Google Consent Mode

I'm currently (as of end of November 2021) in the middle of removing CookieBot and replacing with CookiePro from OneTrust.

CookieBot was 'consent mode aware' and was simple to implement. CookiePro is a more complex (and capable) service and I'm going through an implementation in order to learn more about it. CookiePro also recently added a simple option to work with Google Consent Mode.

Compliance

I'm not a legal expert and giving advice on 'cookie compliance' is so complex, people are making a living from doing just that. However, Google are making changes to their analytics and tagging services to remove the need for third-party cookies.

'Google Consent Mode' is cookieless tracking with additional anonymisation of data. Some of the tracking for their own services will now work without cookies and in such a way that (according to them and their legal team) it does not require user consent. However, there's some loss in fidelity when this happens. Google mitigate this with machine learning i.e. they model things. 'Best guess', in other words.

Implementation

This all happens via Google Tag Manager in conjunction with a consent management platform that is 'consent mode aware' and a very specific configuration within Google Tag Manager for each tag to ensure all third party tags are blocked unless and until consent is granted, but where Google's own services can be tagged as normal and when fired, respond to the current consent status to either use cookieless pings (no consent present) or the standard tracking (consent granted).