Consent Mode v2: the signal without which Google Ads learns blind.

Google tags - Ads, GA4, Tag Manager - ask before firing whether the visitor allowed statistics and marketing. Consent Mode is the protocol for that: a default state before the first interaction (usually "denied"), an update after the choice in the banner.

The difference from plain blocking: with "denied", Google sends anonymous cookieless pings and models conversions from them. Measurement stays usable even when part of the visitors decline.

Version 2 adds two signals: ad_user_data (may user data go to Google) and ad_personalization (may ads be personalised). Since March 2024 Google requires them in the EEA for remarketing lists to fill and conversions to be measured. Without v2, audiences stop filling and conversion data stays incomplete.

Three ways, fastest to most thorough:

• Source: is there a gtag('consent', 'default', {...}) call with ad_user_data and ad_personalization before the Tag Manager snippet? Our analyzer reads exactly that.
• Tag Manager: are consent settings configured in the container (consent overview, consent initialisation trigger)? No external tool sees that - which is why the analyzer honestly says "not visible" when GTM is present.
• Tag Assistant: watch consent states per tag live, decline the banner and verify that no marketing tag fires.

• Pixel directly in the source, before the banner - fires regardless of consent.
• Banner present but without Consent Mode - may block, but models nothing.
• Default set after the Tag Manager snippet - the first tag then has no state.
• Consent Mode v1 - without the two new signals, insufficient since March 2024.