Consent mode
Consent mode is designed to help advertisers and publishers comply with data privacy laws. It works by enabling users to specify their consent preferences for tracking and analytics before any data is sent to Google's servers. Once consent preferences are set, consent mode determines which tags should be loaded, ensuring only authorized tags collect data.
Refer to the following pages for further information about consent mode v2:
- General information about consent mode
- Google - About consent mode (opens in a new tab)
- Google - Basic vs advanced consent mode (opens in a new tab)
- Google - Consent mode modeling (opens in a new tab)
- Google - EU user consent policy (opens in a new tab)
How to activate consent mode
New CookieHub installation
To utilize consent mode v2 with CookieHub, ensure your platform is updated to version 2.8.0 or later. This version includes support for the new consent signals and integration capabilities with Google services.
With Google Tag Manager
For domains utilizing CookieHub version 2.8.0 or newer, consent mode v2 is automatically enabled within the Google Tag Manager (GTM) template provided by CookieHub. If your domain was initially set up with an earlier version of the CookieHub GTM template, it's essential to upgrade to the latest version to take full advantage of consent mode v2's features.
To upgrade your template and ensure your domain benefits from the latest privacy and consent management capabilities, follow our detailed GTM installation instructions. These instructions will guide you through the process of updating your CookieHub template within GTM, ensuring your setup is current and compliant.
Google Tag Manager installation instructions.
Without Google Tag Manager
If you're not using Google Tag Manager (GTM) to integrate CookieHub, you can still enable consent mode v2 through the CookieHub dashboard by following these steps:
- Access your domain settings: Log in to your CookieHub dashboard and select the domain you wish to configure.
- Navigate to settings: Go to the Settings tab within the domain's dashboard.
- Enable Google consent mode (GCM): Locate the Google consent mode (GCM) option and check it to activate consent mode for your domain. This setting enables consent mode v2 by default for domains on CookieHub version 2.7 or later, while domains using earlier versions of CookieHub will activate the previous version of consent mode.
Previous installations (version < 2.8)
If you are currently using earlier versions of CookieHub, follow these steps to update to the latest version and activate consent mode.
Upgrade to the latest version of CookieHub (>=2.8.0)
- Log in to the CookieHub dashboard (opens in a new tab).
- Select the domain name that you wish to upgrade.
- Click the "Update to 2.8.0" button.
- In the pop-up dialog, click the "Upgrade" button.
- Finally, click the "Publish pending changes" button at the top to deploy the updated version.
If you don't use the default description text for the marketing category, update it to comply with Google's EU user consent policy:
- Click the "Content" tab.
- Select "Categories" in the left menu.
- If the "Marketing cookies (description)" doesn't match the default value, update it to align with Google's EU user consent policy or clear the text field to reset to the default version.
- If you updated the description, scroll to the top and click "Save & publish" to deploy the changes.
The changes take up to 5 minutes to propagate around our CDN networks. After the 5 minutes have past, do a hard refresh to force the browser to receieve the updated version.
Update the implementation
CookieHub can be implemented in three ways. Make sure you only implement using one of these methods and follow the instructions for the method that is currently being used on your website.
HTML/javascript implementation code
- In the CookieHub dashboard, go to the "My domains" section and click on the desired domain for editing.
- Navigate to the "Settings" tab.
- Ensure the "Consent mode" option is enabled in General settings. If not, click "Save & publish" to deploy the changes.
- Click the "Implementation" tab.
- Select "Manually insert the code"
- Copy the production code and replace your current CookieHub implementation code the new one.
Wordpress plugin
- In the CookieHub dashboard, go to the "My domains" section and click on the desired domain for editing.
- Navigate to the "Settings" tab.
- Ensure the "Consent mode" option is enabled in General settings. If not, click "Save & publish" to deploy the changes.
- Make sure you have the latest version of the CookieHub wordpress plugin installed.
- Go to the CookieHub wordpress plugin settings from the Wordpress admin panel (Settings -> CookieHub)
- Click the "Advanced Settings" tab and enable "Consent mode v2".
Google Tag Manager
If you're already using the CookieHub Google Tag Manager template, remove the current template and install the CookieHub GTM community template.
Basic consent mode
You can implement consent mode on your website or app using either of two methods:
-
Basic implementation: Prevents Google tags from loading until a user interacts with a consent banner. No data is transmitted to Google before user interaction. When the user consents, Google tags load and send the consent states to Google. If the user does not consent, no data is sent to Google, and tags are blocked from firing.
-
Advanced implementation: Google tags load when a user opens the website or app, setting default consent states (usually denied). The tags send cookieless pings until the user interacts with the banner. When consent is granted, the tags send full measurement data. This enables improved, advertiser-specific modeling compared to the basic implementation.
CookieHub is configured to use advanced implementation by default but here's how to switch to basic implementation depending on your installation method:
With Google Tag Manager
In Google Tag Manager, adjust all Google tags to use additional consent as described here: Additional consent. This is necessary to prevent the tags from firing until the user has consented.
Without Google Tag Manager
Basic implementation is only available in CookieHub 2.8.0 and later. Make sure you upgrade to the latest version before moving on.
- In the CookieHub dashboard, go to the "My domains" section and click on the desired domain for editing.
- Navigate to the "Settings" tab.
- Ensure the "Consent mode" option is enabled in General settings.
- In the Consent mode settings section, select "Basic consent mode"
- Scroll to the top and click "Save & publish" to deploy the changes.
Checking consent mode signals
To ensure your website's data collection practices are fully compliant and respecting user privacy, it's crucial to correctly implement and verify consent mode signals.
Discover how to check consent mode signals.
FAQ
Do I need to implement consent mode v2?
If your website uses Google services (such as Analytics or Ads) and you are subject to GDPR or similar privacy regulations, implementing consent mode v2 is highly recommended. It ensures that your site remains compliant by only collecting user data based on their consent preferences.
How does consent mode v2 differ from the previous version?
Consent mode v2 introduces significant enhancements over its predecessor by adding more nuanced consent types, allowing website owners to align more closely with user preferences and legal requirements for data privacy. The key differences lie in the consent types available for configuration:
New consent types in consent mode v2
-
ad_user_data: This new consent type allows websites to control the collection of user data for advertising purposes more granularly. It ensures that data collection practices for ads can be fine-tuned to match user consent, offering a clearer distinction between general data collection and data collection specifically intended for advertising.
-
ad_personalization: Another addition, ad_personalization, enables websites to specifically manage consent for personalized advertising. This consent type addresses the user's preference regarding the personalization of ads based on their behavior and browsing history.
Consent types previously available:
Before the introduction of consent mode v2, the available consent types primarily focused on broader categories of data collection and usage, including:
-
security_storage: Consent for storage or access that is strictly necessary for legitimate security purposes.
-
functionality_storage: This consent type covered the use of storage for functionality that is directly requested by the user or necessary for the communication over an electronic communications network.
-
personalization_storage: Related to the storage of information or access to information for personalization purposes.
-
analytics_storage: Consent related to the storage of information or access to information that is already stored on a user's device, specifically for analytics purposes.
-
ad_storage: Managed consent for the storage or access of information on a user's device for advertising purposes. This consent type has been a cornerstone for managing advertising data in a privacy-compliant manner.
The introduction of "ad_user_data" and "ad_personalization" in consent mode v2 provides website owners with the ability to more precisely manage consent settings related to advertising activities, thereby enhancing compliance with privacy regulations like GDPR. These new consent types reflect a shift towards giving end-users more control over their personal data and how it's used for advertising, ensuring that consent mechanisms are both transparent and tailored to individual preferences.