Google Ads soon blind: what the June 15 cookie consent change means for you

What exactly on the 15th of June changes

Imagine you've been advertising via Google Ads for months and everything is going well. Leads are coming in, your reporting looks good, and you know what you're spending per lead. Then, something changes in the background that you don't notice. Until your reporting suddenly says your results have halved.

That is precisely what will happen after 15 June 2026 for everyone who hasn't got their Consent Mode v2 in order. Google has been communicating this deadline for months, but in practice, a large part of the Dutch SME sector has done nothing with it yet. Not out of unwillingness, but simply because it sounds technical and there always seems to be something more urgent.

So what's changing? Up until now, Google also used its conversion modelling for advertisers who hadn't set up CMv2 correctly. That was a kind of goodwill gesture. After June 15th, that goodwill will end completely. Those who do not have a certified Consent Management Platform with correct CMv2 configuration by that date will lose the modelling of non-consenting visitors. And there are many such visitors, as most cookie banners in the Netherlands are ignored or rejected.

Google Ads will continue to work after June 15th. Your ads will keep running, you’ll continue to pay, and customers will still find you. However, the data you see, and which Google uses to optimise its AI, will become significantly worse. And that will have direct consequences for the quality of your results in the long term.

Campaigns are still running Google is going blind

This is the part that surprises most entrepreneurs when they hear it. Your Google Ads campaign doesn't stop on June 15th. Your ads will continue to run, your clicks will still come through, and your phone will still ring. But there's a big difference from how it was.

The best comparison I know for this: Google deletes your trip log. The car is still driving, but the dashboard is blank. Google can no longer make adjustments. You're paying, but making decisions based on instinct.

What do we mean by that? Google Ads uses conversion modelling to feed its Smart Bidding system. Smart Bidding is the AI system that decides in every auction: should I bid higher on this keyword? At this time? For this type of device? In this region? The system makes those decisions based on conversion signals. If those signals disappear, the system becomes conservative. It bids more cautiously, your reach shrinks, or your cost per click gradually increases.

And your reporting? That will soon show 30 to 60 percent fewer conversions. Not because there are fewer customers. Not because your campaign is performing worse. But because the measurement is no longer there. Anyone who doesn't know this will think their Google Ads have suddenly stopped working and will draw the wrong conclusion. Budget down, campaign stop, service from someone else. While the campaign itself was running perfectly fine.

What is Consent Mode v2 actually

Consent Mode v2 is a technical standard from Google that allows your website to inform Google about what a visitor has accepted on the cookie banner. If someone has accepted everything, Google can use full conversion and analysis data. If someone has refused or only accepted functional cookies, CMv2 sends a reduced signal to Google, without personal data but as a source for statistical modelling.

There are two main signals that CMv2 sends to Google. The first is ad_storage, which indicates whether Google is allowed to place ad cookies. The second is analytics_storage, for analytics cookies. Both signals are automatically set to refused until the visitor gives consent. Google uses the patterns of visitors who do give consent to build a model for visitors who do not. This allows Google to still make an estimate of conversions without processing personal data.

For this to work, you need two things. Firstly, a certified Consent Management Platform recognised by Google. Well-known examples include Cookiebot, Usercentrics, Complianz, and CookieYes. A self-built cookie banner or a free WordPress plugin of unknown origin will not work for this. Secondly, you need a correct configuration in Google Tag Manager needed, whereby the CMv2 tags are loaded for all other tags.

It's that second point where most SME websites go wrong. The plugin is installed, but the GTM configuration isn't correct. Because of this, Google thinks the signal is missing, while the business owner believes everything is in order. You only notice that difference when your reporting plummets.

What is really What happens if you do nothing

Let's be honest about the consequences. Not in vague terms, but concretely what you will notice if you still don't have a working CMv2 setup after 15 June.

Your reporting is plummeting. As mentioned, 30 to 60 percent of your measured conversions are disappearing. Your dashboard looks worse. Your cost per conversion is rising on paper, not because you're paying more but because fewer conversions are being tracked. If your reporting and your recorded leads are no longer accurate, you no longer know what works and what doesn't.

Google's Smart Bidding is becoming increasingly poorly tuned. The system draws incorrect conclusions because it has fewer conversion signals. Keywords that are performing well suddenly seem too expensive. Google is shifting budget towards terms that happen to be measurable but perhaps less relevant to you. You pay the same amount but get less control over where your money is going.

Competitors who have CMv2 set up correctly fare better in the auction. When bids are similar, Google gives preference to advertisers with richer conversion signals. Over time, you will lose market share to advertisers who simply have their technical setup in order. This is not theory, this is how the bidding process works.

And perhaps the most dangerous: you make decisions based on the wrong data. You adjust your strategy based on something that isn't correct. You stop something that works, or you scale up something that you can't actually properly assess. The longer this goes on, the more damage it does to your campaign and your confidence in Google Ads as a channel.

This is how you fix it by 15 June

You have seven days. That sounds tight, but if you start today, it's achievable. Here's what you need to do, step-by-step.

Start by checking if you have a certified CMP. Look in your WordPress dashboard to see if you are using Cookiebot, Complianz, Usercentrics, CookieYes, or another certified tool. If so, open the plugin's settings and look for the option for Consent Mode v2 or Google Consent Mode. In most tools, this is a toggle or a separate section that you need to enable. If it's not there? Then you are using a CMP that does not support CMv2 and you will need to switch to a tool that does.

Step two is Google Tag Manager. This is the technical part, and also the part that most often goes wrong. In GTM, you need to set up a configuration tag that sends CMv2 signals before other tags load. Google has an official template available for this in the GTM Community Template Gallery. The order is crucial: the consent initialization tag must fire first, before Google Ads conversion tracking and before Google Analytics.

Step three is verification within Google Ads itself. Go to Settings and then to Conversions. If CMv2 is set up correctly, you will receive a notification stating that your conversion modeling is active for your account. If that notification is not there, then something in the technical setup is going wrong, and you'll need to go back to step two.

Are you stuck or do you want to be sure it's set up correctly? A misconfigured CMv2 is almost as bad as no CMv2 at all, because you think it's right while the signal isn't coming through properly. If you can't or don't want to do it yourself, it's wise to Google Ads specialist to ask you to check this quickly. It's an hour's work, but it will save you months of data noise and wasted budget.

Frequently asked questions about Google Ads and cookie consent