Although web developing and designing may not be our thing at Three Cherries, one thing we do is keep our customers up to date within the tech world. A big change to all businesses with websites is Google’s new mandatory policy, Consent Mode V2.

 

What is Consent Mode V2?

Consent mode is all about cookies. Unfortunately, these are the web trackers used in analytics and marketing rather than the round biscuits! Google’s exact definition of consent mode is allowing you to share the collected data you have of users with Google. This is the process of you sharing data and Google tagging it and allowing them to model it in the form of analytics.

 

What Are the Types of Cookies?

The types of cookies can be separated into essential and non-essential. As they sound, essential cookies are the first party ones. These are what make a website work and without them, websites wouldn’t be able to remember user preferences such as menus etc. On the other hand, non-essential cookies are the third-party ones. These aren’t necessary for website functioning but serve the purpose of aiding in advertising and marketing. These third-party cookies are what Google are trying to stop as they present concerns to user privacy and cybersecurity.

Why is Consent Mode V2 Important?

Consent mode is important because of user consent. If you’re based in the EU and the UK, then you’ll know that the General Data Protection Regulation chooses how personal data is used and stored by businesses. Consent mode helps bring businesses in line with the correct policies to meet these standards.

 

What Does Google Consent Mode V2 Affect?

The main effect Consent mode V2 will have on businesses surrounds user data and how it is presented. Many businesses will find that their analytics platforms for tracking conversions and traffic show less data. This obviously means the area of your business most affected will be marketing. If your marketing team aren’t aware of these changes, then its important they are made aware so there are no major shocks to the system when figures drop.

Is Consent Mode V2 Essential?

As of March 2024, the Consent Mode V2 policy became essential for all websites. This means that many businesses may have already seen and experienced the effects of the change to their analytics data and measured conversions.

 

What Can Businesses Do About the Changes?

Due to the changes being mandatory, there’s not much which can be done on the technical side of things to reduce the effects. However, it may be worth considering how your marketing team can present their analytics data during reviews or how you can effectively target new customers using different methods.

Use Google Search Console: In a similar way to Google Analytics 4, Search Console tracks the clicks onto pages and what keywords were searched to find said pages. This uses sitemaps and crawled pages rather than cookies. This tool looks to be one answer to aiding marketing teams in displaying data to their business. Consent Mode V2 hasn’t affected Google Search Console like it has Google Analytics.

 

Three Cherries: IT Support Bristol News

Regulations surrounding privacy and compliance seem to be frequently updating and staying ahead of the game is necessary to ensure that your business stays in line with laws. Although web design isn’t our thing, keeping our valued customers up to date and ensuring their IT systems are running smoothly are however. Drop us an email or give us a call if you want to discuss how Three Cherries can help you today.