Consent Mode v2 Validator

What Is Google Consent Mode v2 and Why Is It Mandatory?

Google Consent Mode v2 is Google's framework for managing how its tags behave when users have not given consent to data collection. Introduced as a mandatory requirement for all European Economic Area (EEA) advertisers from March 2024, Consent Mode v2 extends the original framework by adding two new consent types — ad_user_data and ad_personalization — on top of the existing analytics_storage and ad_storage. Businesses that fail to implement Consent Mode v2 correctly risk losing access to GA4 audience features and Smart Bidding capabilities in Google Ads for EEA users.

This Consent Mode v2 validator checks your gtag consent configuration against Google's official requirements, ensuring all four required consent types are present, correctly named, and using valid values before you push to production.

The Four Required Consent Types in Consent Mode v2

A complete Consent Mode v2 implementation requires all four consent types to be explicitly set in your default consent configuration:

• analytics_storage — Controls whether GA4 can use cookies for measurement. When denied, GA4 uses cookieless pings and Google models the missing data.
• ad_storage — Controls whether Google Ads tags can use cookies for ad targeting and remarketing. When denied, Google Ads still records cookieless conversion pings.
• ad_user_data (NEW in v2) — Controls whether user data can be sent to Google for advertising purposes. Required for Enhanced Conversions and Customer Match to function for EEA users.
• ad_personalization (NEW in v2) — Controls whether personalised advertising (remarketing) is permitted. When denied, only non-personalised ads are shown to this user.

How Consent Mode v2 Works With Your CMP

Consent Mode v2 works in two phases. First, before any user interaction, you call gtag('consent', 'default', {...}) with all four consent types set to 'denied' (for EEA users) — this must happen before the GTM snippet loads. Second, when the user makes a choice on your Consent Management Platform (CMP) banner, the CMP calls gtag('consent', 'update', {...}) with the consent types updated to reflect the user's choices. GTM triggers consent-aware tags to fire or hold based on this signal.

The most critical implementation requirement is timing: the default consent call must run before the GTM container loads. If your CMP fires the default consent after GTM initialises, the first set of page load tags already fire in an unconsented state, violating GDPR and potentially the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Validate your Consent Mode configuration here, then verify timing with GTM Preview mode.

Consent Mode v2 and GA4 Data Modelling

When Consent Mode is correctly implemented, Google uses machine learning to model the behaviour of users who denied consent — estimating what their conversions and audiences would look like based on similar users who did consent. This modelled data appears in GA4 reports alongside observed data, giving you a more complete picture of your actual business performance despite privacy restrictions. Without Consent Mode, that data gap is simply missing — you see only the consenting minority, making campaign optimisation significantly less effective in privacy-conscious markets.