Google’s Consent Mode V2 becomes mandatory in Europe if one wishes to continue collecting data with Google Analytics and Google Ads systems.
Consent Mode communicates to analytics and advertising systems the consent for tracking that users have given in the cookie query. Without it, information from new EU area users will not be stored on Google’s platforms after March 6, 2024. This new requirement is based on Google’s interpretation of European legislation.
Google Ads campaigns and the data you collect in your GA4 will face significant challenges if you don’t act upon this during this month. According to our understanding, this is related to this change of Google Chrome starting to block data tracking cookies.
What happens if you don’t act on this?
In case you use Google’s Advertising products like Google Ads:
- Conversion data flow to Google Ads will stop.
- Remarketing audiences will stop populating for Google Ads.
- Demographic data will stop populating in GA4.
Google Ads’ enhanced conversions will stop working.
How to check if you need to act on this?
Check if Analytics is receiving consent signals following the 5 steps in this Google’s Analytics Help article. Briefly:
In GA4, go to Admin → Property Settings → Data Collection → Data Streams → Click open the data stream → Open consent settings sections
All set up well, if this what you see
If you see something like this, action is required
Two ways to solve this issue
Custom-made consent management platforms
There are 16 Google-certified consent management platforms. In this Google Ads support article Google explains how you can unlock the power of consent mode using CMPs.
Note that using a Google-certified consent management platform doesn’t (according to our research) automatically mean that you have everything correctly set up for this change.
Custom-made consent management systems
In case you have built a custom-made consent management solution for your specific needs, you should consult the party you have developed the system with.
Do you want help in solving this?
Contact us. We have helped many clients correctly set up Google-certified consent management platforms. Our preferred solution is Cookiebot. Cookiebot has recently published an extensive article on this topic.
Don’t hesitate to contact me if you need help:
Mob. +358 44 5555 967
Email: mirka(at)balanced-growth.fi
LinkedIn: Mirka Tallus
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