An overview of Google Consent Mode! the four key benefits of using it across Google products and how it impacts the migration to Google Analytics 4.
Four years after GDPR regulations came into effect! data privacy continues to shape the future direction of the internet. The phase-out of third-party cookies is one of the biggest changes taking place across the industry right now! shaping everything from the future of advertising and analytics! as seen with the rollout of Google Analytics 4 (GA4).
In 2020! Google launched Consent Mode for its analytics and advertising systems to simplify consent and data management. The tool makes it easier to capture! record and comply with users’ consent choices. Crucially! it allows you to collect non-identifying data – even when users opt out – instead of losing 100% of the data while adhering to GDPR and other privacy guidelines.
What is Google Consent Mode?
Consent Mode is a cross-platform rcs data consent system that allows you to adjust how tags in Google Analytics! Google Ads! etc. behave! based on the consent choices of users. The tool first launched in September 2020 to help website owners handle the challenges of managing data consent post-GDPR.
Now! the tool is an instrumental part of the search giant’s plans for moving away from third-party cookies.
Consent management consists of three key requirements:
- Allowing your users to deny or grant evaluate the available budget consent for storing information about their behaviour.
- Communicating those consent choices to the measurement system.
- Ensuring that Google and third-party tags comply with users’ consent choices.
Typically! websites use software tools called Consent Management Platforms (CMPs) to handle requirements 1 and 2. This usually involves some kind of a popup requesting consent from the user with several options and information about the types of tracking being used.
Consent Mode is designed to handle the third requirement by ensuring Google and third-party tags comply with users’ consent choices.
The following Google services currently support Consent Mode:
- Google Analytics
- Google Ads (Google Ads Conversion Tracking and Remarketing)
- Floodlight (conversion tracking system for Google Marketing Platform (360))
- Conversion Linker
Consent Mode is an API that allows all australia database directory of these services to operate based on user consent settings. Users can choose their consent options for each service independently and Google consent will store this information for future sessions.
So! if users opt in for certain settings on your website for Google Analytics but refuse certain settings for Google Ads! these options are stored and respected across future sessions without any interruption to your data collection or issues with privacy guidelines! such as GDPR.