Google Consent Mode and Termly

by Etienne Cussol CIPP/E, CIPM

May 4, 2023

Google’s Consent Mode is a way to communicate your users’ consent status to Google. Google services such as Tag Manager, Analytics, Floodlight, and Ads adjust their behavior in response to flags set by Consent Mode and respect users’ choices accordingly.

How Does Termly’s CMP Work With Google Consent Mode?

When properly configured, Termly’s Consent Management Platform (CMP) integrates seamlessly with all of Google Consent Mode’s features.

Note: Google Consent Mode only works with Google’s Global Site Tags (gtag). For example, a Google Analytics gtag contains src=”https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=GA_MEASUREMENT_ID” 

How To Set Up Google Consent Mode With Termly’s CMP

There are two possible ways to set up Google Consent Mode with our consent management platform:

Below, we teach you how to do both. For more hands-on assistance, feel free to reach out to our customer service team.

Enable Consent Mode Using Regional Settings in the Termly Dashboard

Google Consent Mode can be enabled on a region-by-region basis from your Termly dashboard.

To enable Google Consent Mode using regional consent settings in the Termly Dashboard, follow these simple steps.

Step 1: Navigate to Your Consent Banner Settings in Your Termly Dashboard

Locate the consent banner settings in your Termly Dashboard and enable Google Consent Mode under your Consent Settings for any region you require.

Once this setting is enabled, Google tags (gtags) are exempt from being blocked by the CMP’s Auto Blocker, meaning they’ll always be allowed to run on a loaded page.

If you want to prevent this from happening so the Google tags are not exempt, use manual blocking to assign those scripts to the appropriate blocking category.

For guidance, read our documentation on how to block JavaScript third-party cookies manually.

Step 2: Configure Your Consent Defaults

When Google Consent Mode is turned ‘On‘, you must configure consent defaults for each consent category with in-line code before your Termly embed script.

After manually completing this step, your consent banner will make ‘update’ calls whenever the consent state changes on the page.

Changing the default setting for a given category gives you control over how the consent state is configured on the first page load before subsequent ‘update’ calls are made, and you can set it to either ‘denied‘ or ‘granted‘, as shown for you below.

<script>
// Define dataLayer and the gtag function.
window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}

// Default all categories to 'denied' 
gtag('consent', 'default', {
  'ad_storage': 'denied',
  'analytics_storage': 'denied',
  'functionality_storage': 'denied',
  'personalization_storage': 'denied',
  'security_storage': 'denied',
  'social_storage': 'denied',
});
</script>

Consent category mapping

*Not a default GTM consent category

Read more about setting consent defaults and other advanced configurations.

Enable Consent Mode Using Termly’s Google Tag Manager Template

You can also successfully integrate Google Consent Mode with our consent management platform by using our Google Tag Manager template. Just follow these three easy steps.

Step 1: Add the Consent Mode Template to Your Workspace

The first thing you need to do is add our Consent Mode template to your workspace. To install this template:

• Click on Templates in the left-hand menu of your GTM workspace
• Click Search Gallery
• Search for “Termly”
• Select “Termly Consent Management Platform”
• Click Add to Workspace

Step 2: Create a New Event Trigger “userPrefUpdate”

Next, you’ll need to create a new event trigger.

Our CMP fires the event trigger “userPrefUpdate” every time a user’s consent choice changes. The template listens for this event and updates their consent state according to their preferences.

To create this event and configure this step properly:

• Go to your GTM workspace and create a new trigger
• Click Choose a trigger type to begin setup, then click Custom Event.
• Under Event name, type “userPrefUpdate”
• The trigger should be set to fire on All Custom Events

For some extra assistance, see a screenshot example below.

Step 3. Add the Template Tag

Next, you’ll need to add the template tags. All you need to do is:

• Go to Tags
• Create a new tag and select Termly Consent Mode in Tag Configuration
• Click Triggering, then click New / +
• Add Consent Initialization – All Pages
• Add userPrefUpdate

For some assistance, take a look at the screenshot example below.

That’s it! You’ve officially configured Termly’s CMP to work with Google Consent Mode.

Your site won’t place any cookies on users’ browsers who opted out of consent, but you’ll still receive anonymized, non-identifiable data to fill gaps and assist with your various campaign insights.

FAQ

More about the author

Written by Etienne Cussol CIPP/E, CIPM

Etienne is an Information Privacy professional and compliance analyst for Termly. He has been with us since 2021, managing our own compliance with data protection laws and participating in our marketing researches. His fields of expertise - and interest - include data protection (GDPR, ePrivacy Directive, CCPA), tracking technologies (third-party cookies, fingerprinting), and new forms of privacy management (GPC and the Google Privacy Sandbox). Etienne studied International Economic Affairs at the University of Toulouse, and graduated with a Masters in 2017. More about the author