v2.0x Update: New Tracking Requirement for EEA, UK & Switzerland Region

Google introduced Consent Mode v2 in March 2024 to comply with privacy laws in the EEA, UK, and Switzerland. We implemented this requirement in v2.0.0 of Google Analytics for WooCommerce. This means website visitors from these regions must now explicitly grant consent for cookies before any analytics tracking occurs.

Without consent, Google Analytics (GA4) and Google Ads won’t capture user data from these locations. To ensure continued tracking, you must implement Consent Tracking through third-party plugins like Complianz, CookieYes, etc.

Due to this new requirement, you may notice a discrepancy between your store and Google Analytics/Ads data, as users must grant consent for analytics data to be captured on Google’s platforms.

Troubleshooting Consent Mode and Analytics Tracking:

We recommend using Google Tag Assistant to verify your tags for Google Analytics and Google Ads are functioning properly. Remember, for visitors in the above-mentioned region, tracking will only commence after they grant consent. 

To verify analytics tracking for your website: 

1. Start a new Tag Assistant session by visiting https://tagassistant.google.com/ and entering your website’s URL. Click Connect after entering the URL.
2. On your website, grant consent on the cookies banner.
3. Return to the Tag Assistant tab and click “Continue”.
4. Click on your tag ID (GA-xxx for Google Analytics for WooCommerce and AW-xxxx for Google Listings & Ads) and select the “Hits Sent” tab.
5. On your site tab, simulate user actions like adding products to cart, initiating checkout, etc. If Consent Mode is configured correctly, you should see these events being captured in the Tag Assistant ‘Hits Sent’ tab.

If tracking doesn’t trigger after granting consent, it might indicate incompatibility with your consent plugin. In this case, reach out to the plugin developers for assistance in implementing compatibility with Google Analytics for WooCommerce and Google Listings & Ads.

We’re working to ensure integration with cookie plugins, but we can’t guarantee compatibility with all plugins, given the multitude of options available within the WordPress community.