Google Analytics Tracking Change for EU Visitors

Have you noticed a drop of in visitors to your website?

This could be due to a recent change in the enforcement of Google Analytics tracking as part of the Digital Services Act in the EU. Ever since GDPR came into force in the EU we have noticed an increase in the rights of the visitor in how their data is used by companies. Rightly so there is protection on how “Big Brother” can track, measure and sometimes sell your personal data for their benefit. We all know what a Cookie Consent Box is and apart from being perceived as an irritation most people done actually know what technical purpose of that consent box is and how it works.

So here is an explainer on how the Cookie Consent box works…

Scenario 1 – You visit a website for the first time and box pops up at the bottom of the screen telling you the website uses Cookies to track visitor, load ads scripts, play videos, etc  – all things that may make the website more interactive but may also track you without you knowing it. If you ever take the time to click on the preferences as I often do then you will be surprise … maybe shocked to find that if you click “Accept” the company can track you on and off their website and supply that tracking data to literally hundreds of third party companies.

Scenario 2 – You click “Decline” and continue to use the website with no noticeable difference to your experience but the website owner notices a drop in visitor numbers to the website over time.

Scenario 3 – You dont click “Accept or Decline” and the box stays on the screen but you just work around it and hope it goes away (it wont) but the website owner still notices a drop in visitor numbers as you havent explicitly given consent to be tracked by Google Analytics.

What has changed recently?

Since March 2024 the concept of “Consent Mode” is being rolled out in tools and plugins like “SiteKit For Google” where websites in the EU should/must enable consent mode to pass data from their Cookie plugin to Google Analytics 4 or …

If you don’t enable consent mode and you have Google Ads connected, tracking for users in the European Economic Area (EEA) and the United Kingdom will be blocked.

That means that the number of visitors to your website could suddenly changes as visitors from anywhere in the EU wont be tracked even if they visit your website. The recent retirement of Googles old version of Universal Analytics on 1st July 2024 seems to shone a spotlight on this issue as GA4 collects user data in a completely different way. Additionally, if you have consent mode on you need to have an extra plugin called WP Consent API for this all to work.

What if I dont enable Consent and Cookies

The DMA legislation requires gatekeepers such as Google to obtain explicit consent for the collection and use of European citizens’ personal data. Upgrading to Google Consent Mode v2 will enable you to continue to process visitor data from the EU/EEA and the UK.  Google has warned that those who do not implement Google Consent Mode v2 by this date may run the risk of impacting the accuracy and efficacy of their Google Analytics and Google Ads. 

READ MORE – Consent Mode – Site Kit by Google

Read Also – What Is Google Consent Mode 2

What are the next steps?

Every website owner using GA4 for tracking would need to cross check that ..

  • A. Cookies Popup is enabled
  • B. Consent option is explicitly called out for Accept or Reject or Options
  • C. Consent Mode is enabled and a data stream is being passed over to GA4

But if you are a Jascom Ltd customer and have a website maintenance service we will do this for you.

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