Basic or advanced?

Google Consent Mode v2 in plain words: what each mode sends to Google before and after a visitor chooses, how much measurement it models back, and what it does not cover.

The short answer

Basic consent mode keeps Google's tags off until a visitor makes a choice and sends nothing if they decline. Advanced loads the tags with consent set to denied and sends cookieless pings, which lets Google model the conversions you cannot see with a model built on your own data rather than a general one. Advanced recovers more measurement; basic sends less before consent. No regulator has ruled on consent mode itself, so which one you may use is a legal call for your business. Neither covers Meta, which needs consent before the Pixel or the Conversions API sends anything.

By Yannis Spanenburg, founder of Proof of Pixel. Facts checked on 1 October 2026.

Side by side

	Basic	Advanced
Google tags	Blocked until the visitor interacts with the consent banner	Load straight away, with consent set to denied unless configured otherwise
Before a choice	Nothing is sent, not even the default consent state	The consent state, plus cookieless pings
After a decline	Nothing; the tags never fire	Cookieless pings: time, browser, referrer, whether an ad was clicked, and the consent state
Google Ads conversion modelling	A general model	A model specific to your account, which Google calls more detailed
GA4 behavioural modelling	Not available	Possible from 1,000 denied events a day for 7 days and 1,000 consenting users a day on 7 of the last 28 days
Signals	ad_storage, analytics_storage, ad_user_data, ad_personalization	The same four
Google Ads modelling threshold	700 ad clicks over 7 days per country and domain	The same
Meta and other tags	Not covered; block them until consent in Tag Manager	Not covered either; Meta needs consent before it receives anything
Legal position	Sends nothing before consent	Sends pings before consent; no regulator has ruled on consent mode specifically

Checked on 1 October 2026 in Google Ads Help, Google Analytics Help and Google's tag platform documentation, Meta's business tool requirements and the EDPB's Guidelines 2/2023. This page explains how the modes work; it is not legal advice.

Who should pick which

Use basic if

Your legal advice is to send nothing to Google before consent
Your traffic is below the modelling thresholds anyway
You work in a sector where the regulator watches tracking closely

Use advanced if

Google Ads is a major channel and modelled conversions change your bidding
You reach the traffic thresholds for modelling
Your legal advice accepts cookieless pings before consent

What each mode sends

In basic mode, Google's tags do not load until the visitor clicks something on the consent banner. If they decline, Google receives nothing at all, not even the fact that they declined. Google's conversion modelling then falls back on a general model.

In advanced mode, the tags load immediately with consent set to denied. While consent is denied, they send cookieless pings: a timestamp, the browser's user agent, the referring page, whether the visit came from an ad click, the consent state and a random number per page load. With advertising storage denied, Google truncates the IP address on collection. Those pings let Google build a model for your account specifically.

Consent mode v2, from November 2023, added two signals to the original pair: ad_user_data and ad_personalization, next to ad_storage and analytics_storage.

What you get back

Modelling only switches on with enough data. For GA4 behavioural modelling, Google requires advanced mode plus at least 1,000 events a day with analytics storage denied for 7 days, and at least 1,000 daily users with it granted on 7 of the previous 28 days, and even then does not guarantee it. For Google Ads, the threshold is 700 ad clicks over 7 days per country and domain.

Many small business sites never reach the GA4 thresholds. If yours is one of them, advanced mode buys little in Analytics, and the decision rests mainly on Google Ads. Google says the uplift can be reported after at least seven full days of consent mode.

The legal question

Google requires consent from visitors in the European Economic Area, the UK and Switzerland for its measurement, personalisation and remarketing features, and asks you to pass consent signals to it. Google also warns that blocking its tags until the banner is used, which is what basic mode does, means it cannot verify consent choices, which may cost data.

On the other side, the European Data Protection Board's Guidelines 2/2023 treat tracking pixels and links as falling under the ePrivacy cookie rule. They do not mention Google's consent mode, and we found no regulator decision on it. Whether advanced mode's pre-consent pings need consent is genuinely debated. Ask your own counsel; this page is not legal advice.

Banners, and checking it works

Consent mode needs a banner that passes the visitor's choice to Google. Google runs a partner programme for certified consent platforms, including Cookiebot, CookieYes, Usercentrics, iubenda, Didomi and OneTrust, and Google Tag Manager has built-in consent settings. We run CookieYes on our own site. Google is clear that the banner itself, and whether it meets the rules, is your responsibility.

To check it, open your site in Tag Assistant with the consent banner untouched: the default state should show denied, and accepting should update it to granted before any marketing tag fires.

Meta and everything else

Consent mode's built-in checks cover Google's own tags: the Google tag, Analytics, Ads, Floodlight and the conversion linker. Every other tag, including Meta, TikTok and LinkedIn, needs its own rule: in Tag Manager, set it to require consent before it fires.

Meta has no equivalent of advanced mode. Its rules: the Pixel must not share data until the person has accepted cookies, and the Conversions API must not send data about people who have not consented. There is nothing to model back for Meta; the answer there is better data from the people who did consent.

Questions about Consent Mode basic vs advanced

What is the difference between basic and advanced consent mode?

Basic blocks Google's tags until the visitor makes a choice and sends nothing if they decline. Advanced loads the tags with consent denied and sends cookieless pings, which Google uses to model conversions with a model specific to your account.

Is advanced consent mode GDPR compliant?

Nobody can answer that for every business. The EDPB treats tracking pixels and links as covered by the ePrivacy cookie rule, but no regulator has ruled on consent mode itself, and the question of pre-consent pings is debated. Take legal advice for your market; this page is not legal advice.

What does advanced consent mode send before consent?

Cookieless pings: a timestamp, the user agent, the referrer, whether the page had ad-click information, the consent state, a random number per page load and details of your consent platform. With advertising storage denied, the IP address is truncated on collection.

Do I need consent mode v2?

If you use Google's tags for measurement, personalised ads or remarketing for visitors in the EEA, the UK or Switzerland, Google requires you to collect consent and pass the signals to it, which consent mode v2 does. Google says that if you already use consent mode and run no personalised advertising, you need not change anything.

What are the consent mode v2 parameters?

Four signals matter for ads and analytics: ad_storage, analytics_storage, ad_user_data and ad_personalization. The last two were added in November 2023. There are also signals for functionality, personalisation and security storage.

Does consent mode work with the Meta Pixel?

No. Consent mode covers Google's own tags. The Meta Pixel and the Conversions API must not send data until the person has consented, so set Meta's tags to require consent in Tag Manager or block them through your banner.

How much data does consent mode modelling recover?

Google does not publish a fixed share; it depends on your traffic and consent rate, and modelling only switches on above Google's thresholds. Google Ads and Analytics can report the uplift once consent mode has run for at least seven full days.

Which cookie banners support consent mode?

Google lists certified consent platforms in its partner programme, among them Cookiebot, CookieYes, Usercentrics, iubenda, Didomi, OneTrust, Complianz and CookieFirst. Google Tag Manager also has consent settings for your own banner.

How do I check consent mode is working?

Open the site in Google Tag Assistant without touching the banner. The default consent state should show denied; after you accept, it should change to granted, and marketing tags should fire only then. Repeat with a decline.