, with the question, the buttons, the fine print and the message for anyone under age written in your voice.
18 or 21, whole site or shop only
Set the age your products call for and where the gate appears: every page, only the shop, or only certain products. Pages such as your privacy policy can stay open if your counsel agrees.
Fits the WordPress site you have
Built as a small plugin for your current WordPress or WooCommerce site, documented, with no subscription and no extra plugins stacked behind it.
From first call to a gate you never think about.
Pick the style and the rules
Yes button or date of birth, the age, where it shows and how long it remembers. Your counsel or compliance advisor sets the legal side.
Design it to the brand
I design the gate with your logo, type and colors, and you approve how it looks on a phone and a desktop before anything is built.
Build and test it
Keyboard and screen reader checks, phones, page speed, and a live test in Google’s own inspection tool to confirm every page is still readable.
Launch and look after it
Installed on a private copy first, then on your site, and kept working through WordPress updates under a care plan if you want one.
What an age gate can and cannot do.
A gate is not ID verification
A click or a typed date is self-reported. The gate sets the tone and turns away casual visitors. Real checks happen at checkout and at delivery, and I build those too.
The law is your counsel’s call
Which age, what wording and whether a gate is required at all depend on what you sell and where. I build what your counsel asks for. This page is not legal advice.
Sometimes a plugin is enough
For a small site with a standard look, an off-the-shelf plugin can do the job. Custom pays off when the brand, page speed, accessibility or the checkout rules matter.
Age gates and search, answered.
Does an age gate hurt SEO?
It can, when the gate replaces the page or sends every visitor to a splash page first. A gate that sits on top of a fully loaded page, and lets search engine crawlers through as Google recommends, leaves your pages readable and your links pointing where they should.
Can Google see the content behind my age gate?
With the way I build them, yes. The content is in the page’s HTML, the gate is a layer over it, and crawlers are not asked the question. You can check it yourself with the live test in Google Search Console, which shows the page as Google renders it.
Should I use a yes button or a date of birth?
A yes button is quicker and suits most brand sites, especially when the checkout asks for a date of birth anyway. A date-of-birth entry asks more of the visitor and suits products where you want a typed date at the door. Your compliance advisor may have a preference, and I can build either.
Is an age gate legally required on my website?
It depends on what you sell, where your customers are and the rules your industry follows. Many alcohol and cannabis brands use one as standard practice. Ask your counsel, and I will build to what they require. This is not legal advice.
Can you add a custom age gate to the WordPress site I already have?
Yes. I build it as a small plugin for your current WordPress or WooCommerce site, styled to match, and test it on a private copy before it goes live. If you use an age gate plugin today, I replace it cleanly.
How long does the gate remember a visitor?
As long as you choose, from a single visit to a year. The browser keeps a small first-party cookie that records only that the visitor passed, never their birthday, so returning visitors go straight in.
Tell me what you sell and what the gate needs to do.
Send the address of your site and the age your products call for. I will tell you what I would build and what it involves, from the person who would build it. I work from Louisville, Kentucky, for brands anywhere in the United States.
Connect with me
Tell me about your site.
What happens next
- 01I reply, usually the same day. Every message comes straight to me, not a ticket queue.
- 02A short call. What the site needs to do, who it is for, and what has not worked before.
- 03A written scope and flat quote. Before any work starts, with hosting and ongoing care listed separately.
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