Consent mode v2 vs v1: the changes to remember

To strengthen privacy, online platforms must comply with the requirements of the Digital Markets Act by 6 March 2024. Google has already taken steps to adapt to this, in particular with the introduction of Consent Mode v2 in December 2023.

Businesses should also implement this mode before the deadline to benefit from all of its features. We explain to you how to set up Consent Mode V2 and what changes compared to the previous version.

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⭐️ The main thing to remember about the v2 vs v1 consent mode:

• Google Consent Mode v1 focused on collecting consent data while Consent Mode v2 went further by controlling the use of this data in Google advertising products.
• To take advantage of the new features of Consent Mode V2, you need to set it up on your site.

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Consent Mode: what is it?

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The first version of Consent Mode was released on September 3, 2020. This tool is super handy because it allows businesses to track conversions even if users refuse cookies. In other words, they can always analyze their KPIs while respecting the consent of Internet users.

How does it work? Through modeling. Not all Internet users refuse cookies, so marketing experts can analyze the conversions of those who accept them. They also have access to the total volume of conversions. By combining these two types of data, they can model the conversions of users who refused cookies.

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Consent mode V2 vs v1: what's changing?

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Google Consent Mode v1 focused on collecting consent data. The new version, Google Consent Mode v2, goes further by controlling the use of this data in Google advertising products.

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Main new features of Consent Mode V2

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New Consent Settings

1. AD_user_data : This setting allows users to specify whether they consent to the sharing of their data with Google advertising products.
2. AD_Personalization : This setting allows users to specify whether they agree to be targeted by personalized retargeting ads by Google advertising products.

How does consent mode V2 work

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👉 If a user refuses to share their data with Google advertising products, the “ad_user_data” parameter is set to “denied”.

👉 If a user accepts this sharing, the “ad_user_data” parameter is set to “granted”.

👉 If a user rejects personalized ads, the “ad_personalization” setting is set to “denied.”

👉 If a user accepts personalized ads, the “ad_personalization” setting is set to “granted.”

These consent settings are sent systematically before any Google tag is triggered on the website to collect data.

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Consent mode V2 status codes

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When Google Consent Mode v2 is deployed, the hits generated by Google tags integrate a new “status code” via the “gcd” parameter into the hit payload. The format of this code is as follows:

11 {{ad_storage_consent_value}} 1 {{analytics_storage_consent_value}} 1 {{ad_user_data_consent_value}} 1 {{ad_personalization_consent_value}} 1 {{ad_personalization_consent_value}} 5

👉 Prefix: “11" (never changes)

👉 Separators: “1" (between each consent value)

👉 Suffix: “5" (or sometimes “7", never changes)

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Consent mode V2 consent parameter values

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👉 “p”: default “denied” value

👉 “t”: “granted” value by default

👉 “q”, “m”, “u”: value “denied” after update following a user interaction

👉 “r”, “n”, “v”: “granted” value after update following a user interaction

👉 “l”: consent parameter not defined

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With these new capabilities, Google Consent Mode v2 allows businesses to get more accurate analytics while respecting users' privacy choices.

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Consent mode V2 vs v1: the two levels of deployment

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The second novelty is the introduction of two levels for deploying Google Consent Mode v2:

1. Google Consent Mode v2 (advanced)
2. Google Consent Mode v2 (basic)

Before diving into the details of these two options, here is a diagram that shows the intersection of the two main new features brought by Google Consent Mode v2.

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Consent mode V2 basic

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With Google Consent Mode v2 (basic), if a user has not yet interacted with the website's custom cookie banner or third-party CMP, Google tags are blocked and do not send any data to Google servers, not even anonymized data via “lightweight” pings.

When a user interacts with the personalized cookie banner or the third-party CMP, Google beacons adapt their data collection according to the consent parameters chosen. With this level of deployment, Google beacons will never send anonymized data via “lightweight” pings to Google servers.

Data collection with Google Consent Mode v2 (basic) is therefore more stringent than with the advanced version. By using Google Consent Mode v2 (basic), you're sending less data to Google advertising products. This results in less accurate conversion modeling because it is based solely on data from users who have consented, which limits the optimization of your advertising performance.

To better understand the differences between Google Consent Mode v2 (advanced) and Google Consent Mode v2 (basic) and their final impact, here are two additional explanatory tables:

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Consent mode V2 advanced

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With Google Consent Mode v2 (advanced), even if a user has not yet interacted with the website's custom cookie banner or third-party CMP, Google beacons send anonymized data in the form of “lightweight” pings to Google servers.

Here's what happens in this case:

👉 Google beacons cannot read or write cookies in the user's browser.

👉 User data (such as hashed first-party data and user_id) is not shared with Google advertising products.

👉 The user cannot be targeted by personalized advertising (retargeting) via Google advertising products.

When the user then interacts with the personalized cookie banner or the third-party CMP, Google beacons adjust their data collection according to the consent parameters defined.

Data collection is therefore similar to that of Google Consent Mode v1.

With Google Consent Mode v2 (advanced), you transmit more data to the Google advertising products you use. This allows for more accurate conversion modeling, which helps you optimize your advertising performance even better.

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Setting up Consent Mode V2 on your site

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To take advantage of the new features of Consent Mode V2, you need to set it up on your site. If you have technical skills, like manipulating lines of code, you can call a gtag command on every page of your site. If not, you can use the dedicated template in Google Tag Manager (GTM).

Next, you will need to configure the privacy and consent settings on your site. To do this, use the GCD (Google Consent Default) setting, which looks like this: 11 {{ad_storage}} 1 {{analytics_storage}} 1 {{ad_user_data}}} 1 {{ad_user_data}}} 1 {{ad_personalization}} 5.

If you need help setting up Consent Mode V2, feel free to contact our

Ads agency to optimize your advertising campaigns.

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