Understanding GA4’s new Consent Settings feature: a comprehensive guide for 2025

The new Consent Settings area in the Admin section of GA4 is a centralised hub for website owners, where they can learn about (and manage) consent settings on their website.

In the Consent Settings hub, you have the ability to:

• Check if GA4 is receiving consent signals across your property streams
• View the percentage of traffic and conversions coming to your site from visitors in the EEA (European Economic Area)
• Identify issues with consent signals that could negatively impact your analytics in GA4 and other Google products

Let’s navigate to the Consent Settings hub so that we can begin to explore each section and how it can help us!

The new Consent Settings area in the Admin section of GA4 is a centralised hub for website owners, where they can learn about (and manage) consent settings on their website.

In the Consent Settings hub, you have the ability to:

• Check if GA4 is receiving consent signals across your property streams
• View the percentage of traffic and conversions coming to your site from visitors in the EEA (European Economic Area)
• Identify issues with consent signals that could negatively impact your analytics in GA4 and other Google products

Let’s navigate to the Consent Settings hub so that we can begin to explore each section and how it can help us!

1. To find the Consent Settings Hub in GA4, you must first use the gear icon at the bottom of the left-hand sidebar to navigate to the Admin area. 
2. Once at the Admin area, find the tile that is titled Data collection and modification, then in this section click on Consent Settings. 

Now that you’ve made it to the hub, we’ll review each area, looking at what it means and how we can use it. 

When you open the Consent Settings Hub, at the top of the page, you will have the option to select a Data Stream. In the case that you have multiple streams in your property, select one to begin to manage the consent settings for that stream. 

Next to this, if you do not have consent signals set up, you will be shown information about the percent of traffic and conversions on your site that are originating from visitors from the EEA. This will help you gauge the impact on your analytics if you do not adhere to the consent policy enforced by Google

If your setup is properly configured and working correctly, instead of this, you will see a green tick and text saying “Receiving consent signals”. 

Below this, there are 2 sections to help you to diagnose issues with consent signals on your site. These sections are where you may be alerted by GA4 about potential problems with your consent signal set up. They are split into:

1. Behavioural analytics consent signals

This signal relates to measurement of analytics about user behaviour, such as engagement and event tracking on your website. It is also used for behavioural modelling (where users decline consent). 

The cookie parameter that this section is focused on is “analytics_storage”. If your site does not send the required consent signals related to this parameter, GA4 will flag this section by stating “Missing 1 consent signal”. 

2. Advertising consent signals

This section covers each of the consent signals related to advertising. These are “ad_storage”, “ad_user_data” and “ad_personalisation”. In the Consent Settings hub, you’ll get an indication about if each signal is working. Next to each of these signals, Google outlines the impact of missing or broken signals in your advertising. For example, issues in measurement of Google Ads, demographics and interest insights, audience remarketing and conversion tracking. 

In these sections, GA4 makes it very clear if your signals are working or missing. If they are working, then in the top right corner of the section will be a green statement saying “Active” and there will be ticks next to each signal. If there is an issue with the signals, there will be a grey statement saying “Consent Signals Inactive” in the top right corner of the section. Each of the missing signals will have icons with an “i” next to them. 

Below these sections is an “Additional Consent Settings” area where you can select your default consent labels for end-user data from the EAA. Here, you can choose which Google services can receive consented data. These settings are important and allow you to control how data is collected and used, so make sure you take the time to read through these fully before making your selection. These options were previously available in another location in the Admin section of GA4. 

The new Consent Settings Hub in GA4 is important for your website for 3 main reasons:

1. It is a really easy way to help you monitor if your site/sites are compliant with consent regulations if you have visitors from the EEA.  
2. The Consent Settings area of GA4 lets you know if your consent signals are properly configured and flags any issues. This can help you to diagnose which cookie parameters are causing your consent issues. 
3. Knowing both of the above are crucial for ensuring that you can continue to maintain accurate tracking, as if there are issues with your consent configuration, it could cause issues for data accuracy and availability.