Google Adds New Elements to its ‘Consent Mode’ to Ensure Your Site Aligns with User Data Permissions

Google’s looking to make it easier for website developers to manage their privacy permissions and data collection, with some new updates to its Consent Mode in Google Ads which automatically adjusts the data collected from each page in line with visitor permissions.

As it sounds, Consent Mode is Google’s management console for cookie tracking, which aligns with the permissions that users agree to (or not) when they visit your site.

The new management tools will provide more capacity to adjust your Consent Mode settings to ensure you’re operating in line with each user.

As explained by Google:

“In coming months, you’ll be able to view troubleshooting alerts in your diagnostics tabs and see domain-level insights about your tagging and consent rate. You’ll also be able to download a list of URLs and access Google Tag Assistant’s consent debugging tools to help you fix issues with your setup.”

Google’s also adding new recommendations in the diagnostics tab, while it’s also simplifying the Consent Mode display.

“To help marketers confidently set up Consent Mode, we’ve built new support and troubleshooting features in Google Ads, bringing clear guidance right to your screen. On your conversion summary page in Google Ads, the status column will indicate whether Consent Mode is properly implemented. It will also let you access diagnostics directly from there or on the conversion action settings page.”

That’ll make it much easier to see what data you’re capturing, and how your site visitors are responding, while also ensuring you remain in line with user permissions.

Finally, Google’s also launching a new Consent Manager Platform Partner program, which will enable third-party platforms to integrate with Google Tag Manager on cookie tracking elements.

Data collection management has become a much bigger part of maintaining a website, and as such, you need tools to ensure that you’re operating in line with evolving privacy laws, and the use of visitor data.

Consent Mode can provide valuable insights and assistance on this, and it may be worth digging into the various reports on offer, and how they improve your approach.