https://veloconsent.com/blog Field notes on cookie consent, Google Consent Mode v2, lost conversions and compliant measurement, from the team behind Velo. en Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT https://veloconsent.com/blog/consent-mode-v2-plain-english https://veloconsent.com/blog/consent-mode-v2-plain-english Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT What the four consent signals mean, why basic and advanced implementations are not the same thing, and how to tell which one your site is actually running. https://veloconsent.com/blog/do-i-need-a-cookie-banner-on-my-website https://veloconsent.com/blog/do-i-need-a-cookie-banner-on-my-website Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT When your website needs a cookie banner, when it does not, and the question the checklists skip: whether the banner quietly costs you analytics data. https://veloconsent.com/blog/what-happens-to-a-google-ads-conversion-when-ad-user-data-is-denied https://veloconsent.com/blog/what-happens-to-a-google-ads-conversion-when-ad-user-data-is-denied Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT A denied ad_user_data does not stop the conversion happening. It changes what Google receives about it, and which counter it can land in. https://veloconsent.com/blog/how-to-pass-consent-signal-server-side-tagging https://veloconsent.com/blog/how-to-pass-consent-signal-server-side-tagging Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Consent is decided in the web container and rides to the server on the request. The wiring, how to verify it arrived, and the failure that puts the identifier back. https://veloconsent.com/blog/what-to-do-if-you-get-a-complaint-about-your-cookie-banner https://veloconsent.com/blog/what-to-do-if-you-get-a-complaint-about-your-cookie-banner Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Measure the live payload before you answer. A complaint list is usually partly wrong, and the real cause is usually not on it. https://veloconsent.com/blog/do-cookie-banners-slow-down-your-website https://veloconsent.com/blog/do-cookie-banners-slow-down-your-website Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT A cookie banner can slow your site, but the banner script is rarely the expensive part. What it releases on accept is. How to measure both paths honestly. https://veloconsent.com/blog/google-consent-mode-v2-shopify https://veloconsent.com/blog/google-consent-mode-v2-shopify Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Set denied defaults above your container, then write the visitor's choice to both Google Consent Mode and Shopify's Customer Privacy API on the same click. https://veloconsent.com/blog/what-is-consent-modelling-and-when-does-it-start https://veloconsent.com/blog/what-is-consent-modelling-and-when-does-it-start Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Consent modelling estimates what declined visitors did. It starts only when your property clears Google's published thresholds, and most sites never do. https://veloconsent.com/blog/cheap-consent-management-platform-for-small-business https://veloconsent.com/blog/cheap-consent-management-platform-for-small-business Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT For a small single domain site a free CMP tier is often enough. Here is what the cheap tiers withhold, when a free one is genuinely sufficient, and how to test yours. https://veloconsent.com/blog/basic-vs-advanced-consent-mode-which-am-i-running https://veloconsent.com/blog/basic-vs-advanced-consent-mode-which-am-i-running Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Deny consent in incognito and read the gcs parameter on Google's request. A request that still fires is advanced Consent Mode; nothing means basic, or a broken tag. https://veloconsent.com/blog/should-i-block-google-tags-until-consent https://veloconsent.com/blog/should-i-block-google-tags-until-consent Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT No. Google tags carry built in consent checks, so an extra consent check blocks them outright and quietly turns Advanced Consent Mode into Basic. https://veloconsent.com/blog/can-you-build-remarketing-audiences-if-visitors-reject-cookies https://veloconsent.com/blog/can-you-build-remarketing-audiences-if-visitors-reject-cookies Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT No, not from the visitors who rejected: a denied advertising signal means no identifier, so they never enter a remarketing list. Here is what still works instead. https://veloconsent.com/blog/how-to-add-a-cookie-banner-to-a-webflow-site https://veloconsent.com/blog/how-to-add-a-cookie-banner-to-a-webflow-site Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Paste the banner in Site settings Custom code above your container, then clear Webflow's native Analytics and Pixel fields, which load outside your tag manager. https://veloconsent.com/blog/ga4-conversions-dropped-overnight https://veloconsent.com/blog/ga4-conversions-dropped-overnight Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT A banner change, a tag that fires too early, a region rule that flipped. The usual suspects when GA4 numbers fall and nobody touched the campaigns. https://veloconsent.com/blog/gdpr-cookie-banner-requirements-2026 https://veloconsent.com/blog/gdpr-cookie-banner-requirements-2026 Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT The things a GDPR cookie banner must do in 2026, each paired with the browser check that proves your own banner actually does it. https://veloconsent.com/blog/how-much-does-a-consent-management-platform-cost https://veloconsent.com/blog/how-much-does-a-consent-management-platform-cost Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Most sites pay nothing to a few hundred a month, and monthly sessions decide where you land. What the tiers cost, and the setup work that is not on the pricing page. https://veloconsent.com/blog/how-long-does-cookie-consent-last https://veloconsent.com/blog/how-long-does-cookie-consent-last Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT The GDPR sets no expiry for cookie consent. What decides when your banner reappears is how long the browser keeps the record you stored. https://veloconsent.com/blog/switch-consent-management-platform-without-breaking-tracking https://veloconsent.com/blog/switch-consent-management-platform-without-breaking-tracking Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Install the new platform first, repoint every consent condition onto its signal, then delete the old platform's variables last. The residue is what breaks tracking. https://veloconsent.com/blog/do-you-still-need-a-cookie-banner-with-server-side-tagging https://veloconsent.com/blog/do-you-still-need-a-cookie-banner-with-server-side-tagging Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Yes. Server side tagging moves where your tags run, not whether you may collect the data, so the banner and the consent duty stay. Here is what moves and what does not. https://veloconsent.com/blog/can-google-analytics-work-without-cookies https://veloconsent.com/blog/can-google-analytics-work-without-cookies Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Yes, but only in a narrower sense than the question implies. GA4 still collects without cookies; what it stops doing is recognising anyone. Here is what survives. https://veloconsent.com/blog/cookie-consent-pricing-per-subpage-or-flat-rate https://veloconsent.com/blog/cookie-consent-pricing-per-subpage-or-flat-rate Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Four pricing models are in the market, and two numbers about your own estate decide which is cheapest. How to work them out, and why your session count is wrong. https://veloconsent.com/blog/reject-all-one-click https://veloconsent.com/blog/reject-all-one-click Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT The banner design choice regulators keep flagging, what a fair banner looks like, and why a clearer first view tends to lift consent rates rather than lower them. https://veloconsent.com/blog/install-cookie-banner-google-tag-manager https://veloconsent.com/blog/install-cookie-banner-google-tag-manager Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Install your consent banner as the first thing Tag Manager does, on the Consent Initialization trigger, defaulted to denied. Plus how to check it fired before GA4. https://veloconsent.com/blog/what-happens-to-ga4-data-when-users-reject-cookies https://veloconsent.com/blog/what-happens-to-ga4-data-when-users-reject-cookies Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT What GA4 keeps and what it loses when a visitor rejects cookies, why the answer depends on your Consent Mode, and the part of the gap modelling never fills. https://veloconsent.com/blog/is-a-tag-really-setting-cookies-before-consent https://veloconsent.com/blog/is-a-tag-really-setting-cookies-before-consent Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Only a live page load proves it. A container audit lists what is configured; the cookies written and the requests sent before you touch the banner are the evidence. https://veloconsent.com/blog/raise-consent-accept-rates-without-dark-patterns https://veloconsent.com/blog/raise-consent-accept-rates-without-dark-patterns Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT The honest levers that raise cookie consent accept rates: plain language, equal buttons, granular categories, a fast banner and a measured baseline. https://veloconsent.com/blog/what-is-a-consent-management-platform https://veloconsent.com/blog/what-is-a-consent-management-platform Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT A consent management platform captures what visitors allow, proves it, and passes that choice to your analytics and ad tags. What it does, and when you need one. https://veloconsent.com/blog/check-cookie-banner-consent-mode-v2-signal https://veloconsent.com/blog/check-cookie-banner-consent-mode-v2-signal Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Two reads settle it: the four consent signals inside the browser, and the state that actually reached Google on the request. Here is how to check both. https://veloconsent.com/blog/why-google-ads-and-ga4-report-different-conversions https://veloconsent.com/blog/why-google-ads-and-ga4-report-different-conversions Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Google Ads and GA4 count different things, so a gap is normal. Which part of it is structural, which part is consent, and how to tell how much of yours is which. https://veloconsent.com/blog/white-label-cookie-consent-for-agencies https://veloconsent.com/blog/white-label-cookie-consent-for-agencies Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT White labelling a cookie banner is the easy part. What decides a client roster is who owns the consent record, where the logs go, and whether measurement survives. https://veloconsent.com/blog/ga4-unassigned-traffic-after-cookie-banner https://veloconsent.com/blog/ga4-unassigned-traffic-after-cookie-banner Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Unassigned is traffic GA4 collected and could not attribute. After a banner it has three causes: late consent, a missing session start, or denied pings being identified. https://veloconsent.com/blog/how-to-test-a-cookie-banner-before-going-live https://veloconsent.com/blog/how-to-test-a-cookie-banner-before-going-live Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Test a cookie banner on staging before launch: does it appear, block before consent, carry the right consent signal, record the choice, and survive a return visit. https://veloconsent.com/blog/why-the-facebook-pixel-still-loads-when-your-tags-are-blocked https://veloconsent.com/blog/why-the-facebook-pixel-still-loads-when-your-tags-are-blocked Thu, 17 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Usually the pixel base code runs before the banner or the tag never required consent. If both are clean, another vendor's script is injecting it at runtime. https://veloconsent.com/blog/can-i-move-a-script-into-google-tag-manager-to-gate-it https://veloconsent.com/blog/can-i-move-a-script-into-google-tag-manager-to-gate-it Sat, 12 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Usually yes. Most vendor scripts move into a container cleanly. The ones that must run before render, or see the first request, stay in the head. https://veloconsent.com/blog/what-happens-when-someone-withdraws-cookie-consent https://veloconsent.com/blog/what-happens-when-someone-withdraws-cookie-consent Mon, 07 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Three things should happen: a new consent event recorded, a denied signal sent to every tool that takes one, and identity reset before capture stops. https://veloconsent.com/blog/squarespace-google-consent-mode https://veloconsent.com/blog/squarespace-google-consent-mode Wed, 02 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Squarespace's native banner blocks analytics cookies but emits no Consent Mode signals. The code injection that bridges it, and four platform limits nobody documents. https://veloconsent.com/blog/what-consent-category-should-a-script-go-in https://veloconsent.com/blog/what-consent-category-should-a-script-go-in Sat, 15 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT Assign consent categories by what the script does for the visitor, not by vendor. The decision test, the four genuinely ambiguous cases, and what guessing costs. https://veloconsent.com/blog/can-you-be-fined-for-not-having-a-cookie-banner https://veloconsent.com/blog/can-you-be-fined-for-not-having-a-cookie-banner Fri, 14 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT Not for the banner itself. Penalties attach to storing cookies that need consent without it, so a site setting only strictly necessary cookies needs no banner. https://veloconsent.com/blog/cookie-consent-platform-for-agencies-managing-multiple-client-sites https://veloconsent.com/blog/cookie-consent-platform-for-agencies-managing-multiple-client-sites Thu, 13 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT Judge a consent platform for a portfolio on what one policy change costs across every site, not on the feature list. The four questions that actually decide it. https://veloconsent.com/blog/what-does-the-gcd-parameter-mean https://veloconsent.com/blog/what-does-the-gcd-parameter-mean Sat, 08 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT gcd encodes all four Consent Mode signals and how each state was reached, so it separates a refused signal from one nobody wired. How to read it, and its limits. https://veloconsent.com/blog/ad-user-data-vs-ad-personalization https://veloconsent.com/blog/ad-user-data-vs-ad-personalization Fri, 07 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT ad_user_data governs sending user data to Google for advertising; ad_personalization governs using it for personalised ads. Which stops remarketing, and how to check. https://veloconsent.com/blog/why-do-tags-fire-before-the-cookie-banner-loads https://veloconsent.com/blog/why-do-tags-fire-before-the-cookie-banner-loads Thu, 06 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT Another tag is sharing the Consent Initialization trigger and winning the race. Priority does not fix it: tags still fire asynchronously. How to see the real order. https://veloconsent.com/blog/how-do-you-prove-a-visitor-gave-consent https://veloconsent.com/blog/how-do-you-prove-a-visitor-gave-consent Mon, 03 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT You prove it with a consent record you can retrieve for one visitor on one date. What the record has to contain, and the three ways it quietly goes missing. https://veloconsent.com/blog/what-is-the-tcf-and-does-your-site-need-it https://veloconsent.com/blog/what-is-the-tcf-and-does-your-site-need-it Thu, 30 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT The TCF is how the advertising supply chain records and passes consent. Most sites do not need it. Here is the test for whether yours does. https://veloconsent.com/blog/what-is-global-privacy-control https://veloconsent.com/blog/what-is-global-privacy-control Mon, 20 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Global Privacy Control is a browser signal that says do not sell or share my data. What it is, which US states make it binding, and how to check your own site honours it. https://veloconsent.com/blog/recover-conversions-lost-to-cookie-consent https://veloconsent.com/blog/recover-conversions-lost-to-cookie-consent Thu, 09 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT When visitors reject cookies you lose the attribution, not the traffic, and most of it is recoverable. The exact order to win it back, and how to check it worked. https://veloconsent.com/blog/where-34-percent-of-sessions-go https://veloconsent.com/blog/where-34-percent-of-sessions-go Fri, 03 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT A third of visitors sit behind the cookie banner and never reach your reports. What happens to that traffic, and how Consent Mode v2 and modelled conversions fill the gap.