With the continued focus on privacy and data protection, it is crucial for companies to adapt to changing regulations and user expectations. Google Consent Mode V2 is an important step in this direction, but failure to implement it can have consequences for analyzing data from your advertisements.
What is Google Consent Mode V2?
Google Consent Mode is a solution developed by Google to help businesses comply with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other privacy regulations worldwide. Version 2 of this tool gives you improved functionality and more flexibility for managing user consent regarding the use of cookies and other tracking methods.
What are the consequences of not implementing Google Consent Mode V2?
Violation of privacy regulations: Failure to implement Consent Mode V2 may result in violations of GDPR and other privacy laws. These laws require you to obtain consent before using cookies and other tracking methods to collect and process personal data.
Loss of insights: By not asking permission to process certain data, you risk missing valuable insights about user behavior and preferences, which can impact the effectiveness of your advertising strategies. This can lead to a lack of insight into important metrics such as traffic sources, user behavior and conversions.
Fines and legal consequences: Websites that violate privacy laws risk fines and legal action from supervisory authorities and individual users. These fines can be significant and damage your company's reputation.
How do you notice that Consent Mode V2 is not/isn't implemented yet?
Missing conversion data: If you don't see any conversions appearing in your Analytics reports, this may indicate that Consent Mode V2 has not been implemented correctly. Conversion data may not be recorded due to the lack of appropriate tracking tags.
Lack of consent mode in Google Ads Interface: If there is no mention of Consent Mode or Consent Mode in the conversion overview in Google Ads, then Consent Mode V2 has just been set up or has not been set up properly. Please note that this will only become visible a few days after implementation (depending on the amount of data in the Google Ads account).
Not the correct variables in Google Tag Assistant: If the correct variables are not displayed under the event consent in Google Tag Assistant (https://tagassistant.google.com/). When you enter your domain in Google Tag Assistant, you should see an overview of all the tags and events that are loaded on that page. In the overview on the left it should say 'Consent'. If you click on this and then click on the 'Consent' tab under 'Output', the variables (ad_user_data and ad_personalization) should be displayed (See image 1). If not, Consent Mode V2 is not active.
To check whether Consent Mode V2 is set up correctly, accept the cookies in the cookie banner on your web page that is opened by Google Tag Assistant. If you have accepted the cookies and you return to Google Tag Assistant, the following should be displayed (See Figure 2). All variables are approved because you clicked on approve cookies in the cookie banner. Not all variables may appear as shown in these images. It is essential that ad_user_data and ad_personalization are displayed.
After implementing Consent Mode V2
You may see less traffic in Google Analytics 4 after implementing Consent Mode V2. This is because there are stricter rules in measuring data if someone does not give approval. So keep this in mind after implementing Consent Mode V2. Google will model this traffic after a certain time. As a result, after a certain time you will see that this traffic is displayed again at the old level.
Do you have questions about the implementation of Consent Mode V2? Please contact us at servicedesk@uptmz.com.