Step-by-Step Guide On New GDPR Requirements for Google Analytics

GDPR requirements

Have the new Google Analytics GDPR requirements blocked your online store’s remarketing campaigns?

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) requirements for online stores related to the GDPR became mandatory on March 6 this year.

According to GDPR requirements Google Consent, or privacy policy consent requirements are expressed as follows: You must have a pop-up window in your online store or website in which the visitor indicates their consent to data processing. If the visitor does not agree to data processing, then Google won’t collect the visitor’s data for you.

This data is collected to personalize and improve advertisements and is also necessary for remarketing campaigns, as the data collected by Google Analytics is sent to the Google Ads advertising account.

If this feature is not enabled for visitors, no data is sent.

By requiring businesses to implement consent banners, GDPR aims to empower individuals with greater control over their personal data and ensure transparency and accountability in data processing practices. It also serves to promote trust and confidence in online services by providing users with clear information about how their data is being used and enabling them to make informed choices about consenting to data processing activities.

Understand the situation in your Google Analytics account:

When you log in to your GA account, you will see a light blue window with an invitation to verify the consent settings of the privacy policy on the website.

Click on the “Manage consent settings” button, after which you will be taken to the “data streams” section.

You will see an “Action required” message. Then click on the website and you will see the following notification: “Ads personalization consent signals not detected”.

In this situation, there are 3 possible actions to take:

  1. You can live with this and no data will be transferred to your Google ads account for visitors living in Europe.
  2. You can opt out of ad personalization for your Google Ads account connection. This means that data will not be sent from Google Analytics to Google ads. This can be done as follows: Product links -> Google ads links -> Choose an account and change “Enable” to “Disable” in the column Personalized Advertising
  3. Install or modify a banner on the site that fully complies with these requirements to continue collecting data in cases where the website visitor consents. 

If this data is important to you and you advertise your service on the Google network, then option 3 will be the most suitable for you.

How to create a banner that matches GDPR requirements?

You can create a banner with Google partners, or your website maintainer can create it for you.

Google partners will certainly charge a fee for this service, the amount of which may depend on the volume of visits to the site, but it will be easier than using a custom-made terms acceptance window since their work is based on compliance with Google’s GDPR requirements.

If you use any of the services provided by Google’s partners, it is important to check “Google consent mode”.

As soon as you have arranged the consent window on the website, within 48 hours, in the Google Analytics account, in the “data streams” section, you will see a green notification, that says “Data collection is active in the past 48 hours”.

The problem should be solved, if you have any questions, write to us at info@wdmarket.com or Contact us.