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Google Consent Mode v2

Is Google Consent Mode v2 negatively impacting your marketing?

10 minute read

In short, yes. If you do not collect cookie consent from the visitor and configure it for Google Consent Mode v2, then any digital marketing using Google tools (such as GA4 or Google Ads) will not perform as well against conversion objectives. This is particularly important if you are a UK or EU-based business.

Whilst this new consent mode can cause a massive headache, CMP platforms like The Cookie Jar make navigating this easy. Have you Installed The Cookie Jar using GTM? Then it’s easy; you don’t need to do anything! With The Cookie Jar installed directly on your website, you can get sorted in a few simple steps.

Before jumping into solutions, let’s first explain what Google consent mode v2 is and why it’s important. The whole premise of cookie consent is for businesses to communicate to their customers how they intend to use cookies on their website. Businesses also need to give their customers the ability to accept whether they are comfortable with this usage before any data is captured. This is to stop any nefarious or invasive usage of sensitive customer information.

As one of the world’s largest digital advertising platforms, Google uses cookies to understand and optimise its platforms to generate business value for advertisers. This is generally done in two forms:

  • Record key events (aka conversions) on the website due to its paid advertising. Google then use that data in its algorithms to generate more conversions.
  • Retarget users who have already visited the website and shown intent with more advertising.

When used responsibly, this can be a powerful tool for businesses to create a good customer experience and generate revenue.

Google bundles “marketing” cookie use cases for its advertising into four categories, with ad_storage and ad_personalization being the new ones added in v2.

  • ad_storage: Enables storage, such as cookies (web) or device identifiers (apps), related to advertising.
  • ad_user_data: Sets consent for sending user data to Google for online advertising purposes.
  • ad_personalization: Sets consent for personalised advertising.
  • analytics_storage: Enables storage, such as cookies (web) or device identifiers (apps), related to analytics, for example, visit duration.

Essentially, Google consent mode v2 is simply mapping the customer’s cookie consent captured on your website to Google’s marketing cookie use cases.

What happens if you do nothing?

If you don’t signal to Google what types of cookie usage your customers consent to on your website, Google will not use any of that website data. This website data will not be used when optimising digital paid media or building retargeting audiences, which produces suboptimal campaigns.

Legally, in the EU and UK, you need a mechanism to capture your customers’ cookie consent on your website before firing any tags, so all the hard work should have already been done. For you to capture your customers’ consent but then not configure it to align with Google, means that a portion of that effort and your advertising spend is wasted.

If you use a CMP, then the solution should be simple. Most good platforms will make it easy to ensure that you have implemented Google Consent Mode v2 correctly. The Cookie Jar is no different and makes this process incredibly simple for you.

Do you use Google Tag Manager (GTM)?

If you use GTM, you don’t need to do anything. After following our three-step installation guide, you will automatically be set up correctly for Google Consent Mode v2. Our community template makes this an easy, code-free way of managing cookie consent on your website.

Perhaps you don’t use GTM or want more flexibility? Our powerful SDK makes it incredibly easy to implement Google Consent Mode v2 on your website. Our SDK has two window functions that you can combine to implement Google Consent Mode v2:

  • addLoadOption: Allows you to load additional functions once The Cookie Jar has successfully loaded on your website.
  • setGoogleConsentModeV2: A function that you can use to implement Google consent mode v2.

setGoogleConsentModeV2 needs three variables to work effectively. First, it requires your default consent state, which is generally a strict consent model. Second, it needs your GA4 Measurement ID to initialise gtag. This can be set to null if you have already loaded gtag on your website. Lastly, it requires any fields that you want to remap. This is particularly handy if you want to simplify your consent modal by bundling all the consent mode v2 fields under “marketing cookies”.

For example, to get set up with Consent Mode v2, you can implement the following code after the initial SDK in your HTML.

<script>
window.theCookieJar.addLoadOption(function() {
  let remapping = {
    'ad_user_data': 'ad_storage',
    'ad_personalization': 'ad_storage',
    'personalization_storage': 'ad_storage',
    'security_storage': 'functionality_storage'
  }
  theCookieJar.setGoogleConsentModeV2({
    'ad_storage': 'denied',
    'ad_user_data': 'denied',
    'ad_personalization': 'denied',
    'analytics_storage': 'denied',
    'functionality_storage': 'granted',
    'personalization_storage': 'denied',
    'security_storage': 'granted'
}, G-XXXXXXXXXX, remapping)
});
</script>

Final thoughts

Yes, Google Consent Mode can be a headache. Still, it is important that you act responsibly and transparently with your customers’ cookies across the Google ecosystem, especially when the solution is so easy.

If you are unsure that you have implemented Google Consent Mode v2 correctly or have noticed a drop in advertising performance, it might pay to reach out to your CMP platform to make sure that everything is working correctly. If they don’t have a simple solution, then it might be time for a change.

Our mission is to make cookie consent simple for all businesses. The more businesses that use it correctly not only means a better customer experience, but also builds trust in the industry. If you are stuck with Google consent mode v2, or just need help with cookie consent at all we would love to help. Simply contact us and we will get back to you.

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