Notes on consent
that counts
Cookie banners, Consent Mode, GA4 and the data that goes missing between them — written plainly, checked in the browser.
How long does cookie consent last, and when should the banner ask again
The GDPR sets no expiry. What actually decides when your banner reappears is how long the browser keeps the record you stored, and on Safari that is seven days no matter what you configured.
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What happens to a Google Ads conversion when ad_user_data is denied
The conversion still happens. What a denial removes is the user data Google would have received with it, so it stops being counted and starts being estimated. Where it lands, and when nothing lands at all.
Read the postWhat the gcd parameter means, and what it proves that gcs cannot
It encodes all four Consent Mode signals and how each state was reached, so it separates a signal a visitor refused from one nobody ever wired. How to read it, and its limits.
Read the postThe difference between ad_user_data and ad_personalization
One governs whether user data reaches Google for advertising, the other whether it may be used to target someone. Which stops remarketing, why gcs cannot tell you, and how to check.
Read the postWhy do tags fire before the cookie banner loads
Because another tag is sharing the trigger that was supposed to run first. What we measured on a live estate, why priority does not fix it, and how to read the real order.
Read the postCan you still build remarketing audiences if visitors reject cookies
No, not from the visitors who rejected, and modelling does not backfill them. Which signals decide list membership, why the skew matters more than the size, and what still works.
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How much does a consent management platform cost in 2026
Most sites pay nothing to a few hundred a month, and monthly sessions decide where you land. What the tiers cost, and the setup work that is not on the pricing page.
Read the postHow to test a cookie banner before going live
Almost every published banner test is a post launch audit. The six checks to run on staging instead, in cost order, plus the three states nobody tests.
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How do you prove a visitor gave consent
You prove it with a consent record you can retrieve for one visitor on one date. The five fields it has to carry, and the retrieval test that tells you whether yours is evidence or decoration.
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What is the TCF, and does your site need it
The TCF is how the advertising supply chain records and passes consent. Most sites do not need it. Here is the test for whether yours does.
Read the postGDPR cookie banner requirements in 2026, and the check that proves each one
The things a GDPR cookie banner must do in 2026, each paired with the browser check that proves your own banner actually does it.
Read the postWhy Google Ads and GA4 report different conversion numbers
Google Ads and GA4 count different things, so a gap is normal. Which part of it is structural, which part is consent, and how to tell how much of yours is which.
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How to pass the consent signal to a server side tagging container
Consent is decided in the web container and rides to the server on the request. The wiring, how to verify it arrived, and the failure that puts the identifier back.
Read the postHow to check your cookie banner is sending the Consent Mode v2 signal
Two reads settle it: the four consent signals inside the browser, and the state that actually reached Google on the request. Here is how to check both.
Read the postCan Google Analytics work without cookies
Yes, but only in a narrower sense than the question implies. GA4 still collects without cookies; what it stops doing is recognising anyone. Here is what survives.
Read the postDo you still need a cookie banner with server side tagging
Yes. Server side tagging moves where your tags run, not whether you may collect the data, so the banner and the consent duty stay. Here is what moves and what does not.
Read the postWhy your GA4 traffic shows as Unassigned after adding a cookie banner
Unassigned is traffic GA4 collected and could not attribute. After a banner it has three causes: late consent, a missing session start, or denied pings being identified.
Read the postWhite label cookie consent for agencies: what actually matters
White labelling a cookie banner is the easy part. What decides a client roster is who owns the consent record, where the logs go, and whether measurement survives.
Read the postWhat is Global Privacy Control, and do you have to honour it
Global Privacy Control is a browser signal that says do not sell or share my data. What it is, which US states make it binding, and how to check your own site honours it.
Read the postDo cookie banners slow down your website
A cookie banner can slow your site, but the banner script is rarely the expensive part. What it releases on accept is. How to measure both paths honestly.
Read the postHow to raise cookie consent accept rates without dark patterns
The honest levers that raise cookie consent accept rates: plain language, equal buttons, granular categories, a fast banner and a measured baseline.
Read the postDo you actually need a cookie banner on your website
When your website needs a cookie banner, when it does not, and the question the checklists skip: whether the banner quietly costs you analytics data.
Read the postWhat happens to your GA4 data when users reject cookies
What GA4 keeps and what it loses when a visitor rejects cookies, why the answer depends on your Consent Mode, and the part of the gap modelling never fills.
Read the postWhat is a consent management platform (and when do you need one)
A consent management platform captures what visitors allow, proves it, and passes that choice to your analytics and ad tags. What it does, and when you need one.
Read the postBasic vs advanced Consent Mode: which one are you running
Deny consent in incognito and read the gcs parameter on Google's request. A request that still fires is advanced Consent Mode; nothing means basic, or a broken tag.
Read the postHow to install a cookie banner with Google Tag Manager
Install your consent banner as the first thing Tag Manager does, on the Consent Initialization trigger, defaulted to denied. Plus how to check it fired before GA4.
Read the postHow to recover the conversions your cookie banner is costing you
When visitors reject cookies you lose the attribution, not the traffic, and most of it is recoverable. The exact order to win it back, and how to check it worked.
Read the postWhere 34% of your sessions actually go
A third of visitors sit behind the cookie banner and never reach your reports. What happens to that traffic, and how Consent Mode v2 and modelled conversions fill the gap.
Read the postA plain English guide to Consent Mode v2
What the four consent signals mean, why basic and advanced implementations are not the same thing, and how to tell which one your site is actually running.
Read the postWhy your GA4 conversions dropped overnight
A banner change, a tag that fires too early, a region rule that flipped. The usual suspects when GA4 numbers fall and nobody touched the campaigns.
Read the postReject all should be one click, here is why
The banner design choice regulators keep flagging, what a fair banner looks like, and why a clearer first view tends to lift consent rates rather than lower them.
Read the postNothing here yet — try another topic.
See what consent
was hiding
Run the free scan and find out what your banner is doing to your measurement.
Your banner, your consent,
your data — all in one place.
