Consent Mode

Consent Mode has two moving parts. A default state is set before any Google tag runs, and an update fires when the visitor makes a choice. Each consent type is either granted or denied, and the tags change their behavior to match.

Google's four types separate advertising from analytics, so a site can deny one and allow the other. A site that runs no ads has no reason to grant the advertising signals to anyone.

Why it matters for a marketing site

A marketing site usually fires its analytics before anyone reads the privacy page. If the tags ignore the visitor's choice, the privacy page is false, and the numbers are wrong for every region where you handle this differently. It also reaches into reporting: visitors who decline change what you can measure, so a drop after launch may be consent rather than traffic.

How I handle it

On this site the advertising signals are denied for everyone, because it runs no ads. Analytics storage is granted by default and denied for the regions on its consent list. The tag does not load at all when the browser sends Global Privacy Control, when a stored choice says Decline, or when the timezone says Europe and nobody has chosen. A client site gets its own rules. Legal requirements are your counsel's call, not mine.

Example

Say a visitor in France declines. In one setup, the Google tag still loads and sends cookieless pings. In a stricter one, no request goes to Google at all. Both can use Consent Mode. The second makes a stronger promise on the privacy page, and leaves less data to model from.

Common mistakes

• Treating it as the banner. Consent Mode passes a choice along. Something still has to ask the visitor.
• Setting defaults after the tag fires. Defaults have to be in place before the tags run, or the first hit goes out unconstrained.
• Letting the privacy page drift. It has to describe the requests the page actually makes, and that changes when a tag is added.