After you have implemented your Consent Management Platform (CMP) with its Google Consent Mode v2 integration, it is a good idea to see if it is up and running. This post explains the process so you can check that things are firing and be at peace.
If you realize that you haven’t ACTUALLY set Consent Mode v2 up yet, then run over here, get your 30-day free trial.
And remember that you can set up Consent Mode v2 in different ways,which you can learn more about here in this very friendly explanation. But you can never do it without a Consent Management Platform, so first click that hyperlink 👆🏽in the previous paragraph and get your CMP account.
Ok, with that said.
The two methods, we’ll be talking about in this article, for checking if Consent Mode v2 is correctly set up, are:
- The browser-way
- The Google Tag Assistant way.
Let’s begin with the browser configuration.
How to verify Consent Mode v2 in your browser
This is the most straightforward way to check if Consent Mode v2 is working on your website. But it does not have to be your website. You can check someone else’s website as well with this method.
I call it the “source code way” because it makes me sound tech-savvy. But it is just about inspecting the website in any old browser.
1. First, open your browser and clear your cache.
2. Open up your website in incognito.
3. Do not click on the cookie banner.
4. Right-click on your page and choose “Inspect”.
5. Now, when in the “Matrix,” go to the Console tab in the panel, type “datalayer,” and press enter.
Do you see the events?
Look for the text (an event) called: “0: consent.” Now look below. You should also see events called ‘ad_ personalization’, ‘ad _storage'” and so on.
Notice that there are numbers for the events on the left. Every time you change something, like go back and say yes to cookies, a new event comes up.
When inspecting consent like this, always pick the last consent event to see the actual state of things.
Now, let’s test what happens when we say no to cookies.
6. Return to your website window and click accept all cookies on your cookie-banner.
7. Then, type in the data layer and choose the latest consent state.
Now go back, type in “data layer” again, and choose the latest consent state. All the parameters should be set to “granted.”
Congratulations! You have successfully implemented Consent Mode v2
Now, let’s look at another way to verify if Consent Mode v2 is working.
How to verify Consent Mode v2 in Google Tag Assistant?
If Google was a Doctor, and you needed to give your Consent Mode v2 a check-up, where would you go?
To Google’s Tag Assistant, of course.
Since you’ve probably implemented Consent Mode v2 via a template—I’m going to presume you’ve used Cookie Information’s tag template—checking the “situation” is relatively easy.
Using a Tag Template means picking a Consent Mode v2 template from Google’s Tag Gallery and adding it to your workspace. This is one of the many perks of using a Google-certified CMP platform like Cookie Information (humble brag.).
Ok. So, you’ve implemented Consent Mode v2 by adding our template, and you’re in theGoogle Tag Manager (GTM) workspace.
1. Go to the Preview Mode section, which you can access in the top-right corner when viewing your tags.
2. When pushing preview, you will get into Google Tag Assistant. Enter your domain name and click connect.
3. Your website will open with a popup that tells you it is connected to Google Tag Assistant. Make sure you clear the cache and cookies in this window.
4. Do not touch the cookie-banner popup!
5. Return to the GTM Tag Assistant page and ensure you are under the Consent tab.
6. All the consent types should be set to “denied.”
7. Return to your website and accept all cookies before returning to the GTM Tag Assistant page. Can you spot the difference? There is now a new consent event in the panel where all consent types should be “granted” and green.
Congratulations for making it this far. And for successfully ensuring that your Consent Mode v2 is working.
8. You can go back and forth like this, changing what you accept on your cookie-banner. Perhaps you are ok with statistical cookies but not marketing. Then, each consent state will be adjusted accordingly.
Take note:
You can also view the “tags” tab to see if your tags, in general, are working in synch with the cookie categories* that your visitors are accepting or denying.
*functional, statistical, marketing
But for this to work, first make sure you have implemented the so-called “SDK” in the GTM Cookie Control. SDK is short for Software Development Kit. Read more about how to set up the SDK here.
Ok, that’s it.
Happy Consent Mode-ing!