Make your Google tag wait for consent

If you’ve added the Google tag (gtag.js) or Google Tag Manager straight into your site’s header, it runs the moment a page loads — before anyone has answered the banner. This guide shows two ways to make it wait for consent instead.

Why an untagged Google tag doesn’t wait

A normal Google snippet looks like a regular <script>, so the browser runs it immediately. ClearConsent only holds scripts it can recognise, so you need to either tag the script or turn on Google Consent Mode.

Option A — tag the Google script

First add a service for it (for example, slug google-analytics) under Services. Then change the script so ClearConsent holds it until the visitor consents to that service: set the type to text/plain and add the service slug.

<!-- Held until the visitor consents to "google-analytics" -->
<script type="text/plain" data-cc-name="google-analytics"
        src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-XXXXXXX"></script>

When the visitor consents, ClearConsent activates the script. Until then it stays inert.

Option B — use Google Consent Mode

If you’d rather keep Google’s tag in place and let it adjust its own behaviour, turn on Google Consent Mode instead. ClearConsent then loads in consent-gated mode: all v2 signals start denied, and Google’s tags wait for consent before they read or write cookies. See Enable Google Consent Mode v2.

Check it worked

Open your site in a private window and watch the network requests before you click anything: the Google request shouldn’t fire until you accept. After you consent, it loads as normal.