Google Consent Mode v2 – consent signals, basic vs advanced and the requirement for EEA advertisers

Definition

Google Consent Mode v2 is Google's technical framework that lets a website pass a visitor's consent choices to Google's tags through four signals – so that Google Ads and GA4 can adapt measurement and advertising to what the visitor has accepted.

What is Google Consent Mode v2?

Google Consent Mode v2 is a technical framework from Google that lets your website pass a visitor's consent choices to Google's tags – such as GA4 and Google Ads – in real time. Depending on what the visitor accepts, the tags adapt their behaviour: without consent, no cookies are stored, but in some modes Google can receive anonymous, cookieless signals that it uses to model the missing data. The framework sits between your consent management platform (CMP) and Google's services – it is a signal layer, not a cookie banner.

The four consent signals

The original Consent Mode (v1) had two signals. Version 2 added two more, so a CMP now sends four signals to Google based on what the visitor has chosen:

• ad_storage – whether cookies for advertising may be stored.
• analytics_storage – whether cookies for analytics (GA4, for example) may be stored.
• ad_user_data – whether data may be sent to Google for advertising purposes.
• ad_personalization – whether data may be used for personalised advertising and remarketing.

The last two are new in v2 and govern how Google may use the data – not just whether cookies are stored.

Basic vs advanced consent mode – what is the difference?

There are two ways to implement Consent Mode, and the choice is a trade-off between legal caution and measurement precision:

• Basic – the Google tags are blocked entirely and do not load until the visitor actively accepts. Nothing at all is sent before then. Simpler and more cautious, but you lose measurement for everyone who declines.
• Advanced – the tags load straight away with the default value 'denied', and if consent is declined, they send anonymous, cookieless signals that Google uses to model conversions. This gives better measurement precision, but assumes you are comfortable with the tag loading before consent is given.

Be honest about the trade-off: modelled data is an estimate, not the same as events that were actually measured.

Why was v2 introduced – and what happens without it?

The two new signals were added to comply with the EU's Digital Markets Act and Google's consent policy. Since 6 March 2024, Google has required advertisers targeting traffic in the EEA and the UK to have Consent Mode v2 in place if they want to keep remarketing, conversion tracking and personalised ads. Without the signals, Google cannot receive the consent – so remarketing audiences are not built, and conversion data for EEA traffic breaks or is seriously undercounted. Source: Google Tag Platform.

Consent Mode v2 is not a cookie banner

The most common misunderstanding is that Consent Mode replaces the cookie banner. It does not. The banner – what the visitor sees and clicks on – comes from your CMP (consent management platform). Consent Mode is the layer that passes the visitor's choice on to Google's tags. You need both, and they form a chain: GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive require consent, the CMP captures and stores the choice, Consent Mode signals it to Google, and the tags adapt accordingly.