Skip to content

Guide 80 · Consent · GA4 + Tag Manager

Consent mode advanced: tags load with consent denied, and send pings instead of setting cookies

Checked 11 November 2026 · Verification: figures recomputed in Python 3, shown in the downloadable file · Steps traced to Google help and developer pages, opened 11 November 2026 · 7-minute read

In advanced consent mode Google tags load on page open with consent denied by default, then send pings without cookies while consent is denied and full data once it is granted.

Expected signal

After the trace, a visitor who denies consent still produces a ping without cookies with no Analytics cookies set, and a visitor who grants consent produces full measurement.

Download the reference: the consent mode advanced reference (JSON) (466 bytes, MD5 b4238e10b02a2c06bd76cdd0d80935ef). It holds the worked example from this guide with every figure recomputed. The file was built for this guide and checked the same day; it was not exported from a live property.

What you need

  • A consent banner or consent management platform that can set defaults and send updates.
  • Google tags installed through Tag Manager or the Google tag.
  • A privacy decision in writing, because advanced mode sends pings before the visitor answers.

The trace

  1. Read Google's definition first. In advanced mode Google tags load when a user opens the website, with defaults set to denied unless configured otherwise. The tags load the consent mode API and wait for the visitor's answer.
  2. Set the default consent states before any tag loads. The four types are analytics_storage, ad_storage, ad_user_data and ad_personalization. Each is granted or denied. Set all four to denied by default unless your privacy decision says otherwise.
  3. Know what is sent while consent is denied. The tags send pings without cookies: consent state pings, key event pings and Google Analytics pings. No Analytics cookies are set, accessed or read while analytics_storage is denied.
  4. Know what a ping can carry. Google lists timestamp, user agent, referrer, a note of whether the page or a prior page held ad-click information, the consent state, a random number per page load, and the consent platform used. That is the data that feeds the modelled numbers.
  5. Check the worked example in the download. The same 1,000 visitors split 412 grant, 388 deny and 200 no answer. In advanced mode the 388 who deny and the 200 who do not answer still send pings without cookies, so 1,000 of 1,000 visitors produce a ping, and 412 produce full measurement. The modelled gap is the 588 who sent pings only.
  6. Wait at least 7 full days before judging the result. Google says consent mode needs at least 7 full days of data before it can report uplift, and only when a slice meets the minimum data threshold.

Dead ends

DEAD END — EXPECTING COOKIES WHILE DENIED. Denied means no Analytics cookies are set, accessed or read. An Analytics cookie appearing after a refusal means the default was not applied before the tag loaded.

DEAD END — MODELLING WITHOUT THE THRESHOLD. Modelling needs enough denied and granted data. Google sets thresholds for behavioural modelling, including at least 1,000 events a day with analytics storage denied for at least 7 days in the published guidance.

DEAD END — GRANTING BY DEFAULT IN THE EEA. Google notes regional differences for the EEA, Switzerland and the UK. A default of granted in those regions is a privacy decision, not a technical default.

End state

The worked example shows the trade clearly: all 1,000 visitors produce a ping in advanced mode, 412 produce full measurement, and 588 are modelled from pings only. The cookies stay off until consent is granted.

Sources

Checked 11 November 2026. The click paths above are the ones in Google's help and developer pages, opened 11 November 2026. No step in this guide was run inside a live Analytics property or a live Tag Manager container, because both need a Google sign-in and this site does not sign in as anyone. The figures on this page were recomputed in Python 3 and are shown in the downloadable file, which was checked the same day. Google moves menu items without warning; if a path on this page no longer matches, the linked help page is the current map.