How to Check If Consent Mode v2 Works on Your Website

What exactly we’re checking

Consent mode works with four signals:

• analytics_storage — whether analytics cookies may be stored;
• ad_storage — whether advertising cookies may be stored;
• ad_user_data — whether user data may be sent to Google for advertising;
• ad_personalization — whether personalised ads may be shown.

The last two arrived in the second version of the mode, hence “v2”. Google requires these signals in order to use personalised advertising and remarketing for visitors from the EEA. Correct behaviour looks like this: before the visitor chooses, the signals are “denied”; after a click in the banner, they change according to the choice — and that holds on every page.

Method 1. Quick check in Google Analytics

Open Admin → Data collection and modification → Consent settings. At the top you see what share of traffic comes from the EEA; below are the advertising-related and behavioural-data consent signal sections. Analytics shows which signals are set up correctly and warns you about problems.

This method won’t show details, but it immediately answers the main question: does Google see the signals at all? After you fix things on the site, the status updates within 48–72 hours.

Method 2. Tag Assistant

1. Open tagassistant.google.com, add your site address and connect. The site opens in a separate tab.
2. Don’t touch the banner. Go back to Tag Assistant, select the first event and open the Consent tab. It shows the default state of each signal.
3. Click “Accept all” in the banner. A consent update event appears in Tag Assistant: all signals should switch to granted.
4. Repeat in a new incognito window, clicking “Reject”: the signals should stay denied.

If the Consent tab is empty or the default values only appear after tags have fired, consent mode is set up incorrectly.

Method 3. The gcs parameter in requests

The most precise check is to look at what actually goes to Google.

1. Open your site in an incognito window, press F12 and go to the Network tab.
2. Type collect in the filter — these are Google Analytics requests.
3. Open any request and find the gcs parameter.

Read the value like this: G1, then two digits — for advertising and for analytics cookies. G100 means both denied, G111 both granted, G101 only analytics granted. Before a click in the banner you should see G100; after “Accept all”, G111.

Common mistakes

• A banner, but no consent mode. The banner simply hides after a click and nothing goes to Google. The most common situation on sites where the banner was added just to tick a box.
• Tags fire before the default values. The tracking code manages to send data before the banner sets “denied”. In Tag Manager, defaults are set on the Consent Initialization – All Pages trigger, which fires before everything else.
• No new v2 signals. Only ad_storage and analytics_storage are sent, without ad_user_data and ad_personalization. That’s the old version of the mode.
• The Analytics code is pasted directly into the template and knows nothing about the banner.
• The choice isn’t remembered. On the next page the banner appears again and the signals reset.

Basic or advanced mode

In basic mode, Google tags don’t load at all until the visitor consents. In advanced mode they load straight away, but before consent they send only anonymous, cookieless signals, which Google uses for modelling. Advanced gives you more data; basic is simpler and stricter. The choice depends on how you process data and what your privacy policy says.

In short

1. Check Consent settings in Google Analytics — does Google see the signals?
2. In Tag Assistant, look at the defaults and the state after a click in the banner.
3. In collect requests, check gcs: G100 before consent, G111 after.
4. Make sure all four signals are sent, including ad_user_data and ad_personalization.
5. Defaults must be set before any tags fire.

If the check revealed problems, we can set up your cookie banner and Consent Mode v2: choose a banner, configure categories and verify that consent is passed on every page. To install the tags properly yourself, see the article on installing Google Tag Manager.