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Google Consent Mode v2

| Article: 4 min read | Privacy and law

Google Consent Mode is a way to pass a visitor's choice from the cookie banner to Google tags (Analytics, Ads) so they behave accordingly: without consent they don't set cookies and don't send data that requires permission. Version 2 added two parameters for advertising.

This is not legal advice or a setup guide: below is what Google's documentation and EU sources say, with links.

What it is and what it is not

Consent Mode does not collect consent. Consent is collected by your banner (a CMP, consent management platform). Consent Mode only passes the decision to Google tags. According to Google's documentation, the mode itself does not store the visitor's choice: you have to store it yourself and send an update before the user moves to another page (Google, Consent mode). So the banner remains mandatory: see cookie banner.

Four parameters

Parameter

What it controls

`ad_storage`

advertising cookies: when denied, no new advertising cookies are set

`analytics_storage`

analytics cookies

`ad_user_data`

whether user data may be sent to Google for advertising

`ad_personalization`

personalized advertising, including remarketing

The last two (`ad_user_data`, `ad_personalization`) were added in version 2 in November 2023 (Google). The documentation ties v2 to the tightening of Google's EU user consent policy.

Why a store needs it

  • For visitors from the EU, consent for analytics and advertising cookies is required (ePrivacy, Art. 5(3)); Consent Mode lets Google tags respect the person's choice.
  • Without correctly passed `ad_user_data` and `ad_personalization`, personalized advertising is switched off: Google writes that both parameters must be provided for it to work (Google Analytics Help). For a store this means remarketing (bringing back a customer who viewed a product) will not work for EU visitors without consent.
  • The model can partly fill gaps in the data, see below.

Basic and advanced: what happens to the data

Basic. Google tags are blocked until the person gives consent. Nothing is sent before consent; there is no modeling in Google Analytics.

Advanced. Tags load before the banner and, if the person declines, send "cookieless pings": requests without cookies. Based on them, Google Analytics builds behavioral and conversion modeling that fills the gaps, while Google Ads uses a general model built from non-identifying signals such as browser type and time of day (Google Analytics Help).

What is important to understand:

  • If the person declined through a TCF-based solution, Google Analytics, according to the help page, cannot model the missing data.
  • With `analytics_storage = denied`, Analytics neither sets nor reads its own cookies; pings are still sent, and Google writes that Google Analytics does not store or log IP addresses (same source).
  • With `ad_storage = denied`, no new advertising cookies are written and Google Signals does not accumulate data.
  • The help page gives no figures on how much of the lost data the model recovers, and thresholds are not described.
  • In advanced mode, pings are sent even without consent. Whether this is permissible in your EU country, Google's help page does not decide, while the EDPB, in Guidelines 2/2023, explains that the Art. 5(3) rule covers not only cookies but also pixel tracking and other technologies (EDPB). That is a question for a lawyer.

How to set it up correctly (order)

Google's documentation warns that the order is critical (Google).

  1. First call `gtag('consent', 'default', …)` on every page, before any `config` and `event`. Without defaults the mode is "values not set".
  2. Then load the Google tag.
  3. Then the banner. If it loads asynchronously, use `wait_for_update` (a wait in milliseconds).
  4. When the person chooses, send an `update` command.
  5. Set the default values by the regions where the banner applies: without a region parameter, the value applies to all visitors not covered by regional ones.

Check the result in tag debug mode, not only in reports.

Common mistakes

  • Thinking Consent Mode is the banner.
  • Setting defaults after the tags have loaded: then they don't work.
  • Setting `granted` by default for EU visitors.
  • Not passing the new v2 parameters and wondering why remarketing doesn't work.
  • Comparing data before and after without accounting for the fact that some visitors without consent are now only modeled. It is better to look at the effect on ROAS and conversion over time, not in a single report.

FAQ

What is Google Consent Mode v2? It is the version of Consent Mode with two additional parameters (`ad_user_data` and `ad_personalization`), introduced in November 2023.

Does Consent Mode replace the cookie banner? No. It only passes the person's choice to Google tags.

What happens to Google Analytics if the person declined? In advanced mode, Analytics sets no cookies but receives pings and models the gaps; in basic mode the tag is blocked and there is no modeling.

What happens to remarketing without consent? If `ad_personalization` is denied, personalized advertising is off and remarketing receives no data.

Is Consent Mode needed for Ukrainian visitors? Google ties v2 to traffic from the EEA. No separate requirement is named for Ukrainian visitors.

Sources

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