What Consent Mode does
Consent Mode lets you adjust the behavior of Google tags to the consent state passed to them. Google's documentation also lists ad_user_data and ad_personalization alongside the advertising and analytics storage states. You need to set a default state and update it according to the user's choice.
This is a technical component, not a mechanism that decides on its own what you may collect. Setting a consent policy and legal obligations needs a separate review according to the business and the applicable law.
The banner and the tags must work together
We recommend first checking the loading order: what the state is before the user chooses, and what changes after acceptance or refusal. A banner that looks fine can be disconnected from the tags, and the reverse is also true: a tag can be set up correctly but not receive the update from the banner.
Google distinguishes between a basic and an advanced implementation. In an advanced implementation, signals may also be sent in the denied state, depending on the tag type and the setup. So you should not promise that "nothing is sent" just because the value denied appears.
Acceptance checks for a project
Open a new visit and check before any choice, after refusal, after acceptance and after changing the choice. Also check moving between pages and reloading. In each state, make sure the consent system and the tags show the same choice.
Document which tool manages consent and who is responsible for updating it. Do not assume that every third-party tag automatically follows Google's signals; check each one separately. Before handing over the site, save the test results and the version of the implementation. That way you can later tell a technical change, a policy change and a reporting gap apart.
Source and further reading
Facts about the platform are based on the linked source. The working recommendations and examples are our professional analysis. Checked on October 25, 2026.
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