If you use Google Analytics to see how many people visit your site, or Google Ads to advertise, you may have been told you need something called Consent Mode.
Here is what it is, without the jargon.
The problem it solves
Your cookie banner asks visitors whether they are happy to be tracked. Some say yes. Some say no.
Before Consent Mode, you had two options for the ones who said no: track them anyway, which you are not allowed to do, or switch Google off completely for them, which means they vanish from your numbers entirely.
Neither is great. The first is a problem. The second means your visitor figures quietly stop reflecting reality.
What it changes
Consent Mode adds a middle option.
Instead of switching Google off, your website tells Google what each visitor agreed to. Google then adjusts what it does accordingly.
Someone who said yes is measured normally. Someone who said no is not tracked, but Google still knows a visit happened, without storing anything about who they were.
The practical upshot: you keep a more honest picture of your traffic, without tracking people who asked you not to.
Do you actually need it?
If you use Google Ads and advertise to people in Europe: yes, in practice. Since March 2024 Google has required it for advertisers targeting the EU in order to keep using features like showing ads to people who have visited before.
If you only use Google Analytics: it is not compulsory, but without it your numbers get less accurate as more people decline.
If you use neither: this does not apply to you. A cookie banner on its own is what you need.
How it fits with your cookie banner
Consent Mode is not a banner and it does not replace one. It is the part that carries the message.
Something still has to ask the visitor and record the answer. That is your cookie notice's job. Consent Mode is what passes that answer along to Google.
In order:
- A visitor arrives, and nothing is assumed: the answer starts as "no"
- Your banner asks what they are happy with
- Their answer is passed to Google
- Google adjusts what it does for that visitor
Miss step 3 and the banner is for show. People click "accept", and nothing downstream is any different.
The two mistakes worth avoiding
Assuming yes until told otherwise. It has to start as no, and only become yes once someone actually chooses. Starting the other way round means collecting things you were not allowed to collect.
Forgetting people come back. The answer needs to be remembered and used again on the next visit, before anything loads. Otherwise you are effectively starting from scratch every time.
Getting it set up
If someone else built your site, this is a good thing to ask them about directly: does our cookie banner tell Google what people chose?
If you are looking after it yourself, most decent cookie notice tools handle it for you. Ours does. Our Cookie Notice tool supports Google Consent Mode, so the answer your visitor gives is passed on without you needing to wire anything up.
This is general guidance, not legal advice. If your site handles anything sensitive, it is worth asking someone qualified where you are.