Advertising
Log in to saveDigital marketing term
Consent Mode
A Google tags behavior layer that changes what tags do based on analytics and ads consent. When users decline, measurement may be modeled rather than fully cookied.
Detailed explanation
Consent Mode v2 became central in Europe-like regimes for ads and analytics tags. If the user declines, tags may send cookieless pings that Google uses for conversion modeling.
The CMP must talk to the tag manager. A banner that assumes “accepted” is both a legal and a measurement error.
Modeled conversions are not a raw order log. Reports should separate observed and modeled numbers.
Frequently asked questions
- Is all data lost when consent is denied?
- Cookied measurement is. Modeled estimates may remain. That is not a person-level purchase list.
- Is a cookie banner enough?
- No. Consent state must be passed into tags or they fire incorrectly for both law and Consent Mode.
Related terms
Internal links for the topic cluster — read these concepts together.
- GTMGoogle’s container for shipping tags without a code deploy every time. Analytics, pixels, and conversion events should live here under versioned releases.
- GA4Google Analytics 4: an event-based measurement model for sites and apps. Report logic is not a 1:1 copy of Universal Analytics.
- Conversion APISending conversion and event data from your server to an ad platform instead of relying only on a browser pixel. It fills gaps left by cookie and tracking limits.
- Third-Party CookieA cookie set by a domain other than the site you are visiting. For years it powered retargeting and cross-site tracking; browsers have been restricting it.
- UTMUTM parameters are tags added to a URL so analytics can distinguish campaign traffic by source, medium, and content.