--- name: configure-google-consent-mode description: >- Guides a compliant Consent Mode v2 rollout, certified CMP, the four consent signals, correct GTM firing order, and conversion modeling eligibility, for accounts serving EU/EEA/UK users or preparing for enforcement. Be honest about the division of labor: nearly all execution is CMP/GTM/legal work done by humans; VigilDog's role is the measurement side, establishing the pre-rollout conversion baseline, checking daily consented-conversion volume against the modeling thresholds, and quantifying the impact after go-live via GAQL. Use it when consent is missing, when Google Ads diagnostics report consent signals absent, or when a basic cookie banner needs upgrading. Not for the conversion tags themselves (set-up-google-ads-conversion-tracking), not for tag-loss resilience (implement-server-side-tagging), and not legal advice, regulatory interpretation stays with the user's counsel. --- # Google Consent Mode v2 Rollout Support ## Purpose Get consent signals collected correctly and flowing to Google so tags behave lawfully per user choice and Google can model conversions for the non-consenting share of traffic. The skill's value from VigilDog's side is measurement discipline: baseline before, verify modeling eligibility, and quantify the conversion impact after, while providing the human a precise checklist for the CMP/GTM work. ## When to run - The account serves EU/EEA/UK users and has no consent mode, or only a cosmetic cookie banner. - Google Ads diagnostics flag missing consent signals on conversion actions. - A tracking rebuild or migration is planned and consent must be in from day one. - Conversion volume from European geos looks implausibly low (unconsented data simply missing). ## When NOT to run - The conversion tags themselves are missing or broken, set-up-google-ads-conversion-tracking first; consent mode modulates tags that must already exist. - The data loss is from ad blockers or browser restrictions, not consent, implement-server-side-tagging. - A past consent misconfiguration corrupted a bounded period, set-up-data-exclusions for the cleanup, this skill for the fix. - Pure US/domestic accounts with no EU exposure and no appetite for future-proofing (legitimate to defer; say so and stop). ## Prerequisites - A Google-certified consent management platform account (Cookiebot, CookieYes, OneTrust, or similar) with the site's domain registered. - GTM container with the Google tags already deployed, plus edit access. - The CMP's site/group identifier at hand. - Legal sign-off on banner text and regional defaults, outside anyone's tooling here. ## Procedure 1. Baseline first, with VigilDog: run `gads_run_gaql_query` for the last 30 days of conversions by day and by geo (EU vs non-EU split). This is the pre-consent-mode reference for measuring impact later. Record daily conversion counts per primary action. 2. HUMAN STEP (outside VigilDog): configure the CMP, register the domain, select Consent Mode v2 integration, define the four signal categories (ad storage, analytics storage, ad user data, ad personalization), and set regional defaults: denied-by-default for EEA/UK, per local regulation elsewhere. 3. HUMAN STEP (outside VigilDog): install the CMP template in GTM from the template gallery, create the CMP tag with the site identifier and the default states, and, the critical detail, set its trigger to the consent-initialization trigger, not the all-pages trigger. Consent state must be established before any other tag evaluates. 4. HUMAN STEP (outside VigilDog): consent-gate the tags. Google's own tags read consent state natively and need no extra wiring, when consent is denied they degrade to cookieless pings that feed modeling. Every non-Google marketing tag (social pixels, third-party trackers) needs an explicit consent requirement added in its GTM settings so it does not fire without ad storage consent. 5. HUMAN STEP (outside VigilDog): three-scenario debug in GTM preview, reject-all (Google tags ping cookielessly, non-Google tags silent), accept-all (everything fires normally), and partial consent (each tag honors its own category). Publish only when all three behave. 6. HUMAN STEP (outside VigilDog): confirm Google Ads conversion diagnostics show consent signals detected for the conversion actions. 7. Verify modeling eligibility with VigilDog: modeling needs the setup live for about a week and a sufficient consented-conversion base, on the order of 100+ consented conversions per day per action for Search, 1000+ for Display/Video. Run `gads_run_gaql_query` for daily consented conversion counts per action and report which actions clear the bar, which never will (low volume), and set expectations accordingly. 8. Quantify impact after 2-4 weeks: compare post-rollout conversion levels to the step-1 baseline via `gads_run_gaql_query`, EU geos versus control geos. A modest EU-only dip that partially recovers as modeling activates is the expected signature; report the numbers rather than impressions. ## Decision rules - CMP tag trigger: consent-initialization, always. On all-pages the banner "works" while tags race ahead of consent, the most common and most invisible failure. - Defaults: EEA/UK denied across all four categories; do not soften this for data appetite. - Only Google tags get native handling; assume every non-Google tag fires unlawfully until explicitly gated. - Modeling thresholds (order of magnitude): ~1 week active, ~100 consented conversions/day/action for Search, ~1000/day for Display/Video. Under the bar, modeled recovery will be minimal, tell the user before they expect magic. - Do not evaluate modeled data before 2-4 weeks post-rollout; earlier reads are noise. - A conversion drop right after rollout is partly by design (unconsented users no longer tracked); judge against the geo-split baseline, not the raw total. - If a misconfigured interim period corrupted bidding data, bracket it and route to set-up-data-exclusions. The four signals, in practical terms: - Ad storage governs advertising cookies (click-id storage lives here, denied means no cookie-based click attribution for that user). - Ad user data governs whether user data may be sent to Google for advertising at all. - Ad personalization governs remarketing/personalized-ads eligibility. - Analytics storage governs analytics cookies and session continuity in GA4. Remarketing lists shrink under denied ad personalization even while conversion modeling holds up, set that expectation with the user so audience-size drops are not misread as a bug. ## Common failure modes - Wrong trigger on the CMP tag (all-pages instead of consent-initialization), everything looks fine in reports, nothing is compliant. - Non-Google pixels left ungated, firing for rejecting users, audit every tag, not just the Google ones. - Home-grown banners that set cookies but never emit the four consent signals: Google sees no consent mode at all. Use a certified CMP integration. - Declaring failure at day 3 because modeled conversions have not appeared, thresholds and lag are real. - Treating the post-rollout EU dip as a tracking bug and "fixing" the consent gating back off. ## Related skills - Run before: set-up-cart-data-and-profit-tracking, set-up-new-customer-tracking, implement-enhanced-conversions, all downstream data collection assumes consent is in order. - Run alongside: set-up-google-ads-conversion-tracking (fresh builds should include consent from day one). - Cleanup partner: set-up-data-exclusions (for periods a consent bug corrupted). - Report impact into: run-a-monthly-performance-review (the post-rollout baseline shift belongs in the monthly tracking-integrity phase).