Consent Mode v2: signals, modelling and what you need to check

Consent Mode v2 is the interface through which your website tells Google what a person has consented to. If you run Google Ads for users in the EEA, the UK or Switzerland, you need their consent, and Consent Mode is how that decision reaches Google. This article explains the four signals, the difference between basic and advanced implementation, when Google estimates missing conversions and how to check your setup in six steps. As of November 2026.

In short

• Consent Mode translates the banner for Google: every consent becomes signals that Google tags follow.
• Four signals matter for advertising and analytics: ad_storage, ad_user_data, ad_personalization and analytics_storage.
• Basic or advanced: in basic mode nothing flows when someone declines, in advanced mode cookieless pings flow.
• Modelling has a threshold: Google only estimates missing conversions above a minimum number of clicks.
• The most common error is invisible: the banner works, but the signals reach the tags wrongly or too late.

What Consent Mode v2 is

Consent Mode is not a banner. The banner (the consent management platform, CMP for short) asks the person, and Consent Mode passes the answer on to Google tags. Each signal has the value granted or denied. Google for Developers describes the signals like this:

"v2" refers to the version with the two signals ad_user_data and ad_personalization in addition to the older ad_storage and analytics_storage. A setup that only sets the old signals is not complete for advertising in the EEA.

The obligation behind it is in Google's EU user consent policy: for end users in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, you have to provide certain information and obtain consent. If you do not comply, Google can restrict or suspend your use of the service.

Basic or advanced: the two implementations

In its Ads help pages, Google distinguishes two implementations. The difference lies in what happens before and after someone declines.

According to Google, the cookieless pings are not used to track individuals across websites, build remarketing lists or create profiles. They still send data to Google before consent. Whether that fits your banner and your legal view is something you decide with your data protection adviser, not with your agency alone. For our campaigns at ad.boutique, the principle we also describe on the page Performance Marketing applies: we only measure after consent.

When Google estimates missing conversions

If a person declines, Google does not see their purchase or enquiry directly. Conversion modelling exists for this gap: Google estimates conversions and lists them in the "Conversions" column and in the reports. According to Google's help pages, model training only starts when two conditions are met:

1. Consent mode is active as intended, or the IAB Transparency & Consent Framework 2.0 is integrated correctly.
2. The account reaches at least 700 ad clicks within 7 days per country and domain grouping.

For many accounts in Austria and Switzerland, the second condition is the real hurdle. A regional property developer or an employer with a recruiting campaign rarely reaches this number of clicks per country. Then there is no modelling, and every decline is missing from the data. For such accounts, work on a clear, fair banner pays off more than any technical refinement. It also helps to send qualified enquiries from the CRM back to Google, as described in the article Sending leads back to Meta and Google.

What changed in June 2026

According to an analysis by the CMP provider Usercentrics, since 15 June 2026 ad_storage alone decides whether advertising data from the Google Analytics tag flows into Google Ads. Google Signals no longer plays a role in this decision. The Analytics tag now behaves the way the Google Ads tag always has. Nothing has changed for ad_user_data, ad_personalization and analytics_storage.

In practice, this means: if you import conversions from Google Analytics into Google Ads and have relied on Google Signals, check whether ad_storage really switches to granted after consent. Otherwise these conversions are missing from your bidding.

Checking Consent Mode in 6 steps

1. Check the defaults: before the first Google tag, a default must be set for all signals, usually denied for visitors from the EEA and Switzerland.
2. Check the update: after a click on "Accept", the signals have to switch to granted, on the same page, not only on the next page view.
3. Check all four signals: if ad_user_data or ad_personalization are missing, the setup is not on v2.
4. Secure tags without built-in checks: in Tag Manager, you can add extra checks under Advanced and Consent settings, for example for third-party tags.
5. Test a decline: decline in the banner and check in Tag Assistant what still loads. In basic mode, it must not be a Google tag.
6. Reconcile the numbers: compare purchases or enquiries in the shop or CRM with the conversions in the account. A gap far above your decline rate points to a technical error.

For online shops, this includes the question of whether server-side tracking makes sense. It does not replace consent, but it makes measurement more robust. Details are in the article Server-side tracking for online shops.

Typical errors we see in accounts

• The banner loads after the Google tag. The tags fire once without a signal before the CMP sets the default.
• Declining is harder than accepting. This can be legally problematic and distorts your data anyway.
• A second tracking path bypasses the banner. For example, a hard-coded plugin that sends data regardless of consent.
• Switzerland is forgotten. The region in the banner only covers the EU, although Google names Switzerland explicitly.
• Nobody checks after updates. A new theme, a plugin or a change of CMP resets the order of the scripts.

What a tracking error means for your ad costs is shown in the article What does Google Ads cost?: Google always optimises for what you report.

Switzerland: Google's policy and the revFADP

In Switzerland, two sets of rules meet. Google's policy explicitly requires consent for advertising purposes there too. The revised Federal Act on Data Protection governs the processing of personal data itself, and in some places differently from the GDPR. If you run campaigns in Austria, Germany and Switzerland, you need a banner that covers all three regions properly. More on this in the article Marketing tracking in Switzerland under the revFADP.

How we work at ad.boutique

Before any budget flows with us, measurement is in place: Tag Manager, enhanced conversions in Google Ads, Consent Mode v2 and feeding data back from the CRM or shop. Consent Mode is also one of the ten points in the free Google Ads audit, which you can tick off yourself. This article is not legal advice.

ad.boutique is a performance marketing agency in Vienna and Zurich. If you want to know whether your account is losing data, book an intro call.