The digital advertising landscape is changing faster than a Christchurch southerly, and with privacy rules tightening globally, staying compliant while maintaining robust data integrity has become the biggest challenge for marketers. We know this because they tell us that all the time.
If you run Google Ads or Google Analytics, there’s one term you need to be across right now: Google Consent Mode v2 (GCM v2). It’s not just a minor update; it’s a serious shift, one that determines whether you can continue to gather the data you need for effective advertising in a privacy-first world. Yikes.
At Empire9, we are pros at navigating these complex shifts. Here is our breakdown of why V2 is a huge deal… and most importantly, how to make sure your business is set up correctly.
V1 vs. V2: A Quick Explainer
Back in 2020, Google launched the first version of Consent Mode (V1) as a direct response to data privacy legislation like the EU’s GDPR.
Google Consent Mode v1 was a simpler tool. Its job was to help your website communicate a user’s cookie consent choice to Google’s tags (Analytics and Ads). It primarily focused on two settings:
- analytics_storage: Did the user consent to store data for analytics?
- ad_storage: Did the user consent to store data for advertising?
It was a basic “yes/no” for major categories. But the next generation is going granular…
The V2 Evolution: Granularity and Control
The key difference with Google Consent Mode v2 is a significant increase in granularity and control over how data is used for advertising and personalisation.
V2 introduces two new, more specific parameters that govern data usage after it’s been collected:
| Consent Status | Purpose | Key Function |
|---|---|---|
| analytics_storage | Enables storage for measurement and analytics (e.g., Google Analytics cookies). | Core V1 Setting |
| ad_storage | Enables storage for advertising purposes (e.g., ad campaign cookies). | Core V1 Setting |
| ad_user_data | Governs whether a user consents to having their data sent to Google for advertising. | Crucial for Audience Lists/Conversion Reporting. |
| ad_personalization | Governs whether the data can be used for remarketing and personalised advertising. | Crucial for Tailored Campaigns/Remarketing. |
| functionality_storage | Enables storage supporting essential website functionality (e.g., language settings, shopping cart persistence). | Ensures the website works as intended. |
| personalization_storage | Enables storage related to user-specific personalisation (e.g., video recommendations, site theme choices). | Influences content display. |
| security_storage | Enables storage related to security (e.g., authentication, fraud prevention). | Essential for secure website operation. |
In short, V2 separates the consent for storing data (ad_storage) from the consent for using that data for personalised ads (ad_personalization), while also providing more granular controls for other site functions.
The Big Problem & The Smart Solution
The Problem: The Data Cliff
In V1, if a user denied consent (opted-out of cookies), your Google tags would effectively stop firing. This meant two things:
- Compliance: You were compliant (good).
- Data Loss: You instantly lost visibility into the behaviour and conversions of a significant chunk of your audience (very bad).
This data loss, known as the ‘data cliff,’ makes optimisation and accurate ROI calculation near impossible.
The Solution: Conversion Modelling
This is where the power of GCM v2—specifically the Advanced implementation—comes into play.
By implementing Consent Mode v2 (Advanced), Google can still collect anonymous, cookieless pings even when a user explicitly denies consent. These pings are vital signals that do not identify the user.
Why are these pings a game-changer?
- They allow Google’s powerful machine learning models to model conversions and user behaviour.
- This modelling compensates for the missing data from users who denied consent.
- The result: You can maintain a far greater level of data integrity and ad efficiency, ensuring your ad spend is still working hard, all while respecting the user’s “denied” choice. It’s the ultimate compromise between privacy and performance.
Our thoughts?
The pressure is on to get this right. The future of your measurable digital advertising rests on your consent setup. Not to stress you out or anything… but we are serious advocates for measuring everything, and this is going to be a major player.
Here are the three essential checks for your business:
- Make sure you have consent to collect people’s data! This sounds obvious, but you must ensure your system is asking for and recording user choices legally.
- Make sure your consent banner is configured for compliance and accurate tracking. A compliant banner is just the first step; it must also communicate the user’s choices correctly to Google’s tags using V2’s parameters.
- Talk to us the experts! Getting the implementation right, especially the Advanced version for maximum data recovery, is highly technical. A small error can lead to a massive data gap.
Don’t let your data evaporate. Ensure you’re compliant and your campaigns stay on track.
If you’re unsure whether your current setup meets the V2 standards, get in touch with our specialist team in Christchurch. We’ll audit your setup and ensure you’re future-proofed for the new digital marketing era.
