GTM Consent Settings and the Consent Overview Page
Tag Manager has its own consent tools on top of Google's consent mode. This guide covers the consent settings on each tag, the Consent Overview page that shows them all in one place, bulk edits, the Consent Initialization trigger, and the templates and APIs that set consent from inside a container.
This guide is built from Google's own pages, checked on 10 November 2026: Tag Manager Help on consent mode support in Tag Manager, the developer guides to setting up consent mode, consent mode concepts and creating a consent mode template, and the custom template API reference. The parts marked as ours are our own practice. What consent mode is, and what a fair banner looks like, are in our cookie consent banners guide; this page is about the settings inside a container.
The consent tools in Tag Manager
Google's consent mode tells Google tags what a visitor agreed to. Tag Manager adds controls for every tag in the container, not just Google's. Its help page names three features that "work together to help you manage how tags behave in response to consent settings":
- a Consent Initialization trigger, for the tag that sets or updates consent;
- consent settings on each tag;
- a Consent Overview page, which gives "a high level view of all the consent settings across the tags in your container".
Getting the consent itself stays your job. Google's concepts page says "You are responsible for obtaining users' consent", through a banner, your own solution or a consent management platform (CMP).
Consent settings on a tag
In any web tag, open Advanced Settings > Consent Settings. There are two parts.
Built-in consent checks
Some tags carry their own consent logic. Google describes them as tags that "include logic that changes the tag's execution behavior based on the user's consent state". Its consent mode concepts page lists the Google products with built-in checks: the Google tag, Google Analytics, Google Ads (conversion tracking and remarketing; it notes support for phone call conversions "is pending"), Floodlight and Conversion Linker. For a CMP's own tags, Google warns that third-party platforms "may feature different default built-in behaviors."
Additional consent checks
For everything else, such as a third-party pixel, you add the check yourself. Google's page gives three options:
| Option | What it does (Google's wording) | Where it shows in the Consent Overview |
|---|---|---|
| Not set | "Default. No additional consent checks are performed by this tag." | Consent Not Configured |
| No additional consent required | The tag "does not need to check for additional consent in order to fire". Google suggests it to tell reviewed tags apart from ones "you have not yet reviewed". | Consent Configured |
| Require additional consent for tag to fire | The tag "will only fire if the status of all specified consent types are 'granted' when the tag is triggered". An + Add required consent button appears so you can pick the types. | Consent Configured |
The middle option changes nothing about firing. Its value is bookkeeping: it moves a tag you have checked out of the Not Configured list. The developer guide adds that tags without built-in checks can be covered "using configuration in Advanced > Consent Settings".
A tag blocked by these settings shows up in preview under Tags Not Fired, with a Required Additional Consent section. How to read that is in our GTM preview mode guide.
Consent types
Tag Manager supports these consent types. The first four are the consent mode parameters; Google calls the other three privacy parameters.
| Consent type | Google's description |
|---|---|
| ad_storage | "Enables storage (such as cookies) related to advertising." |
| ad_user_data | "Sets consent for sending user data related to advertising to Google." Google says it is required for measurement such as enhanced conversions and tag-based conversion tracking. |
| ad_personalization | "Sets consent for personalized advertising." |
| analytics_storage | "Enables storage (such as cookies) related to analytics e.g. visit duration." |
| functionality_storage | Storage "that supports the functionality of the website or app e.g. language settings." |
| personalization_storage | "Enables storage related to personalization e.g. video recommendations" |
| security_storage | Storage "related to security such as authentication functionality, fraud prevention, and other user protection." |
You can also add "your own custom consent types based on what is supported by your consent management platform." A custom type only helps if your CMP actually sets it.
Turning on the Consent Overview
The page is off until you enable it for the container:
- In Tag Manager, click Admin > Container Settings.
- Under Additional Settings, select Enable consent overview.
To open it, click Tags in the left navigation, then the Consent Overview icon. Tags are split into two lists:
- Consent Not Configured: tags "where no action has been taken", which are in the Not set state.
- Consent Configured: tags set to either "No additional consent required" or "Require additional consent for tag to fire".
The lists show your settings, not whether consent works on the live site. A tag can sit under Consent Configured and still fire too early if the default consent state arrives late.
Editing many tags at once
From the same page you can change several tags in one go:
- Open Tags and click the Consent Overview icon.
- Tick the checkboxes next to the tags you want to change. The Edit Consent Settings icon appears once at least one is selected.
- Change the Additional Consent Checks setting.
- Click Save.
- Publish the container. Google notes the changes only take effect after you publish.
Publishing goes through a workspace and a new version like any other change; see GTM workspaces and versions.
Where the consent tag fires
The tag that sets consent defaults, usually your CMP's tag, belongs on the Consent Initialization - All Pages trigger, which every web container has. Google says this trigger "will always fire before all other tags, including any Initialization triggers", and that it is not meant for other tags that only need to fire early. The trigger order is covered in our GTM triggers guide.
Timing has one more catch. Google's help page notes that in your own templates or Custom HTML tags, "commands that use gtag() are not guaranteed to be available before the next trigger fires." That is why it points to the Tag Manager consent APIs below.
CMP templates and the consent APIs
Google's setup guide says that if you use Tag Manager and keep your own banner, "the recommended approach is loading your banner through the Tag Manager container", using a consent mode template you create or one from the Community Template Gallery. Featured CMPs have gallery templates that, in the help page's words, "are integrated with our Consent APIs". The help page lists over thirty of these CMPs.
If you build or review a template, these are the sandboxed APIs involved:
| API | What it does |
|---|---|
| setDefaultConsentState | Sets the default consent state, optionally by region and with wait_for_update. |
| updateConsentState | Passes the visitor's choice. Google says the update "is guaranteed to be processed in this container before any queued items in the data layer." |
| gtagSet | Sets ads_data_redaction and url_passthrough. |
| isConsentGranted | Lets a template tag check a consent type before it runs. |
| addConsentListener | Runs a function when a consent type changes between denied and granted. |
Points from Google's template guide worth knowing:
- "Don't create templates that use the gtag consent command." gtag commands "may not be processed before the next event begins".
- Set the defaults "immediately upon firing using the Consent Initialization - All Pages trigger".
- If the CMP has to make network requests before it can update consent, set wait_for_update to "at least 500 milliseconds".
- Regions use ISO 3166-2 codes, and the most specific one wins: with ad_storage granted for US and denied for US-CA, "a visitor from California will have the more specific US-CA setting take effect."
- A URL passthrough option in a template "still needs to be configured inside conversion linker tags (if in use)".
One detail matters for third-party tags. The API reference says a consent type counts as granted "if the consent type has been set to 'granted' or not set at all." A template tag that relies on isConsentGranted will treat a missing default as consent, so the default has to be in place first.
If a template can't be used, Google's setup guide shows a gtag fallback placed in the page code above the container snippet and says "The order of the code here is vital." The default and update commands themselves are in our cookie consent banners guide.
How we set up consent in a container
This is our own practice, not Google guidance:
- We turn on the Consent Overview in every container we manage and aim for an empty Consent Not Configured list before publishing.
- We only mark a tag "No additional consent required" after someone has checked what it does, so the list stays honest.
- Third-party marketing tags without built-in checks get "Require additional consent" with the types that match the banner's categories.
- We use the CMP's gallery template on Consent Initialization rather than a Custom HTML banner.
- Before publishing we test in preview twice, accepting and rejecting (see preview mode), and write the consent change into the version description.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the Consent Overview in Google Tag Manager?
Turn it on first under Admin, Container Settings, Enable consent overview. Then open Tags in the left navigation and click the Consent Overview icon. It lists tags under Consent Not Configured and Consent Configured.
What does Not set mean in GTM consent settings?
It is the default. Google says no additional consent checks are performed by the tag. The tag can still have built-in consent checks if it is a Google tag type that supports consent mode.
What is the difference between built-in and additional consent checks?
Built-in checks are logic inside the tag itself, for example in Google Analytics, Google Ads, Floodlight and Conversion Linker tags, that changes how the tag behaves. Additional consent checks are a setting you add in Tag Manager so a tag fires only if the consent types you list are granted.
Should a consent banner tag use the Consent Initialization trigger?
Yes. Google says the Consent Initialization trigger is for tags that set or update consent, such as a consent management platform tag, and that it fires before all other tags. Other early tags belong on the Initialization trigger.
Can I use gtag consent commands inside a GTM template?
Google advises against it. Its template guide says to use setDefaultConsentState and updateConsentState instead, because gtag commands are queued and may not be processed before the next event begins.
For more on tagging, see our guides to Google Tag Manager basics, GTM tag sequencing, server-side tagging and website privacy basics.