Consent mode v2 surprised everyone, especially those who barely managed to master all the issues of the basic version of privacy. Google announced the new version at the end of December 2023, and gave all users until March 2024 to implement it. How nice, right? So what do you say, ready to buckle up and go on a wild ride on the highway called privacy? As poetic as it may sound, it’s time to wipe away the bitter tears and roll up your sleeves to work hard so that your data will repay you in the future!
Agenda:
- What is consent mode v2?
- Basic vs advanced consent mode
- Types of consent required
- What is changing in the new consent mode v2?
- How to setup consent mode?
- How to use consent mode in Google Ads?
- Consent management platform
- Consent mode – sneak peak at the code
- Digital Market Act
What is consent mode v2?
The issue of privacy itself has been raised for a long time, and with the coming entry into force of the Digital Service Act, every website in the EEA area must comply with the new user privacy regulations. For this reason, consent mode alone has not been enough to exhaustively demonstrate that a user is knowingly taking consent to receive personalized ads, for example.
Moreover, creative marketers very often exchanged various experiences on how to “improve” the effectiveness of the consent mode banner, understood as less data loss. Tested different forms of banners, message content or definitions of what “ad_storage” means. Finally, a webinar from Google in December introduced a new perspective from which there is no turning back: consent mode v2.
Watch event here: https://marketingplatformacademy.withgoogle.com/events/consent-mode-deep-dive-for-web-and-app-power-durable-performance-in-2024
Basic vs advanced consent mode
The biggest novelty of the announced changes appeared to be the distinction between basic consent mode and advanced consent mode. The main difference is how the data is modeled in a situation where the user does not consent to cookies.
Types of consent required
Google presented 5 basic types of consent in the first version of its consent mode modeling framework:
- ad_storage
- analytics_storage
- personalization_storage
- functionality_storage
- security_storage
What is changing in the new consent mode v2?
In the new introduced consent mode v2, which comes into effect in March 2024, two additional fields will be mandatory. These will largely determine the measurement of the effectiveness of marketing channels.
- ad_user_data
- ad_personalization
How to setup consent mode?
Below you will find two really great tutorials from Google that will bring you closer to the topic. I strongly encourage you to watch both – the first one is about Google Analytics, while the second one talks about Google Ads.
How to use consent mode in Google Ads?
Consent management platform
If you don’t want to make manual changes to the site’s code, or don’t have developers to do so, use one of Google’s trusted partners to implement consent mode, called consent management platform.
Below you will find official recommendations from Google’s source material:
- Cookiebot
- Usercentrics
- Ubenda
- Osano
- Sourcepoint
- OneTrust
- Tag Commander
- Consent manager
- LiveRamp
- Cookie information
- Crown peak
- Didomi
Consent mode – sneak peak at the code
Last but not least, let’s take a look behind the scenes and see what happens in the page code in each of the assumed scenarios. To be able to manually make these changes to the page code, you need to be familiar with JavaScript. I don’t recommend doing it yourself, but it’s always a good idea to take a look at the official Google materials posted on the GitHub platform. It is there that you can take a look at what a proper implementation of banners with consent should look like.
Digital Market Act
Ever wondered, dear marketer, what’s behind all these changes related to cookie and privacy chaos? It’s none other than a new European law called the Digital Services Act (DSA), a legal framework developed by the European Union for the purpose of increasing user privacy.
It aims to modernize the digital space, focusing on the responsibilities of digital service providers, particularly large online platforms. The DSA addresses issues related to illegal content, transparent advertising and misinformation. It emphasizes protecting the rights of online users, ensuring a safer and more responsible digital environment. In addition, the DSA is part of a broader package of digital services laws that also includes the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which focuses on fair and open digital markets.
This means that in order for all your marketing activities to be fully legal, you need to keep abreast of this topic and make the changes required by law.
PS. Be sure that you follow the guru of Google Analytics, Simo Ahava: https://www.simoahava.com/custom-templates/consent-mode. Also, don’t forget to check out my very first episode of Another marketer with a podcast with Simo!