In a digital world where user privacy and data protection regulations such as GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive are becoming increasingly important, it’s crucial for websites to find the right balance between data collection and user consent.You probably already have a cookie consent solution implemented (a cookie banner). However, with the arrival of the Digital Markets Act (DMA), we must now also manage how data is collected and transmitted.
If you collect personal user data (such as cookies) through “gatekeeper” platforms (for example, Google or Meta) or their services, it is now essential to send consent data to these services - otherwise, you will face significant restrictions.
These changes come into effect on 6 March 2024.
Google’s Consent Mode V2 provides an innovative solution that allows us to customise how user data is collected and used based on consent and enables the transmission of consent signals to relevant platforms.
In this article, we’ll explain why you should consider implementing Google Consent Mode V2, what changes it brings, how it affects data quality in Google Analytics and Google Ads, and how you can implement it easily.
Why Consider Google Consent Mode V2
Better alignment with GDPR, ePrivacy, and DMA regulations: Consent Mode V2 allows websites to better comply with local and international privacy laws, reducing the risk of legal penalties and increasing user trust.
Flexible consent management: It offers more flexible options for managing user consent, allowing you to adjust how data is collected and used based on individual permissions.
Maintaining data quality: Even if users refuse certain types of tracking, Consent Mode V2 helps minimise the impact on data quality in Analytics and Ads by using modelling and other techniques to preserve data usefulness.
Changes Introduced by Google Consent Mode V2
The original Consent Mode, which you likely already have implemented, allowed websites to store consent preferences for cookie use.
It works with two parameters - analytics_storage and ad_storage - which were used only to store consent states (consent for analytical or advertising purposes).
The new Consent Mode V2 goes further - it ensures that user consent data is sent, defines how it is transmitted, how it is used, and which platforms it is shared with.
By implementing Consent Mode V2, two new parameters are added:
- ad_user_data - This parameter can have two states: granted or denied. It determines whether user data can be sent to Google advertising platforms (such as Google Ads, Google Shopping, or Google Play). If the user accepts advertising cookies, this parameter is sent to Google with the status granted.
- ad_personalisation - This parameter determines whether user data can be used for remarketing purposes within Google’s advertising systems. It also has two states: granted and denied.
Implement Google Consent Mode V2 as Soon as Possible
Implementing Consent Mode V2 should be a priority for everyone using Google Ads who wants to maintain the performance of their advertising campaigns. If you don’t implement it by 6 March 2024, Google will stop sending new user data to advertising and analytics platforms - and you will no longer be able to use personalised ads.
Obligation for Google Ads users
If you use Google Ads, implementing Consent Mode V2 is mandatory.
This is no longer just a matter of legal compliance - it’s a technical requirement that will directly affect your campaign performance, and Google will actively enforce it.
Impact on campaign performance
Failing to implement Consent Mode V2 will have a significant impact on the effectiveness of your ad campaigns.
Conversion tracking:
If you use strategies like Maximise Conversions or Target ROAS, your campaigns will gradually lose the data needed for optimisation.
From 6 March, conversions may partially or completely stop being recorded, which will have a major effect on your campaign performance.
Audience data collection:
Without collecting new audiences, you will gradually lose the foundation for remarketing, and your campaigns will perform worse.
The size of your existing audiences will decrease over time, and you’ll lose access to remarketing and “similar audience” targeting in smart campaigns.
Not implementing Consent Mode V2 on your website and within your ad campaigns can have a serious impact on your business results and competitiveness.
It’s essential to pay proper attention to this change and ensure its implementation as soon as possible.
How to Implement Consent Mode V2
Google offers two types of implementation - Basic and Advanced.
Basic implementation: In this setup, when a user gives consent via the cookie banner, the analytics and advertising tags are triggered. If the user doesn’t give consent for marketing or statistical cookies, no tags will run, and no data will be sent. While this approach is compliant with legislation, it’s very restrictive - it doesn’t allow for sending anonymised data, which could otherwise be transmitted legally without consent. As a result, this setup can significantly reduce the amount of analytical and marketing data available in your systems.
Advanced implementation: This version offers a more sophisticated approach. Tags are triggered before the cookie banner appears, and data is sent to Google systems in an anonymised form, regardless of whether the user gives consent. If consent is not granted, conversion modelling uses signals such as device type, country, time, conversion type, and browser type to estimate conversions. To meet legal requirements and continue using Google Ads and Google Analytics effectively, you need at least the basic implementation. However, we highly recommend choosing the advanced implementation for better accuracy and performance.
The advanced implementation offers an innovative solution that ensures you don’t lose valuable data. Conversion and audience modelling represent the future of advertising and analytics in a world without third-party cookie data sharing.
How to Implement Google Consent Mode V2 via Cookiebot
The easiest and safest solution is to choose one of the Google-certified CMP (Consent Management Platform) solutions.
(See the list of certified CMP providers on Google’s website.)
By using a certified CMP, you’ll ensure ongoing updates and full compliance with current and future privacy regulations.Here’s how to implement Consent Mode V2 using one of the most popular solutions — Cookiebot CMP by Usercentrics:
- Register and create an account at https://www.cookiebot.com/.
You can start with a 14-day free trial.
The platform offers several plans — and for smaller websites with up to 50 subpages, there’s even a free version available.
- Set up your banner After registration, depending on the plan you’ve chosen, you can customise the look and placement of your banner.
With premium plans, you can personalise the banner even further — choose colours, add your logo, select from predefined layouts, or apply fully custom CSS styling.Set the language of your banner and your cookie declaration subpage.
Premium plans also include multilingual support, allowing you to enable automatic language detection based on the user’s browser settings, or detection based on URL parameters if your website is multilingual. - Implement the banner code on your website You can choose between implementing the code directly into your website’s source code or using a tag management tool such as Google Tag Manager (GTM) for easier deployment and management.
Deploying Cookiebot via GTM
Google Tag Manager includes a built-in connector that allows you to easily integrate Cookiebot into your website.
From the template gallery, select Cookiebot CMP and add it to your workspace:
Enter your banner ID into the predefined template:
The banner trigger needs to be linked to the predefined trigger Consent Mode Initialisation – All Pages:
Next, depending on which additional services you use (Google Ads, Facebook Pixel, Hotjar, etc.) and which conversions or events you track, you’ll need to link all events to the cookie_consent_update event that Cookiebot sends every time a user sets or updates their preferences.
In GTM, create a trigger for this custom event:
For GA4 tags, Facebook Pixel, and Google Ads conversion linker, use the cookie_consent_update trigger for activation.
For specific conversions and actions measured on your website, you’ll need to use a combination of the event-specific trigger and cookie_consent_update.
4. Review and complete your cookie categories In your Cookiebot settings, go to the Cookies tab to view the list of cookies detected on your website.
If there are any uncategorised cookies, assign them to the correct category and add a description.
Consent Mode V2 is not an option - it’s a necessity
The world of online marketing and web analytics faces major challenges this year related to data collection and measurement without cookies. This will inevitably impact the amount of data, conversions, and the ability to track all traffic sources.That’s why it’s crucial to stay prepared and adapt to these changes as soon as possible.
The advanced implementation of Consent Mode V2 will help you collect the maximum amount of data possible, in full compliance with privacy regulations, and prepare you for a new era of analytics that relies on data modelling and a cookieless environment.
Need help implementing your Consent Mode banner?
Contact us we’ll be happy to help you choose the most suitable solution and take care of the full implementation process for you.
