Since March, a new requirement has applied to advertisers in Europe. If you want to keep using Google Ads for remarketing and audiences, Consent Mode v2 needs to be set up correctly. Many businesses have therefore updated their cookie banner.
But an updated banner is not the same as a working setup. You only know whether everything comes through properly once you test it. In this article, you will go through the most important checks step by step.
What is Consent Mode v2 again?
Consent Mode makes sure your Google tags take your visitor’s choice into account. A tag is a small piece of code that measures data, for example a page view or a purchase.
The first version had two signals: ad_storage and analytics_storage. These determine whether cookies may be stored for advertising and for analytics.
Version 2 adds two more:
- ad_user_data: may Google use user data for advertising purposes?
- ad_personalization: may Google use that data for personalised advertising, such as remarketing?
If these signals are missing, Google can make less use of your data. Your audience lists and your conversion measurement may suffer as a result.
Test both choices
The first check is the simplest. You look at what happens when a visitor declines and what happens when a visitor accepts. Both scenarios must work correctly.
- Open your website in an incognito window.
- Start Tag Assistant or the preview mode of Google Tag Manager.
- Load the page and open the consent tab (Consent).
- Check that all four signals are set to denied on load.
- Click decline and check that the signals remain set to denied.
- Repeat the test in a new incognito window, but this time choose accept.
- Check that the signals change to granted after you make your choice.
Does your banner also have an in-between option, such as accepting statistics only? Test that as well. You will then see straight away whether the right signals are updated and the others are not.
Pay attention to the order of your tags
This is the mistake we see most often. The default setting must load before all your other tags. That way, Google knows from the very first millisecond that consent has not yet been given.
If, for example, Google Analytics loads before your cookie banner, that tag sends data that it is not allowed to send. That is a privacy problem. It also makes your data less reliable.
In Google Tag Manager, you solve this with the Consent Initialization trigger. Have the default consent setting fire on that trigger. Your other tags then only start after this step.
Check the order in Tag Assistant. In the overview of events, the consent step must appear at the top, before the first page view.
Check Google Ads and Google Analytics
After testing on your website, check whether Google is actually receiving the signals. In Google Ads, you can find this in the diagnostics for your conversions. There you can see whether Consent Mode is active and whether there are any problems.
Also keep an eye on modelled conversions. These are estimates of conversions from visitors who did not give consent. Google bases these estimates on the behaviour of visitors who did agree.
A few points to remember:
- Modelled conversions do not appear immediately. It can take days to weeks.
- Google needs enough traffic to be able to model. For small accounts, this sometimes does not happen.
- After implementation, you will probably record fewer directly measured conversions. This is normal, because you can no longer track visitors who decline as you could before.
Therefore, compare your figures from before and after implementation. A small drop is explainable. A sudden, sharp drop often points to an error in your setup.
Basic or advanced: which do you have?
Consent Mode works in two ways. It is useful to know which one you use.
With basic, Google tags only load after the visitor has given consent. If someone declines, nothing is sent to Google. There is then little to model with.
With advanced, the tags do load straight away. As long as there is no consent, they only send anonymous signals without cookies. Google uses these to model. This usually provides more information.
Which variant suits you also depends on your privacy policy and your legal considerations. Discuss this with your lawyer or data protection officer. We can help with the technical side.
Common mistakes to check
Go through this list if your setup looks right but your figures still look strange:
- Your cookie banner does not send the new signals. Use a banner that supports Consent Mode v2.
- The default value is set to granted instead of denied.
- Tags are placed directly in your site’s code, outside Tag Manager. These often ignore your settings.
- The update after the visitor’s choice is not being sent.
- You only test from the Netherlands, while you also have visitors from other countries with different settings.
- Subdomains or a separate web shop use a different banner or a different container.
An example from practice
Suppose a web shop has updated its cookie banner and reports that Consent Mode v2 has been set up. In the banner itself, everything seems fine. Visitors can accept and decline.
During the test in Tag Assistant, something stands out. The Google Analytics tag starts on the all-pages trigger. The default consent setting only starts afterwards. So with every first page view, a measurement is sent before Google knows what the visitor wants.
The fix is small. The default setting is moved to the Consent Initialization trigger. The tag itself stays unchanged. The administrator then tests again in an incognito window. Now all signals are set to denied on load and only change after the visitor makes a choice.
Without that test, this web shop would never have spotted the problem. After all, the banner was doing what it was supposed to do.
Frequently asked questions
Is Consent Mode v2 mandatory for every website?
It applies to websites that use Google services such as Google Ads and Google Analytics for visitors from the European Economic Area. If you do not use these for advertising or measurement, it is less relevant. You need a cookie banner in any case. Consent Mode does not replace it.
Will I see less data after implementation?
Probably, yes. You measure less from visitors who decline. Google partly fills this gap with modelled data, but that is an estimate. You will not get the full picture back.
How often should I check this?
Test after every change to your cookie banner, your Tag Manager container or your website. In addition, check a few times a year that everything is still correct. An update to your banner can change the order or the signals without anyone noticing.
Free 30-minute introductory meeting
Do you want to be sure that your Consent Mode works properly? Then book a free 30-minute introductory meeting with Adventio Marketing in Amersfoort. Together we will review your current setup, point out the weak spots and tell you what to fix first. No obligation and no sales pitch.
