Google Ads and Google Consent Mode
Navigate the changing measurement landscape with Google Consent Mode and Pandectes GDPR Compliance. Learn how to preserve conversion tracking while respecting user privacy.
It's probably no surprise to anyone today that our measurement landscape is changing in light of new and ongoing privacy initiatives. Advertisers across the world are navigating several regulatory challenges related to cookie consent.
We have assessed that stores using consent banners experience a significant drop in attributed or reported conversions, which severely impacts overall performance reporting and all downstream capabilities like Smart Bidding and attribution, resulting in ROAS and revenue declines.
Pandectes GDPR Compliance takes care of it today with just one click! Our application is providing Google Consent Mode integration to help you preserve your measurement after implementing consent banners so you do not experience a measurement loss while maintaining user privacy.
Google Consent Mode introduces two new tag settings that manage cookies for advertising and analytics purposes for advertisers using the Global site tag or Google Tag Manager. These settings can be used to customize how Google tags behave before and after users make their consent decisions, helping advertisers more effectively measure conversions while respecting user consent choices for ads cookies and analytics cookies.
In practice, here's what that means:
Let's say someone visits your store page and makes their consent selection for the use of cookies on our cookie consent banner.
With Google Consent Mode Integration, your Google tags will be able to determine whether or not permission has been given for your store to use cookies for advertising purposes for that visitor.
If a user consents, conversion measurement reporting continues normally.
If a user does not consent, the relevant Google tags will adjust accordingly and not use ads cookies, measuring conversions at a more aggregate level instead.
Google then uses conversion modeling to fill measurement gaps where they are unable to directly tie users' ad interactions to conversions.
Google Consent Mode has two key value propositions for advertisers:
Privacy: Allowing your Google tags to behave in a consent-aware way.
Measurement: Recovering gaps through conversion modeling.
Conversion rates for unconsented conversions should be much lower than conversion rates for approved conversions. Google has discovered that user conversion rates differ depending on whether or not the user has given their approval.
Users who have given their consent are typically 2-5 times more likely to convert than those who have not. This varies significantly depending on factors including consent rates, industry, and conversion type.
Conversion modeling uses machine learning to analyze trends in observable data to quantify the relationship between conversion rates and user consent state. Using observable user journeys where users have consented to cookie storage, our models fill in missing attribution paths. This creates a more complete and accurate view of advertising performance, all while respecting user cookie consent choices.
Conversion modeling also upholds privacy by not identifying individual users, unlike tactics like fingerprinting which Google has a strict policy against. Modeling probabilistically recovers linkages between ad interactions and conversion events.
Using modeling means advertisers get a better understanding of what's driving their conversion goals, and they gain more conversion insights for optimizing campaign bidding. When Google rolled out conversion modeling on Google Ads, they saw that Consent Mode helps recover over 70% of reported conversion losses due to user consent choices.
It's important to note that Google Consent Mode is not a solution for all advertisers. If you are in a region with regulations on cookie consent, we urge you to carefully evaluate if Consent Mode is the right fit for your store.
Consent Mode is only helpful for advertisers who:
Have already implemented a strict consent banner.
Are blocking tags that help with existing measurement.
You should only implement Consent Mode if you meet both of these criteria.
Consent Mode modeling is already available across Google Ads, SA360, and DV360, and we are actively working on launching it on Google Analytics. Google is also focused on building a UI diagnostics tool, which will help you understand the impact of Consent Mode and diagnose some common implementation issues.
Implementing Consent Mode requires our application to add a few lines of code above your global site tag or Tag Manager container. To learn more about Consent Mode, read how it works.
Changing Measurement Landscape
It's probably no surprise to anyone today that our measurement landscape is changing in light of new and ongoing privacy initiatives. Advertisers across the world are navigating several regulatory challenges related to cookie consent.
Impact of Consent Banners on Performance
We have assessed that stores using consent banners experience a significant drop in attributed or reported conversions, which severely impacts overall performance reporting and all downstream capabilities like Smart Bidding and attribution, resulting in ROAS and revenue declines.
Introducing Pandectes GDPR Compliance
Pandectes GDPR Compliance takes care of it today with just one click! Our application is providing Google Consent Mode integration to help you preserve your measurement after implementing consent banners so you do not experience a measurement loss while maintaining user privacy.
Google Consent Mode Integration
Google Consent Mode introduces two new tag settings that manage cookies for advertising and analytics purposes for advertisers using the Global site tag or Google Tag Manager. These settings can be used to customize how Google tags behave before and after users make their consent decisions, helping advertisers more effectively measure conversions while respecting user consent choices for ads cookies and analytics cookies.
Practical Implementation
In practice, here's what that means:
Let's say someone visits your store page and makes their consent selection for the use of cookies on our cookie consent banner.
With Google Consent Mode Integration, your Google tags will be able to determine whether or not permission has been given for your store to use cookies for advertising purposes for that visitor.
If a user consents, conversion measurement reporting continues normally.
If a user does not consent, the relevant Google tags will adjust accordingly and not use ads cookies, measuring conversions at a more aggregate level instead.
Google then uses conversion modeling to fill measurement gaps where they are unable to directly tie users' ad interactions to conversions.
Key Value Propositions of Google Consent Mode
Google Consent Mode has two key value propositions for advertisers:
Privacy: Allowing your Google tags to behave in a consent-aware way.
Measurement: Recovering gaps through conversion modeling.
The Relationship Between Consent Rates and Modeled Conversions
Conversion rates for unconsented conversions should be much lower than conversion rates for approved conversions. Google has discovered that user conversion rates differ depending on whether or not the user has given their approval.
Users who have given their consent are typically 2-5 times more likely to convert than those who have not. This varies significantly depending on factors including consent rates, industry, and conversion type.
Conversion Modeling
Conversion modeling uses machine learning to analyze trends in observable data to quantify the relationship between conversion rates and user consent state. Using observable user journeys where users have consented to cookie storage, our models fill in missing attribution paths. This creates a more complete and accurate view of advertising performance, all while respecting user cookie consent choices.
Conversion modeling also upholds privacy by not identifying individual users, unlike tactics like fingerprinting which Google has a strict policy against. Modeling probabilistically recovers linkages between ad interactions and conversion events.
Benefits of Conversion Modeling
Using modeling means advertisers get a better understanding of what's driving their conversion goals, and they gain more conversion insights for optimizing campaign bidding. When Google rolled out conversion modeling on Google Ads, they saw that Consent Mode helps recover over 70% of reported conversion losses due to user consent choices.
Considerations for Implementing Google Consent Mode
It's important to note that Google Consent Mode is not a solution for all advertisers. If you are in a region with regulations on cookie consent, we urge you to carefully evaluate if Consent Mode is the right fit for your store.
Consent Mode is only helpful for advertisers who:
Have already implemented a strict consent banner.
Are blocking tags that help with existing measurement.
You should only implement Consent Mode if you meet both of these criteria.
Availability and Implementation
Consent Mode modeling is already available across Google Ads, SA360, and DV360, and we are actively working on launching it on Google Analytics. Google is also focused on building a UI diagnostics tool, which will help you understand the impact of Consent Mode and diagnose some common implementation issues.
Implementing Consent Mode requires our application to add a few lines of code above your global site tag or Tag Manager container. To learn more about Consent Mode, read how it works.
Updated on: 29/07/2024
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