From March 2024, the use of Google Consent Mode V2 will be mandatory for all websites using Google services... in principle, you are one of them!
You must therefore adapt the way you collect and manage the consent of Internet users who visit your site now.
Why March 2024, and especially such a short notice period?
Simply because Google must comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA), a European Union regulation aimed at regulating major digital platforms (the”Gatekeepers“).
How does Google Consent Mode work and what is the point in switching to it, beyond the March 2024 obligation?
When they browse your website, visitors give (or refuse to give) their consent to advertising tracking and data collection for audience measurement purposes.
The Consent Mode communicates this consent to Google tags, which allows them to identify whether they can use cookies for the purposes mentioned above.
Two cases are then possible:
→ Without consent, Google sends an anonymized ping without cookies, which will be the basis for viewing the site.
→ With consent, data collection is normally carried out through tags.
Google uses modeling techniques to estimate missing data and conversion differences based on anonymized ping, which will help you maintain a reasonable measure of the performance of your advertising campaigns and your website, despite the restrictions imposed by refusing consent for cookies.
Consent mode therefore has a significant advantage: it makes it possible to reconstruct an audience or conversion measure even when users refuse the initial consent.
What do you need to organize right now?
- Checking your consent collection method (CMP)
Ensure that your website uses a consent management solution (CMP) that is compliant and certified by Google. This is essential to gather user consent in a manner that is GDPR compliant and compatible with Consent Mode v2.
- Preparing to use Consent Mode v2
Integrate and configure Google Consent Mode v2 on your website. This involves understanding and implementing the new Consent Mode settings, such as `ad_user_data`and`Ad_Personalization`, to control the collection and use of user data.
These two parameters are used to “prove” the user's consent, which is the main novelty of V2.
There are now 2 levels of implementing Consent Mode; Consent Mode Basic and Consent Mode Advanced - Consent mode advanced is cookieless mode.
- Training and awareness-raising
Update your knowledge and that of your team on how Consent Mode v2 works, including the distinction between advanced and basic consent modes, and their implications for data collection and ad targeting.
- Adequate configuration of your GA4 migration
If you haven't already done so, plan to migrate to GA4, which is better equipped to work with Consent Mode and offers advanced tracking features in a cookieless environment.
- Monitoring and reporting
Put in place mechanisms to monitor the effectiveness of your advertising campaigns in the context of Consent Mode v2.
This may include adjusting your KPIs and setting up new reports to measure the impact of consent choices on campaign performance.
