VaferGoogle Consent Mode v2 is a signalling system, not a blocker. It tells Google's tags what the shopper consented to, and the tags adjust their behaviour — full measurement with consent, anonymous cookieless pings without. Since March 2024, advertisers targeting the EEA or UK effectively must send it, or lose audience and measurement features.
The four signals
| Signal | Controls |
|---|---|
ad_storage | Advertising cookies (reading and writing) |
ad_user_data | Whether user data may be sent to Google for advertising — new in v2 |
ad_personalization | Personalised ads / remarketing — new in v2 |
analytics_storage | Analytics cookies such as _ga |
How it should behave on a Shopify store
- Defaults first, denied. Before any Google tag runs, a
consent defaultcommand sets all four signals todenied. Order matters: a default set after gtag.js has loaded arrives too late. - Update on choice. When the shopper accepts or rejects categories, a
consent updatemaps them across — analytics consent →analytics_storage, marketing consent → the three ad signals. - Modelling fills the gaps. With denied signals, Google receives cookieless pings and models conversions instead of tracking individuals. That is the trade Consent Mode offers: privacy compliance without going completely dark.
What Consent Mode does not do
It governs Google's tags only. Your Meta pixel, TikTok pixel and Klaviyo snippet neither send nor receive these signals — they need actual script blocking. And Consent Mode does not decide when consent is required; that is your per-region policy — opt-in for the EEA, opt-out for the US.
Checking it works: in devtools' Network tab, Google requests carry a
gcs parameter. G100 means denied, G111 granted. Watch it flip when you accept.