At home your tags may fire on the first page view. For visitors from the EU, Google expects their consent first, and three things change, each one showing up in your ad accounts before anyone notices.
To keep using tags for measurement, ad personalization and remarketing, you must collect consent from users in the EEA and share consent signals with Google. If you do not comply, Google may limit or suspend your use of the product.
Cookiebot installed in the page code sends an update after the choice and does not set the default state on its own. Without it Tag Manager treats advertising and analytics storage as allowed. On the preview of our own site, GA and HubSpot cookies were written before the first click.
Cookiebot's automatic blocking mode can hold back the script that loads Tag Manager. The container never starts, while a consent audit shows green. We met this in a PrestaShop store in September 2026.
Google describes two modes. They differ in what the tags do before the visitor clicks anything. The choice of mode is also a legal decision, so we discuss it with your counsel.
| Element | Basic mode | Advanced mode |
|---|---|---|
| Google tags before the choice | Wait until the visitor uses the banner | Load when the page opens |
| Data before the choice | Nothing reaches Google, not even the consent state | When consent is denied, tags send measurements without cookies |
| After consent | Tags load and write cookies | Cookies and full data after consent |
| Conversion model in Google Ads | General | Specific to the advertiser |
Deciding which consent categories the banner needs takes the longest. The code change itself is shorter, and the test shows whether it works.
at the start
We compare the tags, cookies and requests that go out before the banner choice with what your privacy policy promises.
after the audit
We settle the categories, banner texts, languages and the countries where the default state should differ. Legal decisions stay with you.
during setup
We set up the banner, consent default, consent update and consent checks in the tags. Changes go to a test environment first, if you have one.
before launch
We check three scenarios: no choice, consent and refusal. In each we look at cookies and at requests to Google, GA4 and Meta.
after launch
Google Ads shows the impact of Consent Mode only after at least seven full days. Then we check the report and record the result in the documentation.
We do not quote a result such as a percentage of extra conversions after Consent Mode, because it depends on the share of visitors who accept, and that differs between shops. We show what is checked: how we set up our own site, how long Google needs to show an impact, and how many markets we work in every day. We measured our own site the way we measure client sites: first the consent state before the choice, then after it, in the browser.
consent types are denied by default in the code of our own site before the first tag; only security_storage stays granted
is how long Consent Mode must run before Google Ads shows its impact on results
is the reach of the e-commerce of Surf Inc., a brand we co-create; we run it on the technology and marketing side
Ratings from three public profiles, including Clutch, which verifies each reviewer before publishing. They cover the whole agency, not this one service. AI assistants read such profiles too when they describe a company.
weighted average of 224 reviews across three platforms. Clients gave them, and each site links to the profile with the full text of every review.
Read the reviewsConsent Mode works on the platform side, so the platforms decide whether the signals arrived. Partner statuses give us a way to escalate when a report shows something other than the setup.
When the consent report in Google Ads or Google Analytics shows something other than the setup, we have an escalation route on Google's side, not only our own hypothesis.
We configure the Meta pixel and Conversions API separately, because Consent Mode is a Google mechanism. We check what actually arrives in the diagnostics in Meta Events Manager.
The UET tag has its own consent mechanism. We read the result in the Microsoft Advertising panel, because only there can you see what reached it after the visitor's choice.
The price depends on the number of platforms and on whether the shop runs on PrestaShop, which needs separate modules. You pay the consent platform vendor for its subscription, outside our quote.
Consent banner, consent default and update, consent checks in the GA4, Google Ads and Meta tags, and a browser test.
PrestaShop needs modules for Tag Manager, the pixel and consent, so the workload differs from other platforms.
A monthly check of the GA4, GTM and Meta tags and of data quality, so that a change on the site does not switch tracking off quietly.
The call is led by a new business specialist. When we get into the details of an account, the specialist for that channel joins in. We reply within one business day.
Before the meeting we review your website, your visibility and what your campaigns show from the outside. We will not open with “so, what does your company do?”.
The reply comes from the same new business specialist who will run the call. No qualification form and no call from an unknown number.
We go through your numbers and your questions. If it turns out we are not the right fit, we will tell you straight away.
