Consent Mode v2

Overview

Google Consent Mode allows website owners to adjust the behavior of Google tags (e.g. Google Analytics, Google Ads, etc.) based on the user's consent choices for cookies and tracking. It helps to ensure compliance with GDPR, CCPA, and other privacy regulations by allowing the website to collect information based on consent while maintaining functionality for essential features.

For Consent Mode to be effective, it is necessary to already have a solution in place for collecting and resolving the user’s consent concerning the data being collected on your site.

Note: Consent Mode is NOT a consent management platform substitute.

Types of Consent Mode

Google Consent Mode provides two main modes of operation: Basic and Advanced.

With Basic Consent Mode, data is collected ONLY if the user grants consent which means that Google tags are prevented from loading and collecting data until consent is granted.

With Advanced Consent Mode, there are 2 data collection outcomes

The user grants consent and the full payload of data is collected and delivered
The user denies consent and a limited payload data collected and delivered

Google has recently stated that every customer has to adopt Consent Mode in some form (Basic or Advanced) and they need to adopt v2 so Google can say they comply with European data laws. (source here)

In Consent Mode v2, Google tags receive real-time consent signals across four main categories:

ad_storage: Controls advertising cookies and personalization.
analytics_storage: Controls the storage of analytics cookies.
ad_user_data: does the user consent to their personal data being used for advertising purposes?
ad_personalization: does the user consent to their data being used for re-marketing?

The ad_user_data and ad_personalization have been added recently with the release of Consent Mode v2.

How ObservePoint can help

For No Google Consent Mode / Basic Consent Mode: Use normal audits for a user rejecting consent (you should only see strictly necessary cookies/tags)
For Advanced Consent Mode:

Google tags will still fire, so make sure you check the gcs variable has the correct value.
Create a Tag & Variable Rule for when cookies are declined to check Google tags for the following variable-value pair: gcs = G100
Create a Rule for when cookies are accepted to check Google tags for the following variable-value pair: gcs = G111

While the gcs is the variable for the first version of Consent Mode, the v2 has gcd as variable. It includes all four consent signals (ad_storage, analytics_storage, ad_user_data, and ad_personalization) and it includes information about how the consent signal was generated.

The string starts with 11, uses 1 (or some other number) to separate the different consent signals, and ends with a number like 5 (or sometimes something else) to mark the end.

Letter	Description	Example
`l`	The lowercase L means that the signal has not been set with Consent Mode.	`11l1p1l1l5` (Only `analytics_storage` has been denied by default).
`p`	`denied` by default (no update).	`11p1p1p1p5` (all consent states are denied by default).
`q`	`denied` both by default and after update.	`11p1q1p1p5` (the user updated their consent choice to set `analytics_storage` to denied after it was already set to denied by default).
`t`	`granted` by default (no update).	`11t1t1t1t5` (all consent states are granted by default).
`r`	`denied` by default and `granted` after update.	`11r1r1r1r5` (the user grants consent to all services after they were first denied by default).
`m`	`denied` after update (no default).	`11p1m1p1p5` (all other states were denied by default, but `analytics_storage` was only set after the user denied it).
`n`	`granted` after update (no default).	`11n1n1n1n5` (the site did not set a default consent state and instead set all states to granted after the user chose so).
`u`	`granted` by default and `denied` after update.	`11u1u1u1u5` (the user withdrew all consents after they were set to granted by default).
`v`	`granted` both by default and after update.	`11v1v1v1v5` (all states were granted by default and by user confirmation).

Here's how it should look like when using ObservePoint:

Conclusion

Google Consent Mode v2 offers a flexible, compliant way to manage cookies and tracking on your website while respecting user consent preferences.

By adjusting tag behavior in real-time and maintaining partial data collection even when consent is limited, businesses can balance regulatory requirements with insights into website performance.

Consent Categories

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Privacy Compliance Best Practices

Validating Consent Managers

OneTrust for Non-Automated Consent States