To understand how Consent Mode v2 works, it is worth looking at a basic scenario: a user visits a website, sees a cookie banner and rejects consent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many people assume that refusing consent creates a complete \u201cblack hole\u201d in analytics. The reality, however, is more complex and – importantly for businesses – more optimistic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In basic consent mode, Google tags remain blocked and no data is sent. In advanced consent mode, however, tags can send so-called cookieless pings<\/strong>. These do not contain user identifiers, but they can still provide information about an interaction taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this model, the key point is that the scope of data collected depends directly on the consent granted by the user. This can be broken down into several independent layers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When consent is denied, the system loses access to data that could be used to identify a user or recognize them again in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When consent for analytics storage is denied, Google Analytics cookies such as _ga are neither set nor read. For advertising data, denying ad_storage means that new advertising cookies cannot be stored and existing ones cannot be read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What does this mean in practice?<\/p>\n\n\n\n In other words, each event is treated separately and is not linked to previous interactions. In real-time reports, you may still see traffic, but you will not be able to distinguish a returning customer from a new one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here, the boundary is clear. The user:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Data such as an email address or phone number is not transmitted for advertising purposes if the user has not given the appropriate consent for the use of user data (ad_user_data).<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a result:<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is one of the key changes introduced by Consent Mode v2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If a website meets the relevant data-volume thresholds, Google can use AI and data from users who have granted consent to model the missing data from users who denied consent. As a result, GA4 reports may include estimated user and session data despite the lack of consent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In advanced consent mode, Google may receive so-called cookieless pings containing information about an event and its context, such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n In other words, the context of the event may be available, but not the identity of the person behind it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each data transmission may also include information about the user’s consent status. This allows Google to determine that the data must be handled differently and, for example, cannot be used for ad personalization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If a user makes a purchase or submits a form, advanced consent mode may send information about the conversion event to Google in the form of a cookieless ping, but without:<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the key elements of Consent Mode v2 is the modeling of missing data. Google uses information from users who have granted consent to build behavioral models and then estimate missing data for the remaining group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In practice, this means that some conversions visible in Google Ads are not measured directly but are instead estimated using statistical modeling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In GA4, depending on the Consent Mode configuration and the availability of modeling, only part of the traffic may be visible. The data may therefore be incomplete, resulting in fewer reported users and sessions and discrepancies between different data sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The situation is different in Google Ads. Conversions are counted, but some of them may be modeled. As a result, the data reported in Google Ads and GA4 may differ, including in terms of conversion numbers and attribution. However, this does not mean that Google Ads will always report more conversions than GA4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These differences result from the different ways in which data is processed and from the use of estimation models in Google Ads.<\/p>\n\n\n \n We advance business performance with specialized services – from HR, data management, operations to consulting and digital marketing.\n <\/p>\n \n BPO offering<\/span>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n Consent Mode v2 does not mean the end of data. It means a change in the nature of that data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead of precise user-level tracking, analytics and advertising systems increasingly rely on:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Data is still available, but it is not always measured directly, nor is it always fully comparable across different systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this model, the sheer volume of data becomes less important. What matters increasingly is how the data is generated, what signals are available, and what limitations result from the consent layer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because today, campaign effectiveness is not determined by how much data you have, but by what type of data actually feeds the systems making the decisions<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\nWhat data is not sent to Google?<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
No consent for cookies<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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No consent for remarketing<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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No consent for user data<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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What data can still be sent to Google?<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Event and contextual data<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Consent status information<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Limited conversion information<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Data modeling in Consent Mode v2<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
GA4 vs. Google Ads \u2013 differences in data reporting<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sii.pl\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Blog-BPO-Desktop_.jpg\")
\n <\/picture>\n Business Process Outsourcing<\/h2>\n <\/div>\n
What does Consent Mode v2 mean for marketing in practice?<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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