Consent Mode is a Google Tag setting that adjusts how conversion tracking behaves based on a user’s cookie consent choice.
How it works:
- If a visitor accepts cookies, tracking works normally and Google records the actual conversion.
- If a visitor declines cookies, Google can’t set a tracking cookie, but still sends a signal, and calculates the conversions it can no longer observe directly.
Example: if 30% of visitors decline cookies, without Consent Mode that 30% is simply invisible. With it, Google fills the gap with calculated conversions based on patterns from similar visitors who did consent, keeping reported numbers closer to reality.
As browsers and privacy rules continue to restrict tracking, Consent Mode has become nearly required for accurate reporting, and it’s also what keeps Smart Bidding working properly, since bidding needs real conversion data to optimize against.
