Why tracking is getting harder
Browsers like Safari and Firefox limit cookies, ad blockers stop many tags, and privacy laws require consent before tracking. In Canada, Quebec’s Law 25 requires consent for tracking technologies, and federal privacy law sets rules on collecting personal information.
The result is gaps in your data: conversions that happened but never got reported to Google or Meta.
What Consent Mode v2 does
Consent Mode tells Google tags whether a visitor accepted analytics and advertising cookies. When they decline, tags send limited, cookieless signals, and Google uses modelling to estimate the missing conversions.
Version 2 added two settings, ad_user_data and ad_personalization. Google requires them to keep using audience and measurement features for users in the EEA and UK.
Server-side tracking and conversions APIs
Server-side tracking sends data from your server instead of the visitor’s browser, which is less affected by ad blockers and browser limits. Meta’s Conversions API and Google’s enhanced conversions work in a similar way, matching conversions using hashed first-party data such as email addresses, with consent.
A practical setup
- A consent banner that integrates with Google Consent Mode
- GA4 and Google Ads tags managed in Google Tag Manager
- Enhanced conversions for Google Ads
- Meta Pixel with the Conversions API
- Call and form tracking connected to your CRM
- Regular checks that reported conversions match real leads
The future of measurement
Measurement is moving from tracking individuals to modelling results from consented and aggregated data.
- 01More reliance on modelled conversions and marketing mix models
- 02Privacy-preserving APIs built into browsers
- 03First-party data and CRM integration as the source of truth
Questions & answers
It’s strongly recommended, and it’s needed if you advertise to users in the EEA or UK. Quebec’s Law 25 also requires consent for tracking.
Some visitors will decline, but Consent Mode’s modelling and server-side setups recover much of the lost insight.
It needs a server container and setup time, with ongoing hosting costs. For businesses spending meaningfully on ads, better data usually pays for it.
Information customers share with you directly, such as email addresses, purchases and preferences, with their permission.