Comparing Basic and Advanced Google Consent Modes

Google Consent Mode offers two distinct implementations to handle user consent for data collection: Basic and Advanced. Both modes are designed to help businesses gather users' consent when collecting valuable data for Google Ads and Google Analytics. Here's a comparison of the two modes based on their functionalities and implications.

Basic Consent Mode

Functionality:

• Tag Behavior: In Basic Consent Mode, Google tags are blocked by default until the user explicitly grants consent through a consent banner. No data, including consent status, is collected if the user does not consent.
• Data Collection: If consent is granted, tags are allowed to execute, collecting and sending data to Google. If consent is denied, no data is collected or transmitted.
• Modeling: Basic Consent Mode uses conversion modeling based on the data from users who have granted consent. This model is less precise because it lacks data from non-consenting users, but it still provides some insights into conversion rates and ad effectiveness.

How does it work?

When Google Consent Mode is initialized, a "default" consent status is set. Then when a user interacts with a consent banner, an "update" command is set to change the website behavior. In Basic Consent Mode, no tag is fired before the "update" command. Therefore, no tracking or data collection can happen unless the user does this interaction.

How to implement?

When installing the consent banner using GTM, the default and update commands are already implemented, meaning that you only need to ensure that the tags are fired only after the update command. In order to do that, you can change the triggers of all of your tags from "Page View" to our "Custom Events" that are fired when the user enables each consent category. You can learn more about how to do this configuration in our How do I block third-party scripts on my website?

Advanced Consent Mode

Functionality:

• Tag Behavior: Advanced Consent Mode allows Google tags to load before the consent banner is displayed. This preloading enables the collection of anonymous, non-identifiable data (cookieless pings) even if the user does not consent.
• Data Collection: In addition to collecting data from consenting users, Advanced Consent Mode uses cookieless pings to gather aggregated and non-personal data from non-consenting users. This data includes information such as device type, browser type, and timestamps.
• Modeling: Advanced Consent Mode leverages both conversion and behavioral modeling. This enables a more accurate estimation of user interactions and conversions by using aggregated data from both consenting and non-consenting users.

How does it work?

When Google Consent Mode is initialized, a "default" consent status is set. Then when a user interacts with a consent banner, an "update" command is set to change the website behavior. In Advanced Consent Mode, tags are fired between the "default" and the "update" commands. Therefore, anonymous tracking and data collection can happen as soon as the page loads, optimizing analytics and conversions without identifying the user.

How to implement?

When installing the consent banner using GTM, the default and update commands are already implemented, meaning that you only need to ensure that the tags are fired only when a Google Consent Type is granted, regardless of the command used.

1. Google Tags (Analytics, Ads, etc): No action needed. They are already configured like this when using GTM.
2. Third-party tags: follow our recommended path in our How do I block third-party scripts on my website?

Conclusion

Both Consent Modes are suitable for the global privacy landscape. On the one hand, Basic Mode offers a more rigorous, conservative approach at the cost of having poorer analytics and conversions. On the other hand, Advanced Mode offers more accurate metrics and insights at the cost of implementing a more flexible approach that still honors user's privacy and choices, but might be riskier in the most strict territories (like Germany). In such cases, remember you can also mitigate the risk by using IAB TCF v2.2 in combination with Google Consent Mode.