Background
The digital ads ecosystem has been evolving tremendously in recent years: Multiple regulations now enforce user consent, affecting how businesses collect, process, and share personal data.
Regulations like the ePrivacy Directive (Directive 2022/58/EC) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), require businesses offering goods and services online to users in the EEA (European Economic Area) to prove a legal basis for the processing of personal data. This is why end-user consent plays an increasingly vital role.
What’s new is the Digital Markets Act (also known as DMA, or Regulation 2022/1925), which was approved in 2023 and enters into force in March 2024. This legislation introduces various requirements for Google and other big companies (nominated as ‘gatekeepers’). One central requirement is that gatekeepers are now responsible for collecting user consent from people using their core platform services.
Introducing Consent Mode v2
Google’s Consent Mode v2 is a mechanism that allows businesses to pass consent signals from their cookie banner to Google. It adjusts the behavior of tags in Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Google Marketing Platform, and Google Ads based on user consent status, ensuring that consent choices are respected. Essentially, it lets you communicate whether your website visitors have agreed to share their personal data with Google for the use of advertising, including measurement and personalization.
Google’s updates to Consent Mode happens in light of regulatory changes and increased user demand for privacy. The main difference in the updated version is the introduction of two additional consent parameters:
- ad_user_data is used to determine whether the user gives consent for Google’s advertising purposes. This will be set to ‘granted’ when the user actively agrees to their data being shared with Google through a consent banner interaction.
- ad_personalization controls whether data can be used for ads personalization (e.g. for remarketing). It can only be set to ‘granted’ when users specifically agree (through the consent banner) that their data is shared with Google for the purpose of ad personalization.
When a user gives their consent, Google can use these tools for detailed insights and analytics. If a user doesn’t consent, Google limits the use of cookies and identifiers accordingly.
One advantage of Consent Mode v2 is that it uses conversion modeling to understand user behavior and website performance even when consent isn’t given. Conversion modeling uses machine learning to predict the actions of non-consented, based on the actions of consented users. This gives you data which might otherwise be lost due to consent preferences, fills in conversion gaps, and ensures that your data remains comprehensive and accurate. Ultimately, conversion modeling helps you make informed decisions based on user interactions with your website.
Maintain your advertising effectiveness after March 2024 with Consent Mode v2
Implementing Consent Mode v2 is vital for businesses who wish to continue using Google Ads in the EEA markets. Because without it, they’ll no longer be able to track conversions accurately or optimize their ad spend effectively.
On top of that, you miss out on 30-60% (depending on the industry) of your data due to non-consented users, which hinders accurate performance measurement.
Consent Mode uses conversion modeling – which uses Google’s machine learning algorithm – to fill in the gaps in conversion data caused by users rejecting cookies. Modeled conversions use data that does not rely on identifiable signals, but instead uses device type, conversion types, country, time of day, or browser types to model the behaviour of users who decline analytics cookies – based on the behaviour of similar users who do accept analytics cookies. This helps your business gain additional insights and improve reporting, attribution, and bidding strategies.
Advertisers who don’t implement Google Consent Mode v2 by March 2024, won’t benefit from these insights. This means that they’ll end up analyzing website performance and optimizing Google Ads campaigns based on inaccurate and incomplete data (limited to the information received solely from users who consent to analytics and marketing cookies).
Finally, advertisers will not be able to capture any new data from EEA users in their audience lists after March 2024 without Consent Mode v2. This significantly affects the performance of their remarketing and engagement campaigns, but also all measurements related to EEA users.
The solution: Combining a certified Consent Management Platform with Consent Mode v2
Google collaborates with 9 certified CMP Partners to help businesses adopt Consent Mode v2.
Cookie Information’s consent management platform is one of them – ensuring you seamlessly integrate with Consent Mode v2 and respect your users’ privacy while adhering to the latest regulations.
Start with a 14-day free trial and discover all the advantages of a compliant consent solution that supports your marketing goals.
