Google Consent Mode v2 on WordPress, in plain English
Consent Mode is how your site tells Google's tags what a visitor agreed to. Version 2 added two signals about advertising. Here is what it does, what it does not do, and how to see whether your site is sending it.
What it is
Google's tags (Analytics, Ads, Tag Manager) can be told, on every page, what the visitor has allowed. Consent Mode is the name for that message. It does not show a banner and it does not ask anyone anything: your consent banner does that, and then passes the answer to Google through Consent Mode.
The four signals
| Signal | What it controls |
|---|---|
analytics_storage | Cookies and storage for analytics, such as visit measurement |
ad_storage | Cookies and storage for advertising |
ad_user_data | Whether user data may be sent to Google for advertising. New in v2 |
ad_personalization | Whether ads may be personalised, for example remarketing. New in v2 |
Each is either granted or denied. The usual arrangement for visitors who must be asked first: all four start as denied when the page loads, and the ones the visitor allows are switched to granted when they choose.
Why version 2 matters
Google requires the two newer signals for sites that use its advertising products with visitors in the European Economic Area and the UK. Without them, features such as remarketing audiences and conversion measurement for those visitors can stop working. If you run Google Ads and have European visitors, this is the part that affects you directly. Google's own documentation is the authority on the exact requirements, and they change: check it for your products.
Basic and advanced: two ways to use it
| Basic | Advanced | |
|---|---|---|
| Before the visitor answers | Google's tags do not load at all | The tags load, with every signal denied, and send limited, cookieless pings |
| If the visitor says no | Nothing is sent to Google | Cookieless pings continue; Google can use them to model what it could not measure |
| What you gain | The simplest position to explain: nothing ran | Better estimates in your reports |
Neither is "the compliant one". They are different trade-offs, and which is acceptable for your site is a question about your visitors and your legal advice, not about the plugin. Know which one you are running, because the two-minute network test looks different for each.
How to check your site
- Open your site in a private window and open the developer tools, Console tab.
- Type
dataLayerand press Enter. Expand the list. - Near the top, look for an entry beginning
"consent", "default"with the four signals. That is the starting position. - Press Accept on your banner and type
dataLayeragain. A new entry beginning"consent", "update"should have appeared, with the signals you allowed set togranted.
If there is no default entry, or it comes after Google's tag has already loaded, Consent Mode is not set up correctly: the order matters. If you use Tag Manager, its Preview mode has a Consent tab that shows the same thing per event.
What Consent Mode does not do
- It only speaks to Google's tags. A Meta Pixel, Hotjar, Clarity or LinkedIn tag neither reads nor obeys it. Those need to be held back another way.
- It does not show a banner, store a choice, or keep a record.
- It does not make a site lawful by being switched on.
How TidyConsent handles it
TidyConsent sets all four signals to denied before any tag runs and updates them the moment a visitor chooses. Separately, it holds back the scripts of eleven common tools, Google's included, until their category is allowed, so the tools that ignore Consent Mode wait too. There is nothing to configure for either.
Want it handled for you?
TidyConsent is a free WordPress plugin that holds eleven common tools back until each visitor agrees, works behind page caches, and sets Consent Mode v2. Or let us look at your site first.
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