Taal: Nederlands
Dienst aanvragen

Google Consent Mode v2: What It Is and How to Set It Up Correctly

If you advertise to users in the EEA or UK, Consent Mode v2 is required for key Google Ads features. Here is what it does, basic vs advanced mode, and how to set it up and test it.

Hasan Gültekin4 min leestijd

If you use Google Analytics or Google Ads for visitors in the European Economic Area (EEA) or the UK, you have probably heard of Consent Mode v2. Without it, features like remarketing and audience building for EEA users can stop working, and your conversion data becomes less complete.

This guide explains what Consent Mode v2 is, the difference between basic and advanced mode, and how to set it up correctly.

Consent Mode is a way for your website to tell Google tags whether a visitor has given consent for analytics and advertising cookies. Google tags then adjust their behaviour based on that choice.

It does not replace a cookie banner. You still need a consent management platform (CMP) or banner that asks for consent. Consent Mode passes the visitor’s choice on to Google’s tags.

Consent Mode v2 uses these parameters:

Parameter Meaning
analytics_storage Can cookies be used for analytics?
ad_storage Can cookies be used for advertising?
ad_user_data Can user data be sent to Google for advertising? (added in v2)
ad_personalization Can data be used for personalised advertising and remarketing? (added in v2)

Each one is granted or denied.

Basic vs advanced mode

Basic Advanced
Before consent Google tags do not load at all Tags load with consent denied and send cookieless pings
After denial Nothing is sent Cookieless pings without identifiers
Modelling Limited, general modelling Conversion and behavioural modelling based on pings
Privacy approach Most conservative Requires a legal assessment for your situation

Which mode is right depends on your legal assessment and risk appetite. Some organisations choose basic mode to be conservative; others use advanced mode to recover more data through modelling. Discuss this with your privacy advisor.

How to set it up

Many CMPs (for example Cookiebot, Usercentrics, OneTrust, Complianz, CookieYes and others) integrate with Consent Mode v2 directly, including a GTM template. Steps:

  1. Choose a CMP that supports Consent Mode v2 (Google maintains a list of certified CMPs for Google’s advertising products)
  2. Add the CMP’s template in Google Tag Manager
  3. Configure default consent (usually denied for all four signals in the EEA/UK) so it fires before any Google tag
  4. Let the CMP update consent when the visitor makes a choice
  5. Set the region-specific defaults if you only need denial by default in certain regions

Option 2: Manual implementation with gtag

Set the defaults before loading Google tags:

<script>
window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}
gtag('consent', 'default', {
  'ad_storage': 'denied',
  'ad_user_data': 'denied',
  'ad_personalization': 'denied',
  'analytics_storage': 'denied',
  'wait_for_update': 500
});
</script>

When the visitor accepts:

gtag('consent', 'update', {
  'ad_storage': 'granted',
  'ad_user_data': 'granted',
  'ad_personalization': 'granted',
  'analytics_storage': 'granted'
});

Map each banner category to the right signals (for example “statistics” to analytics_storage, “marketing” to the three ad signals).

Non-Google tags

Consent Mode only affects Google tags. Meta, TikTok, Hotjar and other tags need their own consent handling in GTM, for example with trigger conditions or built-in consent settings (“Require additional consent for tag to fire”).

How to test

  1. Open your site in a private window
  2. Open GTM Preview and check the Consent tab: default state should be set before any tag fires
  3. Decline: check that tags behave as expected (no cookies set in basic mode, pings only in advanced mode)
  4. Accept: check that consent updates to granted and tags fire
  5. Check in Google Ads and GA4 admin that consent signals are being received (the diagnostics in the tag and consent settings show this)

Also check the cookies in your browser’s developer tools before and after consent.

Common mistakes

  • Default consent set too late: tags fire before the default is set
  • Only v1 signals: ad_user_data and ad_personalization missing
  • Banner and Consent Mode not linked: the banner works visually but never sends updates
  • Hard-coded Google tags outside GTM that ignore consent
  • Other tags not blocked after denial
  • Consent choice not remembered across pages, so the banner keeps appearing

Impact on your data

With consent denied, GA4 and Google Ads see less data. That is expected. Advanced mode with modelling can fill part of the gap. For e-commerce stores, server-side tagging and backend conversion events can improve data quality while still respecting consent. See GA4 missing conversions.

Frequently asked questions

For using key Google Ads personalisation and measurement features with users in the EEA and UK, Google requires consent signals. Legally, you need valid consent under GDPR/ePrivacy regardless of Google’s requirements.

No. It is a technical signal. Compliance depends on your banner, your legal basis, your privacy policy and how you process data.

Yes. Shopify has its own customer privacy API that consent apps integrate with; WooCommerce and WordPress have CMP plugins with Consent Mode support.

I implement Consent Mode v2, CMPs and GTM setups for online stores, and check that tracking and consent work together. See my digital marketing service or request a tracking check.