Google Ads Tag and Consent Checker: conversions and Consent Mode v2

Consent Mode is how your consent banner tells Google tags what a visitor agreed to. Version 2 added two parameters, ad_user_data and ad_personalization, to the original ad_storage and analytics_storage. Google says both new parameters must be granted for personalised advertising such as remarketing, and ad_user_data covers measurement such as enhanced conversions. Google needs these signals for visitors in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland.

If you advertise to people in the EEA, the UK or Switzerland, Google needs consent signals for them. In India, the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025 were notified in November 2025 with an 18-month phase-in, so most consent and notice duties apply from May 2027. Setting up a banner and Consent Mode now is good practice. This is general information, not legal advice.

Google asks you to paste the Google tag right after the opening <head> tag on every page, with only one Google tag per page; extra IDs are added with config lines or as destinations. The Tag Manager snippet goes as high in the <head> as possible, with its noscript part right after the opening <body>. Consent defaults must run before any tag sends data.

A conversion event snippet that runs when a page loads counts every visit to that page. Google's page-load snippet belongs on the confirmation or thank-you page; for button clicks and calls, use the click version of the snippet or a Tag Manager trigger. If the snippet sits in a site-wide header or on a landing page, your conversion numbers and Smart Bidding will be wrong.

Google says a container that loads a Google tag or Destination tag on every page does not also need a conversion linker tag, and containers with Google Ads tags load a Google tag first when no Destination tag is connected. A Conversion Linker tag on all pages remains a safe setup. With gtag.js, linking is built in through the conversion_linker setting, which Google recommends leaving on.