Consent Mode v2 with CookieYes

CookieYes is a popular Consent Management Platform used on WordPress and other CMS platforms. This recipe covers the full GTM-based Consent Mode v2 integration, including the CookieYes GTM template, consent category mapping, and verification steps.

Add this to your <head> before the GTM snippet:

<!-- Google Consent Mode v2 defaults — BEFORE GTM snippet -->
<script>
  window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
  function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}

  gtag('consent', 'default', {
    ad_storage: 'denied',
    analytics_storage: 'denied',
    ad_user_data: 'denied',
    ad_personalization: 'denied',
    functionality_storage: 'denied',
    personalization_storage: 'denied',
    security_storage: 'granted',
    wait_for_update: 500
  });
</script>

CookieYes will update these signals after the user interacts with the consent banner.

Step 2 — Install the CookieYes GTM template

In GTM → Templates → Tag Templates → Search Gallery
Search for CookieYes → select the official template
Click Add to workspace
Create a new tag from the CookieYes template:
- Tag name: CMP - CookieYes
- Template: CookieYes
- Trigger: Consent Initialization - All Pages
- Priority: 10 (higher than all other tags)
Configure consent category mapping in the template:

CookieYes uses these category names — map them to Google Consent Mode signals:
- analytics → analytics_storage
- advertisement → ad_storage, ad_user_data, ad_personalization
- functional → functionality_storage
- performance → analytics_storage (if you use CookieYes’s performance category)

Step 3 — Manual integration (if GTM template is unavailable)

If you prefer not to use the GTM template, or if your CookieYes version does not have one, you can integrate manually using CookieYes’s JavaScript callback:

// Custom HTML tag — fires on Consent Initialization
document.addEventListener('cookieyes_consent_update', function(event) {
  var consent = event.detail;

  window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
  window.dataLayer.push(function() {
    gtag('consent', 'update', {
      analytics_storage: consent.accepted.includes('analytics') ? 'granted' : 'denied',
      ad_storage: consent.accepted.includes('advertisement') ? 'granted' : 'denied',
      ad_user_data: consent.accepted.includes('advertisement') ? 'granted' : 'denied',
      ad_personalization: consent.accepted.includes('advertisement') ? 'granted' : 'denied',
      functionality_storage: consent.accepted.includes('functional') ? 'granted' : 'denied'
    });
  });
});

Alternatively, use the CookieYes CookieYes.getConsent() method:

// Check consent state at any time
if (typeof CookieYes !== 'undefined') {
  var consent = CookieYes.getConsent();
  var analyticsGranted = consent && consent.accepted && consent.accepted.includes('analytics');
  console.log('Analytics consent:', analyticsGranted ? 'granted' : 'denied');
}

CookieYes Category	Google Consent Signal
`analytics`	`analytics_storage`
`advertisement`	`ad_storage`, `ad_user_data`, `ad_personalization`
`functional`	`functionality_storage`, `personalization_storage`
`performance`	`analytics_storage` (if used)
`necessary`	Always granted

Open your Google Tag in GTM
Go to Advanced Settings → Consent Settings
For Additional consent checks: ensure analytics_storage is listed
For Google Ads Conversion Tracking tags:
- Advanced Settings → Consent Settings
- Add ad_storage and ad_user_data as required
Publish the workspace

Verification checklist

Before accepting cookies

No _ga cookie present in browser
No _gads or Google Ads cookies present
GA4 DebugView shows no events (or shows cookieless pings, depending on your setup)

After accepting all cookies

_ga cookie appears
GA4 DebugView shows events with session and user data
Google Ads conversion tags fire (if on a conversion page)

// After CookieYes loads
CookieYes.getConsent()
// Returns: { accepted: ['analytics', 'advertisement', ...], rejected: [...] }

Verify in GTM Preview

Open GTM Preview and visit the site
The CookieYes banner should appear
Click Accept All — the consent update should appear as a dataLayer event
In the Variables tab, check analytics_storage shows granted
Navigate between pages — GA4 events should now fire normally

Test all four scenarios to ensure each works correctly:

Scenario	Expected behavior
No cookies (fresh visit)	Banner shows, no GA4 cookies, no conversion tags fire
Accept analytics only	GA4 fires normally, Google Ads tags blocked
Accept all	All tags fire normally
Reject all	Banner shows, no cookies, no tags fire
Returning user (accepted)	No banner, GA4 fires from first pageview

Common gotchas

CookieYes script loads after GTM. If CookieYes’s script tag appears after GTM in your HTML, the consent update may arrive after Google’s tags have already initialised. Always load CookieYes before GTM, or use the wait_for_update: 500 parameter in your consent defaults.

WordPress plugin conflicts. If you manage CookieYes through WordPress and also have GTM through a plugin, the load order can be unpredictable. Verify the rendered HTML order in browser DevTools → View Page Source.

CookieYes categories don’t match your audit. CookieYes auto-detects cookies and assigns them to categories. If your GA4 cookies are placed in the wrong category (e.g., “functional” instead of “analytics”), users may accept functional cookies and expect GA4 to fire, but your mapping blocks it. Audit your CookieYes cookie categorisation.

Consent Mode with Cookiebot The same process for Cookiebot users.

PII Detection & Removal Additional privacy safeguards beyond consent signals.

Consent Mode v2 with CookieYes

Step 1 — Set default consent state

Step 2 — Install the CookieYes GTM template

Step 3 — Manual integration (if GTM template is unavailable)

Step 4 — CookieYes consent category mapping

Step 5 — Configure Google Tag consent requirements

Verification checklist

Before accepting cookies

After accepting all cookies

Check consent state in console

Verify in GTM Preview

Testing with different consent scenarios

Common gotchas