Google Ads is one of the most widely used platforms for reaching potential customers across Google Search, YouTube, and other Google services. Traditionally, it relied on cookies to track users.

In March 2024, Google switched to Google Consent Mode v2 to comply with GDPR in the European Economic Area (EEA). Google Consent Mode v2 focuses on user privacy. When a user doesn’t consent to advertising or analytics cookies, Google Consent Mode automatically adjusts the relevant Google tags’ behavior so they don't use cookies for advertising or analytics purposes. Without cookies, advertisers lose measurement and can’t track user paths on their websites. They can no longer directly tie users' ad interactions to conversions and don’t know where users came from.

When browsers restrict traditional tracking methods, advertisers need more reliable ways to measure conversions without relying solely on cookies.

Enhanced Conversions and Consent Mode help to solve this challenge. Enhanced Conversions improves conversion measurement by securely hashing First-party customer data, such as email addresses or phone numbers, to better match conversions to ad interactions. Consent Mode, meanwhile, adjusts how Google tags behave based on a user’s consent choices.

Both Enhanced Conversions and Consent Mode can help businesses improve advertisement measurement accuracy while respecting user privacy preferences and supporting compliance requirements. For advertisers that depend on Google Ads data for optimization, bidding, and reporting, implementing both can provide a stronger and more privacy-conscious measurement setup.

To continue serving ads to users in the European Union, European Economic Area, and/or the United Kingdom, Google also requires publishers and developers to use a Google-certified Consent Management Platform (CMP), integrated with the IAB TCF V2.2. This applies to Google AdSense, Google AdMob, and Google Ad Manager.

This guide explains how to set up Enhanced Conversions and Google Consent Mode v2 correctly and what to check before sending customer data to Google.

Read also:

• What is Google Consent Mode v2?
• How to implement Google Consent Mode v2?
• What Is conversion modeling? 
• How to choose a Google-certified CMP partner for ad compliance. 

What Are Enhanced Conversions?

Enhanced Conversions is a Google Ads feature that improves conversion-tracking accuracy and supports smarter bidding by using First-party customer data and conversion modeling. 

Enhanced Conversions sends hashed first-party conversion data to Google in a privacy-safe way. The feature uses a secure one-way hashing algorithm called SHA256 on your first-party customer data before sending to Google. When a user completes an action, such as making a purchase or signing up, the system securely hashes information such as an email address or phone number and sends it to Google.

Enhanced Conversions works using this algorithm:

1. When a user completes an action, the Google Tag Manager tag collects first-party data such as an email or phone number.
2. The website/browser hashes this data using a one-way SHA256 algorithm, making the user data unreadable.
3. Google tag securely sends hashed data to Google.
4. Google matches hashed data with signed-in accounts that interacted with your ads and applies conversion modeling to fill gaps where cookies or direct signals are missing.

This can help recover conversions that might otherwise be missed because of cookie restrictions. As a result, Enhanced Conversions gives Google Ads more complete conversion data for automated bidding and helps businesses understand ad effectiveness without relying on Third-Party Cookies, enabling optimization and a better customer experience.

Read more:

• What is the Enhanced Conversions feature and how it works? (Google Ads Help). 
• What Is Conversion ModelingWhat Is Conversion Modeling? 

Enhanced Conversions and Consent Mode: What to Check Before Sending Customer Data

Before sending customer data to Google services, check whether you collected user consent and first-party data and check Google Consent Mode implementation and data formatting. Then, test and monitor the configuration.

Enhanced Conversions use first-party customer data to improve Google Ads conversion measurement. Consent Mode can work alongside Enhanced Conversions by communicating users’ consent choices to Google and controlling how Google tags behave.

Enhanced Conversions are configured primarily in Google Ads and can be implemented through the Google tag, Google Tag Manager, Data Manager, or supported API connections.

Before sending customer data to Google, check the following areas:

user consent and first-party data

First, make sure you collect only the data you need and have a valid basis for processing and sending it.

• Confirm that you obtained the required consent
  You need to obtain valid consent for data collection before data is processed or sent. Provide a consent banner that notifies users about your data management practices and communicate the resulting consent state to your tagging implementation.
• Only send supported first-party data
  Enhanced Conversions can use only first-party information, such as email addresses, phone numbers, and certain name and address fields. Thus, use first-party information that customers knowingly enter during checkout, registration, or lead submission. Avoid sending unsupported, sensitive, or prohibited information.
• Review your privacy disclosures
  Your privacy notice should explain how customer data is used for advertising and measurement, including the use of Google advertising services and Enhanced Conversions where applicable.
• Review Google's customer data requirements
  When enabling Enhanced Conversions, you must also accept the applicable Google Ads customer data terms and comply with Google's policies.

Consent Mode checklist

After collecting the user’s consent choice, verify that Consent Mode communicates that choice correctly.

• Check Google Consent Mode v2 implementation
  Verify that the required Consent Mode signals are being passed correctly. In particular, ad_user_data determines whether user data may be sent to Google for advertising purposes and is required for measurement use cases such as Enhanced Conversions in regions where end-user consent is required.
  Also review the other relevant signals:
  ad_storage controls advertising-related storage such as cookies.
  analytics_storage controls analytics-related storage.
  ad_user_data controls consent for sending user data to Google for advertising purposes.
  ad_personalization controls whether data may be used for personalized advertising.

• Verify the ad_user_data consent state
  Where consent is required, do not send user-provided Enhanced Conversions data when ad_user_data is denied.
• Do not treat ad_personalization as an Enhanced Conversions requirement
  A denied ad_personalization signal disables personalized advertising, but Enhanced Conversions measurement is primarily governed by ad_user_data and the other applicable consent settings.
• Check Advanced vs. Basic consent mode alignment
  Under Basic Consent Mode, Google tags are blocked, and no data can be sent to Google at all, not even consent status or cookieless pings.
  Under Advanced Consent Mode, Google tags can load with the configured default consent states. When storage consent is denied, Google may still receive cookieless measurement pings. However, user-provided data used for Enhanced Conversions should not be sent when the applicable ad_user_data consent state is denied.
• Make sure tags respect the user’s consent choice
  Test whether Enhanced Conversions data is sent only when the applicable consent signals allow it.

Data readiness and formatting checklist

When you checked user consent and what data could be sent, check the data sending process itself:

• Check data normalization
  If you normalize the data yourself, remove leading and trailing whitespace and convert applicable text fields to lowercase. Phone numbers should use E.164 international formatting, including the country code and + prefix. For Gmail and Googlemail addresses, Google also instructs implementers to remove periods appearing before the domain name.
• Check address structure
  When sending name and address data, pass individual fields separately rather than combining the entire address into a single string. Depending on the implementation, required address match keys can include first name, last name, postal code, and country.
• Check hashing protocol
  If hashing manually on your client or server, ensure standard SHA-256 formatting is applied after normalization before reaching Google’s servers. Otherwise, rely on the Google tag or Google Tag Manager to auto-hash raw values securely.
• Confirm data availability at conversion time
  Ensure the variables containing email addresses, phone numbers, or other match keys are populated when Enhanced Conversions needs them.

If the customer information is collected on an earlier page rather than the conversion confirmation page, use an implementation designed to preserve or associate that user-provided data with the conversion event.

Technical verification checklist

• Check standard conversion tracking first
  Confirm that your normal Google Ads conversion action is recording correctly before troubleshooting Enhanced Conversions.
• Test with Tag Assistant or Google Tag Manager Preview
  Verify that the correct conversion fires, the expected consent state is active, and the user-provided data fields are populated.
• Inspect the Enhanced Conversions payload carefully
  When testing a Google tag implementation, you may see the em parameter (hashed email) associated with Enhanced Conversions. If only tv.1~em appears without a hashed value following it, Google states that the Enhanced Conversions parameter is present but empty, usually because user-provided data was unavailable when the conversion fired.
• Test different browsers, devices, and conversion paths
  Customer data may be available on one checkout or form flow but missing on another. Test signed-in users, guest users, mobile and desktop flows where applicable.
• Monitor Google Ads diagnostics
  For Google tag implementations, Google's Enhanced Conversions diagnostics report is generally available about 72 hours after implementation. Review it for missing or improperly formatted customer data and other setup problems.
• Monitor coverage, not just whether the tag fires
  A technically successful tag does not necessarily mean every eligible conversion includes useful match data. Review Enhanced Conversions coverage and diagnostics to identify conversions where customer data is missing.

In conclusion, when checking Enhanced Conversions and Consent Mode before sending customer data to Google servers, the overall sequence should be:

1. Obtain and communicate consent.
2. Verify ad_user_data and other applicable consent signals.
3. Confirm eligible first-party data.
4. Normalize and hash correctly.
5. Fire the conversion with the appropriate data.
6. Validate the implementation in Tag Assistant and Google Ads diagnostics.

Note that to continue Google advertising products, such as Google AdSense, Google AdMob, and Google Ad Manager, in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, Google requires publishers and developers to use a Google-certified Consent Management Platform (CMP), integrated with the IAB TCF V2.2.

We are proud to announce that CookieScript CMP has met the new IAB TCF requirements and is now a Google-certified CMP in theGolden Tier. After a successful review and evaluation process, CookieScript CMP is included in Google’s list of Google-certified CMPs and in Google’s list of Google Consent Mode integrations.

Frequently Asked Questions

What should I check before sending customer data to Google?

Confirm that you have a valid legal basis or required consent and check that you only send first-party data, the customer data is eligible for Enhanced Conversions, and that your Consent Mode signals accurately reflect the user’s choice. Also verify that the data is correctly normalized, hashed where required, and available when the conversion fires.

Which Consent Mode signal is most important for Enhanced Conversions?

The key signal is ad_user_data. It communicates whether the user has consented to sending their data to Google for advertising purposes. Other signals, including ad_storage, analytics_storage, and ad_personalization, control different aspects of storage, analytics, and personalized advertising.

Can Enhanced Conversions data be sent when consent is denied?

User-provided data is not allowed to send for Enhanced Conversions when the applicable ad_user_data consent state is denied. In Advanced Consent Mode, cookieless measurement pings may still be sent, but these are different from the first-party customer identifiers used for Enhanced Conversions.

What customer data can be used for Enhanced Conversions?

Enhanced Conversions can use supported first-party data such as email addresses, phone numbers, and certain name and address fields. The information should come directly from customers, for example through checkout, registration, or lead-generation forms, and should not include prohibited or sensitive data.

How can I check that Enhanced Conversions and Consent Mode are working correctly?

Use Tag Assistant, Google Tag Manager Preview Mode, and Google Ads diagnostics to verify that consent signals are set correctly, conversion tags fire as expected, and customer data is available at the right time. Also monitor Enhanced Conversions diagnostics and coverage for missing or incorrectly formatted data.