Consent Mode v2 is Google's framework for managing user consent signals in Google Ads campaigns. For advertisers operating in the EU, UK, or other regions with data protection regulations, Consent Mode v2 is required for compliant AI Max operation. Without it, AI Max campaigns in GDPR regions may be operating on data that violates consent requirements.
What Consent Mode v2 Does
Consent Mode is a setting in your Google Tag that passes consent signals from your Consent Management Platform (CMP) to Google's measurement and targeting infrastructure.
When a user gives or denies consent on your cookie banner, Consent Mode transmits that signal:
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ad_storage: granted: User consented to advertising cookies — full tracking and measurement active -
ad_storage: denied: User denied advertising cookies — no ad cookies set, but Google uses modeled conversion data
The "v2" addition introduced two new parameters:
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ad_personalization: Controls personalized advertising (remarketing, audience lists) -
analytics_storage: Controls analytics data collection
These four signals together give Google's systems the consent state for each user in each session.
Why Consent Mode v2 Matters for AI Max
AI Max campaigns use audience signals (Customer Match, website visitor lists) and conversion data to build their bidding models. Both of these data categories are affected by consent requirements:
Audience signal data: If you upload a Customer Match list built from user data collected without proper consent, the AI Max audience signal violates GDPR. The Customer Match data should only include users who consented to marketing use of their data.
Conversion tracking: Without Consent Mode v2, your Google Tag may be setting cookies for non-consenting EU users. If conversions from non-consenting users are attributed to AI Max campaigns, those conversions are based on improperly tracked data.
Bidding model accuracy: AI Max's bidding model trains on conversion data. If non-consenting users are excluded from conversion tracking (correctly), the AI sees fewer conversions from EU traffic — which affects how it bids for EU users. With Consent Mode v2 properly configured, Google fills in gaps using behavioral modeling (extrapolating from consenting users' patterns), partially restoring the AI's signal for non-consenting users without violating consent.
Behavioral Modeling: How AI Max Handles Consent-Denied Traffic
When Consent Mode v2 signals ad_storage: denied, Google doesn't simply ignore that user in the bidding calculation. Instead, Google's AI uses behavioral modeling:
- Google observes conversion patterns for consenting users in similar audiences and contexts
- For non-consenting sessions, Google models what the expected conversion probability would have been, based on observed patterns
- This modeled data contributes to AI Max's bidding calculations without using actual individual data from non-consenting users
This means AI Max continues to bid intelligently for EU traffic even when many users have denied cookies — the AI just uses anonymized, modeled data rather than individual user signals.
Implication for performance reporting: Modeled conversions may appear differently in your conversion reports (depending on how your account is configured). Don't be surprised if EU conversion counts look lower than pre-Consent Mode reports when you first implement properly — you're now seeing actual compliant data plus modeled fills, rather than non-compliant full tracking.
The June 2026 Deletion and Consent Mode
The June 2026 data deletion (https://yositeup.com/blog/google-ads-reporting-data-deleted-june-2026) deleted conversion data, but Consent Mode v2's modeled conversion fills were also subject to this deletion for the affected period. Advertisers who had already implemented Consent Mode v2 before the deletion see the same data gaps as those without it — the deletion was not limited to non-consenting user data.
Post-deletion, Consent Mode v2 continues to function correctly. The deletion was a reporting infrastructure event, not a change in how Consent Mode processes consent signals.
Implementing Consent Mode v2 With AI Max
Step 1: Configure your CMP to support Consent Mode v2 parameters (ad_storage, ad_personalization, analytics_storage, functionality_storage). Major CMPs (Cookiebot, OneTrust, Usercentrics) have Consent Mode v2 plugins.
Step 2: In Google Tag Manager, set default consent states (denied before the user interacts with the banner) and update states when the user accepts or declines.
Step 3: Link your CMP's consent signals to the Google Tag's consent mode initialization. This typically requires a GTM trigger that fires on consent changes.
Step 4: Test with GTM Preview and the Google Tag Assistant Chrome extension — verify that ad_storage: denied state is active before consent is given, and switches to granted after acceptance.
Step 5: For AI Max specifically, verify that Customer Match list uploads include only users with verifiable ad_personalization consent. This requires connecting your CRM consent records to your Customer Match list generation process.
DSA Migration and Consent Mode
When migrating DSA to AI Max for Search (https://yositeup.com/blog/google-ads-dsa-ai-max-migration-february-2027), your existing DSA campaign may have been operating with or without Consent Mode. If Consent Mode wasn't properly implemented on DSA, don't carry that status forward into AI Max — the DSA-to-AI Max migration is a good opportunity to implement Consent Mode v2 properly before the AI Max campaign goes live.
July 2026 ToS and Consent Requirements
The July 2026 ToS (https://yositeup.com/blog/google-ads-tos-july-2026-ai-automation-what-changed) explicitly references Consent Mode v2 as the required mechanism for GDPR-region advertisers using AI Max. The ToS provisions include:
- EU/UK advertisers using AI Max must have Consent Mode v2 implemented
- Customer Match lists used as AI Max signals must comply with applicable consent requirements
- AI Max's automated audience expansion (beyond your signals) is constrained by consent signals — the AI won't expand to audiences using data types the user hasn't consented to
This ToS requirement was partly a response to regulatory scrutiny of Performance Max (AI Max's predecessor) in the EU. Compliance is not optional for EU-market AI Max campaigns — check your Consent Mode v2 implementation before scaling AI Max for Shopping (https://yositeup.com/blog/google-ai-max-shopping-replacing-performance-max-2026) into EU markets.
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