In This Blog 

In this blog, you’ll learn what impact privacy laws and browser trends will have on website analytics, how Google Consent Mode fits into this puzzle, and how you can future-proof your analytics and advertising strategy in order to make well-informed decisions in the future.

Your website analytics may not be disappearing, but they are definitely evolving.

As new privacy laws and browser policies continue to roll out, it's going to become much harder to collect the same data about your visitors that you're used to seeing. This doesn't necessarily mean you should be flying blind when it comes to measuring your online performance. It means your measurement strategy should change.

If you’re noticing a decrease in your website traffic, an inability to attribute your online spend, or a lag between analytics data and CRM data, then it may be time to take action before more of your analytics get buried behind privacy protections.

There are clear advantages for companies that modernize their measurement stack while maintaining consumer privacy and confidence.

How Are Privacy Laws Changing Website Analytics?

Until recently, we have largely relied on browser cookies to help us measure traffic, marketing effectiveness, and customer behavior on our websites. Most visitors would see a cookie consent banner and have the option to accept or decline cookies when they arrive on a site.

This is being disrupted in a few different ways.

There are sweeping privacy laws being enacted across the U.S. that are recognizing browser privacy preferences, such as Global Privacy Control (GPC). Browsers are also taking steps to limit third-party cookies and cross-site tracking.

These changes are impacting the ability of companies to measure performance online, often resulting in:

• Fewer visible website visitors
• Less online advertising attribution
• Overall decrease in measurement effectiveness
• Increased use of aggregated and modeled data
• Greater emphasis on first-party data 

This is impacting all analytics and advertising tools, not just Google Analytics.

Does This Mean Google Analytics No Longer Works?

Not necessarily. Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is one of the most effective tools available to measure a website's performance.

The changes we’re seeing in browsers do impact the amount of information that can be captured at the individual visitor level. Google is also promoting new privacy-focused measurement technology to help companies get more value from their analytics while respecting their customers’ privacy.

The future of analytics is not about capturing every visitor's activity, but about capturing key business insights while remaining privacy conscious.

What Is Google Consent Mode?

If you use Google Analytics or Google Ads, then you've probably already heard of Google Consent Mode. Google Consent Mode works in conjunction with your cookie consent platform to help Google Analytics and Google Ads respect the privacy choices of your website visitors.

When a website visitor declines Google's analytics cookies, Google can still use limited signals and modeling to get more accurate data on those users. This is incredibly helpful, especially if you’re using Google Analytics.

It's also important to understand what Google Consent Mode is not.

It doesn’t override the privacy choice of a visitor or get around any privacy laws. Google Consent Mode simply helps to minimize consent-related data loss while respecting a user's choice to not be tracked.

Google Consent Mode is quickly becoming a privacy-compliant best practice for organizations that want to get the most value out of their Google Analytics or Google Ads.

What Are Conversions APIs And Server-Side Tracking?

If you're using Google Consent Mode to help you get the most value out of Google Analytics, you may also benefit from using server-side tracking to collect conversions for Google Ads, Meta, and other channels.

Typically, events like website conversions (e.g., purchases or form submissions) are sent from a website visitor's browser to conversion platforms like Google Ads or Meta. This can be impacted by a number of factors, such as browser privacy settings or ad blockers. Some of these events may get blocked or not received by the advertising platform.

Server-side tracking helps to overcome these hurdles by sending events from your website's server to Google Ads, Meta, or other platforms. This has the potential to give you more reliable conversion data, more accurate attribution, and more reliable reporting across your advertising platforms.

Like Google Consent Mode, this does not get you around any privacy laws, but it can help you collect more reliable data on conversions that have occurred on your website.

The Cost Of Waiting

Changes to privacy generally don't have an immediate impact on analytics.

It can take a while before visitors who have opted out of being tracked represent a large enough percentage of your overall traffic to really affect your analytics. The longer this goes on, the more visibility you will lose for your various marketing efforts. It's important to be proactive so that you can maintain the confidence in your analytics that you're used to having.

How Can Businesses Prepare?

Now’s a great time to conduct an assessment of your analytics to help you understand what you can do to future-proof your analytics.

Some things to consider include:

1. Making sure that Google Consent Mode is implemented properly
2. Checking that your cookie consent platform is working properly with Google Analytics and Google Ads
3. Evaluating the use of server-side tracking or Conversions APIs
4. Taking advantage of first-party data, such as CRM data, contact forms, and email marketing
5. Making sure that your analytics are being implemented correctly

Organizations that take this proactive approach to updating their analytics will benefit from more accurate reporting about the performance of their online marketing efforts. These companies will also be more likely to maintain consumer confidence by respecting their privacy choices.

Quick Analytics Health Check

Ask yourself these questions:

• Is Google Consent Mode turned on for your website?
• Is your cookie consent platform working properly with Google Analytics?
• Are your Meta and Google Ads conversion tracking pixels implemented properly?
• Are you taking full advantage of first-party data?
• Has your analytics implementation been audited in the past year?

If you have questions about any of these topics or need assistance, then it might be time for an analytics health check.

Don't wait until your reporting starts losing accuracy. Schedule a consultation to ensure your analytics are prepared for what’s next.

Schedule a Consultation

FAQs

Do new privacy laws affect the use of Google Analytics?

New privacy laws do not stop you from using Google Analytics completely. Google Analytics 4 should still be able to collect useful data about the performance of your website, even if some privacy features are turned on. These laws may cause you to collect less data about individual website visitors. You may also notice a decrease in the effectiveness of Google Analytics as a marketing tool. Google has also made new privacy-focused features, such as Google Consent Mode, to help you get more value from Google Analytics while still respecting user privacy.

What is Google Consent Mode?

Google Consent Mode is a new feature from Google that helps you collect more data about your website visitors while respecting their privacy choices. This feature should help improve Google Analytics reports for websites with users who have opted out of being tracked.

Can server-side tracking or conversions APIs get around privacy laws?

Server-side tracking and conversions API help you collect more reliable information about the traffic to your website, but they cannot get around privacy laws.

Should my business update its analytics strategy?

Any business that uses Google Analytics, Google Ads, Meta, LinkedIn, or other advertising or analytics platforms should update its analytics strategy. This will help them maintain confidence in the value of their analytics while collecting data in a way that is compliant with privacy laws.