CookiePass and Google Consent Mode: what a consent banner does to your traffic

Choose the mode that fits your organisation's policy. Do not disable deliberate script blocking just to make events appear. **Basic:** block the tracking snippet until the relevant consent is given. No pre-consent tracking events are expected in SignalHost. **Advanced:** load Google's tags with `denied` defaults. Google may receive cookieless measurement pings before a choice or after rejection. A ping is not consent.

The `gcs` field describes only advertising and analytics storage. It does not prove the two newer consent permissions. Check all four in Google Tag Assistant; encoded request fields can change.

gcs=G100   ad_storage denied,  analytics_storage denied
gcs=G101   ad_storage denied,  analytics_storage granted
gcs=G110   ad_storage granted, analytics_storage denied
gcs=G111   both granted
(no gcs)   storage summary missing; our current storage gate permits it, not proof of consent

Set `analytics_storage`, `ad_storage`, `ad_user_data` and `ad_personalization` to `denied` before the SignalHost snippet runs. Your banner then updates each permission to match the visitor's choices.

Consent Mode v2 requires a sequence, not a setting. The default state has to be declared before the Google tag loads — denied, for anyone who has not chosen yet — and an update has to follow the moment the visitor decides, then be restored on every return visit. Get the order wrong and the first page view of every session goes out as consented before the banner has even rendered.

This is the sequence CookiePass produces from its own script, so nothing about it lands in your Tag Manager container:

gtag('consent', 'default', {
  ad_storage: 'denied',
  analytics_storage: 'denied',
  ad_user_data: 'denied',
  ad_personalization: 'denied',
  wait_for_update: 500
});

// …the visitor accepts all four purposes…
gtag('consent', 'update', {
  ad_storage: 'granted',
  analytics_storage: 'granted',
  ad_user_data: 'granted',
  ad_personalization: 'granted'
});

That is the whole integration. Google's own tags honour the consent state automatically, and that includes the tags SignalHost publishes into your web container. Nothing in your server container needs a consent condition — adding one by hand is how a gated Google tag ends up with ungated event tags beside it, sending data straight to Google.

**Basic:** block the tracking snippet until the relevant consent is given. No pre-consent tracking events are expected in SignalHost. **Advanced:** load Google's tags with `denied` defaults. Google may receive cookieless measurement pings before a choice or after rejection. A ping is not consent.

• Before a choice and after Reject: the relevant permissions stay `denied`.
• Analytics only: `analytics_storage` may be granted; advertising permissions stay denied.
• Marketing allowed: grant only the advertising purposes the visitor actually agreed to.
• Withdraw permission: the affected values return to `denied`. Reload and check the saved choice.

Does seeing an event mean consent is correct? No. Live events show arrival at SignalHost, not all four consent settings or delivery to an ad platform. Use Tag Assistant to check consent, then check the destination separately.

Does seeing an event mean consent is correct? No. Live events show arrival at SignalHost, not all four consent settings or delivery to an ad platform. Use Tag Assistant to check consent, then check the destination separately.

• **Basic:** block the tracking snippet until the relevant consent is given. No pre-consent tracking events are expected in SignalHost.
• **Advanced:** load Google's tags with `denied` defaults. Google may receive cookieless measurement pings before a choice or after rejection. A ping is not consent.

• Before tracking starts, your banner must set permissions to denied. After a choice, update only the purposes the visitor allowed, remember that choice, and handle withdrawal.
• Open a fresh private window for each test. In Google Tag Assistant, enter your site URL and inspect the earliest and latest Consent events.
• Before a choice and after Reject: the relevant permissions stay `denied`.
• Analytics only: `analytics_storage` may be granted; advertising permissions stay denied.
• Marketing allowed: grant only the advertising purposes the visitor actually agreed to.
• Withdraw permission: the affected values return to `denied`. Reload and check the saved choice.
• Add the exact loader URL from your SignalHost installation snippet to your banner's blocking rules. Your own hostname may not match its usual Google rules. Release it only after the required consent.

[Cookie-banner setup guide](/en/blog/cookie-banner-consent-mode-server-side)