Google Consent Mode: what it is, how it works, and what v2 changed

What is Google Consent Mode?

Google Consent Mode is a feature from Google that adjusts how Google tags behave based on each user’s consent choice. It helps advertisers meet the consent requirements of rules like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the EU ePrivacy Directive, while keeping the measurement and personalization features of Google Ads and Google Analytics through statistical modeling.

In other words, it lets you respect users’ choices about ads and analytics trackers and still get a representative view of how users convert on your site, using AI modeling for lost conversions.

Google launched the original Consent Mode in September 2020. Advertisers who added consent banners had seen a significant drop in reported conversions, which hurt Smart Bidding and return on ad spend. In November 2023, Google added two new signals. That version, known as Consent Mode v2, is the standard today.

How does Google Consent Mode work?

Google Consent Mode works with Google Ads, Google Analytics, AdSense, Ad Manager, AdMob, Floodlight, and Conversion Linker. Here’s the process:

1. A user visits your website and accepts or rejects trackers on your CMP’s consent banner.
2. Your CMP passes that choice to your Google tags through Consent Mode, using four consent signals (more on those below).
3. Google tags adjust their behavior. When a user consents, trackers load normally. When there’s no consent, Google applies conversion modeling to recover lost conversions instead.
4. Modeled conversions appear in your campaign reports, with the same granular detail as observed conversions.
5. In Google Ads, this data feeds Google’s bidding tools, so you optimize your campaigns on a fuller view of your results.

How Google models conversions without consent

Conversion modeling uses Google AI to analyze observable data and historical trends, including signals like device type, conversion type, country, time of day, and browser. Using journeys where users have consented, Google’s models estimate the attribution paths for journeys that are missing consent. Conversion modeling doesn’t use identifying information. It uses probability to connect ad interactions with conversion events like sales.

Here’s what modeling adds, in an illustrative example. A campaign gets 100 ad clicks and 10 conversions. Without Consent Mode, it reports a 10% conversion rate. With Consent Mode, 70 users consent and all 10 conversions come from them, a 14% observed rate. Consent Mode then models 2 more conversions among the 30 users who declined:

The four consent signals in Consent Mode v2

Consent Mode v2 works with four signals, each set to “granted” or “denied.” The first two date from the original version. Version 2 added the other two.

Signal	What it controls	Relates to
ad_storage	Whether cookies for ads purposes can be read and written	Data collection
analytics_storage	Whether cookies for analytics purposes can be read and written	Data collection
ad_user_data (v2)	Whether user data can be sent to Google for advertising purposes	How data is used or shared
ad_personalization (v2)	Whether personalized advertising, like remarketing, can be turned on	How data is used or shared

Google defines three more consent types (functionality_storage, personalization_storage, and security_storage). They don’t change how Google Ads or Google Analytics behave, but CMPs and Google Tag Manager can use them for other tags (Google for Developers).

Basic vs. advanced consent mode

Google Consent Mode v2 comes in two implementation modes. If a user denies consent, the relevant tags either adjust their behavior (advanced mode) or stay entirely blocked (basic mode).

	Basic mode	Advanced mode
Before the user chooses	Google tags don’t load. Nothing is sent to Google	Google tags load, with consent set to “denied” by default
Consent granted	Tags load and work as normal	Tags work as normal
Consent denied	Tags stay blocked. No information is collected for analytics or ads	Tags don’t use cookies and send cookieless pings instead. No user data is sent for ads, and personalized ads stay off
Conversion modeling	General model	Advertiser-specific model, more detailed

What changed with Google Consent Mode v2

Google introduced Consent Mode v2 in November 2023, adding the ad_user_data and ad_personalization signals. From March 2024, Google began requiring these signals for its audience and personalization features to work for users in the European Economic Area (EEA).

Recent changes (as of September 2026)

• June 15, 2026: for GA4 properties linked to Google Ads, Consent Mode became the single control for whether Google Ads cookies and IDs collected by Google Analytics reach Google Ads, through the ad_storage signal. Google Signals no longer acts as a second switch (Google Analytics Help). If you relied on turning Signals off to keep GA4 data out of Google Ads, set your ad_storage defaults deliberately, region by region.
• Later in 2026: Google has announced that ad_personalization will be the only control for whether linked GA4 data is used for ad personalization. Google hasn’t confirmed the dates yet.
• March 1, 2026: publishers using AdSense, Ad Manager, or AdMob with the IAB Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF) now need version 2.3 (Google Ad Manager Help).

Is Google Consent Mode mandatory?

Google Consent Mode is mandatory if you want to keep using Google’s measurement, ad personalization, and remarketing features for users in the EEA. The requirement comes from Google rather than from a law. Google asks advertisers to collect consent from these users and share their consent signals, and Consent Mode is the standard way those signals reach Google’s tags. Google’s EU user consent policy also covers the UK and Switzerland.

The requirement applies if you use Google’s audience features (like audience measurement in Google Analytics, remarketing in Google Ads, or Floodlight in Search Ads 360) and you also have users in the EEA, the UK, or Switzerland.

Without Consent Mode:

• You lose audience features for these users. Google can’t add new users from these regions to audience lists in Google Analytics 4, Google Ads remarketing, or Floodlight.
• You miss out on data that modeling could recover. With Consent Mode, businesses recover around 65% of conversions that would otherwise be lost to users’ consent choices (Think with Google, citing Google internal data, 2023).
• You may be in breach of Google’s policy. Google audits sites and apps, and can suspend remarketing and conversion measurement for partners who don’t fix the issues it finds (Google Ads Help).

Why use Google Consent Mode?

With Google Consent Mode, you can:

• respect user consent and keep reporting conversions for your campaigns,
• recover gaps with conversion modeling, even with limited data,
• attribute conversions to the right campaign for a more accurate picture of your results,
• optimize bids and move budget to your best-performing campaigns,
• show ads only to users who’ve consented, in line with regulations like the GDPR.

In Google Ads, modeled conversions feed Smart Bidding, so campaigns optimize on more than the conversions you can observe. If ad_user_data is denied or missing, Google limits features like enhanced conversions. See how we support Consent Mode for advertisers.

In Google Analytics 4, a consent banner means GA4 can’t run normally for users who decline, which leaves gaps in your data. Consent Mode helps you recover part of that data with behavioral and conversion modeling. Since June 2026, it also decides what GA4 shares with a linked Google Ads account.

How to set up Google Consent Mode

You can set up Google Consent Mode through a CMP or with Google Tag Manager. Google recommends working with a partner from its CMP Partner Program, since these CMPs are integrated with Consent Mode and Google Tag Manager. iubenda is a listed Google CMP Partner with Gold certification.

With iubenda’s Privacy Controls & Cookie Solution

When you get started with iubenda’s Privacy Controls & Cookie Solution, a feature called autoblocking is on by default. It activates and handles Google Consent Mode v2 automatically on scripts related to Google services, with no extra steps on your side.

With the Google Tag Manager template

Our Google Tag Manager template, in the Community Template Gallery, needs less technical knowledge than a manual setup. Add the template to your container, configure your tags, and publish. Here’s our GTM template guide.

How to check if Consent Mode is enabled

You can check if Consent Mode is enabled with Google Tag Assistant, in your Google Ads and GA4 accounts, with a manual check in your browser, or with iubenda’s free site check.

With Google Tag Assistant:

1. Open your site in Tag Assistant and accept all cookies on your banner.
2. Select the earliest Consent event and check that it sets all four signals.
3. Select the latest Consent event and check that the signals are now “granted.”

In your Google accounts:

• Google Ads: open a website conversion action under Goals > Conversions and check the Diagnostics tab. It shows whether Consent Mode is implemented and modeling is active (Google Ads Help).
• GA4: go to Admin > Data collection and modification > Consent settings (Google Analytics Help).

With a manual check:

1. Open your website in incognito or private browsing mode.
2. In your developer console, type dataLayer and open the object.
3. Find the first consent event: analytics_storage should be denied.
4. Accept all cookies on your banner.
5. Find the updated consent event: analytics_storage should now be granted.

With iubenda’s free site check:

Prefer not to touch code? Enter your URL and email address, and we’ll scan your site for free and send you the results.

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