The online world is a continuously evolving landscape.
If it's not a new social platform to argue with strangers on the Internet, then it's a change to how our personal data is used.
You may have seen emails or heard a mention of Consent Mode, so we're going to take you on a little tour of what that means and what you, as a website owner, need to do.
Back in 2018, companies across the UK and other EU member states scrabbled to ensure they were compliant with the General Data Protection Legislation (more commonly known as GDPR).
This law governed how personal data was used, stored and processed.
It applied to all organisations and wasn't limited to just online companies.
Under GDPR, business operators (including website owners) are responsible for how they collect and process this personal data.
During this time, Google also defined its own EU User Consent Policy, which reflected the requirements of GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive, with a focus on the products and services that they provide.
Fast forward to 2020, and Google introduced 'Consent Mode', with the goal of helping website owners comply with GDPR.
With Consent Mode, Google gave website owners the ability to adjust the behaviour of websites or applications that set third-party cookies, based on the user’s consent status.
How did they do this? Yep, with Cookie banners.
As you probably know from experience, cookie banners can get in the way and appear all the time. But they are there for a reason.
For example; if you are on a website that uses Google Analytics, or any Google-provided service, then the website should ask your permission for the service to be utilised.
Crucially, the website should then respect your wishes.
It's important to note that Consent Mode does not provide the facility to use a consent banner or the equivalent, but will pick up the signals based on a consent banner to obtain consent.
This is a very important point to make because while websites may display a cookie banner, it does not necessarily mean they have enabled or implemented Consent Mode, and therefore, your consent may not be adjusted based on your wishes.
Under GDPR, the requirement is that of 'opt-in' - so the hope of many that they could collect data until the user says 'no' is out of the window, and data can only be collected once the user has said 'yes'.
Of course, this would prove to be a headache for anyone in the marketing/advertising world as 'Data Is King', but Consent Mode is Google's attempt to find a solution.
It allows advertisers and marketers to collect as much data as possible while respecting the user's choice and not violating applicable privacy regulations.
In 2024, version 2 of Consent Mode was released, expanding this to include how data for ad personalisation and remarketing is used.
Consent Mode V2 is a big change, and it is particularly relevant for companies and website owners who utilise Google products such as Analytics, Adwords, or any other products (Google or otherwise) that rely on user data for advertising or remarketing.
In addition to this, Google has introduced an Advanced version that allows for default consent states to be set (all consent will be denied unless other defaults are set).
In this state, any Google tags will send a cookieless 'ping' (functional and non-identifying information) until the consent status has changed, at which point Google will send the full measurement data.
In the 'basic' version, if the user declines permissions then no data whatsoever is sent over - it's as if they were never there.
Many cookie banners will give you the option to opt in/out of different types of cookies; so you could opt out of Ads tracking cookies, but allow for Analytics cookies.
It gives the user more control but also allows advertisers and marketers to collect some information instead of a blanket 'no' - which you're still entitled to deny, of course.
No doubt you have questions about this, including what you need to do and how to go about it; so we've tried to answer the most common ones.
In reality, yes.
Whilst V2 places a greater focus on websites that are running Google Ads (particularly those running personalised or remarketing campaigns, but Performance Max campaigns will likely be impacted too), Consent Mode is becoming the base requirement to ensure compliance with regulations.
Failure to do this could result in limitations on the ability to use Google's advertising features effectively, as well as running the risk of being non-compliant with GDPR. So while you may not run any Ad campaigns, it's still worth ensuring you are compliant.
It is our understanding that although the UK is no longer a member of the European Economic Area (EEA), UK companies are still required to comply.
We must stress that we ourselves are not legal professionals on the subject, so we would always advise you to seek legal advice from a relevant professional as to your individual circumstances.
If you are yet to implement a Consent Mode-compliant cookie banner, then it is likely you will see a drop in traffic stats being collected by Analytics.
In the past, any and all visitors would be collected in Analytics software, but if you give people the option to opt-out and they do so, then yes, it's likely it will be reflected in a drop in traffic figures.
This doesn't mean that people have stopped coming to your site; it merely means they don't want to be tracked while visiting your site.
This is where the 'Advanced' version of Consent Mode is supposed to help.
As we mentioned, with the Basic version, if a user chooses to decline, then no signals are sent.
In Advanced mode, the cookieless ping we referenced earlier is sent, so some data can be used to help enhance the data modelling for Analytics or Ads.
But this only includes data like the device type, the conversion type, the country, etc. It doesn't give users all the information about a user, but it gives some to help fill in the gaps.
As soon as you can.
Google has said that version 2 is a requirement and has been in play since March 2024. So, if you are only finding out about this now, you should implement it immediately.
From a website development point of view, there are a range of methods available for Consent Mode to be implemented, but it usually comes down to specific code incorporated into the website, whether that be manually or via a Consent Management Platform (CMP). Google prefers the latter and has a selection of 'approved' providers for this. Another popular method is to incorporate all this with Google Tag Manager, but this would depend on the individual setup - so it's best to speak to an experienced web team about this.
Like with GDPR or any privacy regulation, it is the responsibility of the individual company to ensure compliance. Whether you take this on yourself or engage with a company to help you achieve it doesn't matter—the important thing is to ensure you are.
If you read Google's own EU User Consent Policy, it clearly states the following:
"If you fail to comply with this policy, we may limit or suspend your use of the Google product and/or terminate your agreement."
Gulp.
Although the chances of a small company or website being punished to this extent may be low, it still shows how important it is.
It's hard to say. This change follows changes to privacy legislation and Google's aim to phase out third-party cookies in Chrome in 2024. Other browsers have done so already, but Google's market share and the widespread use of its Ads and Analytics platforms make this a more seismic shift.
Further changes to UK companies may occur, particularly if legislation changes as a result of the UK amending laws that it adopted while part of the EU and EEA. When and how that happens, we cannot say.
If you have read this far, please let us know. You deserve a lot of respect.
If you want to discuss whether your website or cookie banner is compliant and how to stay up to date with Consent Mode V2, then get in touch with us by sending us an email via hello@orcaonline.co.uk or give us a call on 01903 866143
