Data Strategy
May 1, 2024
When it comes to digital marketing, one trend is crystal clear – privacy and consent are critical concerns. As users become more aware of the data they share online, companies are adapting their strategies to ensure compliance with privacy regulations, and to maintain user trust.
Google, a key player in the digital realm with nearly 28% of global ad-selling revenue, recently introduced updates to its Consent Mode tag and Google Ads API, aiming to provide more control and transparency over user data, driven by the Digital Markets Act (DMA) in the European region. Tealium is dedicated to providing seamless integrations, and we’ve updated our Google-related offerings, both client and server-side.
Google has introduced Consent Mode v2 to capture all ad and analytics conversion signals, even from users who don’t let them use Personal Identifying Information (PII). Google’s Consent Mode functions by using consent decisions to control the behavior of Google tags. This feature includes the opportunity to send cookieless pings to Google for users without the necessary consent. This approach is intended to capture as much data as possible for data modeling for analytics and ad conversions.
Customers should consult with their legal teams and leadership to choose which approach better suits their business: traditionally blocking tags as users deny consent, or leveraging Google’s new Consent Mode tag ‘advanced implementation’ for Google to collect anonymous data for visitors not wishing to be tracked.
Tealium’s Consent Mode tag supports whichever solution customers choose. We have updated both the tag as well as our Consent Integrations and Consent Management products to dynamically interact with a customer’s chosen CMP to pass along these consent signals to Google. More information about the Tealium Consent Register can be found here.
In addition to consent updates to client-side data collection, Tealium has updated our server-side integrations to support Google’s new consent signal capture features for integrations using the Google Ads, Audience Partner, and GA4 Measurement Protocol APIs (Google Ads Conversions, Google Ads Customer Match, DV360 Customer Match, Google Ads Store Sales).
Audience-based integrations will automatically send granted consent signals, with no update required by the customer. Customers should ensure that consent is correctly captured client-side to prevent non-consented data from being sent server-side. You can refer to Google’s Customer Match policy regarding consent here.
Tealium’s conversion-related Google integrations have been updated to support consent signals as well. Consent will be sent as granted by default, but customers have the opportunity to send non-consented conversions to Google for conversion tracking without that data being used for advertising purposes.
When it comes to consent, Tealium’s goal is to support our customers in what they decide makes the most sense for their business. We want to make it easy for our customers to change approaches as the market, regulatory climate, and their business needs evolve. As part of this approach, Tealium offers an updated Google Consent Mode tag in the tag marketplace and has updated relevant Google connectors with consent signal mapping. It is up to the client to decide which consent implementations work best for their business. More detailed implementation information can be found on each integration’s documentation page at Tealium Docs.
