Google Consent Mode for EEA, UK, and Switzerland

Google Consent Mode for the EEA, UK, and Switzerland

Google's EU User Consent Policy requires websites and apps to obtain user consent before using Google's advertising and measurement features for users located in the European Economic Area (EEA), the United Kingdom (UK), and Switzerland. Google Consent Mode is the mechanism that enforces this policy at the tag level.

Since March 2024, Google requires Consent Mode for audience personalization and measurement features when targeting users in these regions. Without it, Google disables personalised advertising and conversion measurement for non-consented users.

What the EU User Consent Policy Requires

The policy requires that you:

• Obtain legally valid consent from users before using cookies or other local storage for non-essential purposes
• Obtain consent before collecting, sharing, or using personal data for ad personalization
• Provide clear and comprehensive information about your use of cookies and data collection
• Provide a way for users to withdraw consent

These requirements align with GDPR, the ePrivacy Directive, and the UK's Data Protection Act. UniConsent handles all of these requirements through its consent banner, preference center, and consent signal integration with Google tags.

How UniConsent Handles Regional Consent

UniConsent automatically detects the user's geographic region and applies appropriate consent defaults:

• For users in the EEA, UK, and Switzerland: all consent types default to denied. Google tags start in a restricted state and only activate fully after the user grants consent.
• For users in other regions: defaults follow local regulatory requirements. For example, US users may have different defaults based on state-level privacy laws like CCPA.

You can configure region-specific behavior in the UniConsent dashboard, including custom consent defaults, banner appearance, and legal text per region.

Which Google Products Are Affected

Google's EU User Consent Policy applies to all Google advertising and measurement products, including:

• Google Ads (Conversion Tracking, Remarketing, Enhanced Conversions)
• Google Analytics 4
• Google Ad Manager and AdSense
• Display & Video 360
• Search Ads 360
• Campaign Manager 360
• Floodlight

All of these products have consent-aware tags that adjust their behavior based on the consent state communicated through Consent Mode. UniConsent integrates with all of them through its Google Consent Mode support.

How to Get Started

1. Sign up for UniConsent and obtain your license ID
2. Configure your consent banner with appropriate legal text for EEA, UK, and Swiss users
3. UniConsent automatically sets consent defaults to denied for users in these regions
4. Install the UniConsent CMP tag before your Google tags
5. Verify with the Consent Mode Scanner that consent defaults are applied correctly per region

For detailed setup, see our Google Consent Mode tutorial.

Consent Mode and GDPR Compliance

GDPR requires a legal basis for processing personal data. For most advertising and analytics use cases, that legal basis is consent. Consent Mode ensures that Google tags respect the user's consent decision by adjusting tag behavior in real time.

When consent is denied, consent-aware tags send cookieless pings that do not identify the user. These pings feed conversion modeling, which recovers a portion of the measurement data. This approach lets you maintain compliance while minimizing data loss.

UniConsent is an IAB TCF-certified CMP, which means it also satisfies the consent requirements for programmatic advertising in the EEA. TCF consent signals are passed to demand partners alongside Consent Mode signals to Google.

EEA Countries Covered

The European Economic Area includes all 27 EU member states plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway. Together with the UK and Switzerland, this covers the full scope of Google's EU User Consent Policy.