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Google Consent Mode and Termly CMP

Rogelyn
Updated

Termly supports both basic and advanced Consent Mode V2

 

Google’s Consent Mode is used to communicate your users’ consent status to Google. Google services such as Tag Manager, Analytics, Floodlight and Ads adjust their behavior in response to flags set by Consent Mode, respecting users’ choices accordingly.

 

Consent Management Platforms like Termly can be configured to communicate your users' preferences to the Google tags on your page via Consent Mode. When consent is denied, among other adjustments, tags will not set or read cookies in your browser, will not collect identifying information and will use modelling to fill in the gaps in your data.

 

How to set up Consent Mode with Termly

There are two possible ways to enable consent mode with Termly's consent management platform (CMP):

 

  • Option 1: Enable Consent Mode under your regional Consent Settings in the Termly dashboard

  • Option 2: Enable Consent Mode using Termly's Google Tag Manager template

If you employ both methods, be sure to set the same default configurations across both platforms in order to avoid configuration conflicts.

 

Option 1: Enable Consent Mode in the Termly dashboard

Google Consent Mode can be enabled on a region-by-region basis from the Termly dashboard. To do this, navigate to your consent banner settings and enable 'Google Consent Mode' for any region under your 'Consent Settings'.

  • Advanced Consent Mode: When Consent Mode is enabled in your consent settings, gtags (GA4, Google Ads, etc.) will be exempted from blocking by Auto Blocker and will always be allowed to run on page load, sending cookieless pings when consent is denied and upgrading to full measurement once consent is granted. Note that this exemption applies to Google tags only. Non-Google scripts and any scripts that load outside the GTM container, such as platform-native analytics from site builders like Duda, will still fire before consent if Auto Blocker is off. If your site includes such scripts, keep Auto Blocker enabled. Google tags are already exempted under Advanced Consent Mode, so this will not interfere with them.
  • Basic Consent Mode: If you prefer that gtags are not exempted by Auto Blocker and are always blocked before consent is given, you can use manual blocking to assign them to the appropriate blocking category. In this mode, no Google tag network requests are made before consent, including cookieless pings.

What are cookieless pings?
When Advanced Consent Mode is enabled and a visitor has denied consent, Google tags still load but operate in a restricted mode. Instead of setting cookies or capturing identifying information, they send a lightweight, anonymous signal called a cookieless ping to Google. This ping carries no persistent identifiers (no _ga client ID, no ad cookies), only coarse, non-identifying context such as a timestamp, page URL, and rough geography. Google uses the aggregate volume of these pings to statistically model conversions and behavior it can no longer measure directly, partially filling the reporting gap that consent creates.

Note: A cookieless ping is still a network request to Google made before or without consent. Google's position is that this is compliant by design, but some strict regulatory interpretations treat any pre-consent transmission to a third party as something users should be informed about.

 

Configuring consent defaults

To make use of Consent Mode 'Advanced options' in the dashboard, you must be using the latest version of Termly's embed script.

 

When 'Google Consent Mode' is set to 'Advanced Consent Mode', consent defaults and other advanced options can be configured next to the Consent Mode toggle by selecting 'Advanced options'.

 

Option 2: Enable Consent Mode with Termly's Google Tag Manager Template

Termly's official Consent Management Platform template, found in the Google Tag Manager community template gallery, is designed to translate user consent settings from Termly's CMP into Google Consent Mode preferences anywhere Termly is installed.

 

Learn more about consent configuration in GTM.

 

Step 1. Add the Consent Mode template to your workspace

To install Termly’s Consent Mode template:

 

  1. Click on Templates in the left hand menu of your GTM workspace

  2. Click Search Gallery

  3. Search for “Termly”

  4. Select “Termly Consent Management Platform”

  5. Click Add to Workspace

Step 2. Create a new event trigger "userPrefUpdate"

Termly fires this event every time user preferences change in the Termly CMP. The template listens for this event and updates the consent state according to user preferences.

 

  1. Go to your GTM workspace and create a new trigger

  2. Click Choose a trigger type to begin setup, then click Custom Event.

  3. Under Event name type userPrefUpdate

  4. Trigger should be set to fire on All Custom Events
    ​

     

Step 3. Add Termly's template tag

 

  1. Go to Tags

  2. Create a new tag and select Termly Consent Management Platform in Tag Configuration

  3. Click Triggering, then click New / +

  4. Add Consent Initialization - All Pages

  5. Add userPrefUpdate

Now you can make use of GTM's consent configuration options to manage how and when tags are triggered based on user's consent preferences.

Using Google Consent Mode on Duda sites

If your site is built on Duda, be aware that Duda injects some analytics and tracking scripts natively, outside any GTM container. These scripts are not governed by Google Consent Mode, which only controls Google's own tags, and are not governed by GTM, which only controls tags inside its container.

The only Termly mechanism that can block these scripts before consent is Auto Blocker. Because enabling Advanced Consent Mode exempts Google tags from Auto Blocker, many guides recommend turning Auto Blocker off entirely when using GTM. On Duda sites, however, this leaves Duda-native scripts ungated and firing before consent is given.

Recommended setup for Duda sites:

  • Keep Auto Blocker on. Google tags are already exempted under Advanced Consent Mode, so Auto Blocker will not interfere with them but will continue to gate Duda-native scripts until consent is given.
  • Alternatively, manually gate Duda-native scripts so they cannot load before consent.

  • Do not rely on Consent Mode and GTM alone to achieve compliance on a Duda site.

     

Need Help?

If you need help, you can click this link and fill up our Contact form to reach our dedicated support team with any questions or concerns, including assistance with missing Consent Mode or TCF signals on Google tags.

Related Articles

How to use Termly with Google Tag Manager
How to install your consent banner
How to validate Termly's Integration with Google Tag Manager
Set up consent mode on websites

 

 

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