Squarespace cookie banner and Google Consent Mode v2

The four signals, in plain English

Google Consent Mode is a set of signals your site sends to Google's tags before they run. Each one is granted or denied. Version 2 added the last two, and Google asks for them for visitors in the European Economic Area (EEA). There's a fuller walkthrough in Google Consent Mode v2, explained.

If Google Ads tells you consent signals are missing, it usually means one or more of these never reached the tag.

What Squarespace's banner covers

As of October 2026, Squarespace's help center describes three things the built-in banner does.

• Holds Squarespace's own non-essential cookies (its analytics cookies) until the visitor accepts.
• Passes consent to Google Analytics, but only when you added your measurement ID under Settings › Developer tools › External API keys. Squarespace tells you to save the ID, switch the banner on and turn on the Decline all button.
• Works with YouTube's own consent handling when the banner offers accept and decline.

It also restricts cookies from "some third-party services connected to your site, but not all", in Squarespace's words.

What it doesn't cover

Google tags you pasted yourself. If you added Google Ads, or Google Analytics, through code injection, Squarespace sends nothing to them by default. Its help page points you to code samples, and says custom code is outside what its support team can help with.

Which signals the built-in integration sends. We found no Squarespace page, as of October 2026, that lists the exact signals its Google Analytics integration sets. You can see them on your own site with the check below.

Other scripts in code injection. A Meta Pixel or Hotjar snippet ignores Consent Mode entirely. Squarespace says the banner restricts some third-party services, not all, and recommends a specialist consent tool if you use third-party cookies.

Different rules for different countries. Squarespace's banner help pages describe one set of banner settings for the whole site. We found no per-country option in them. If you're unsure whether US visitors need a banner at all, see do I need a cookie banner in the US.

About the claim that it skips two signals

Some third-party guides say Squarespace's banner "doesn't send ad_user_data or ad_personalization." The primary sources support a narrower version of that.

Google's own Squarespace setup page says that if you use Google Ads through code injection, you need "an additional step that requires consent mode": a script you paste above your Google Ads code. That script reads the visitor's marketing choice from the banner and sets ad_storage, ad_user_data and ad_personalization.

So, as of October 2026: for Google tags in code injection, the banner sends none of the four signals unless you add that code. Google's sample sets all three ad signals from the single marketing choice, and it doesn't set analytics_storage at all.

A quick check of your own site

1. Open your site in a private window, logged out (Squarespace hides the banner when you're logged in).
2. Open Google's Tag Assistant (tagassistant.google.com), or open the browser's network panel filtered to google.
3. Before you touch the banner, look at the consent state. Tag Assistant shows ad_storage, analytics_storage, ad_user_data and ad_personalization. If any is missing, that's your gap.
4. Click decline, reload, and check that the values changed to denied.

In Google Ads, open Goals › Conversions › Summary, pick a website conversion and open Diagnostics. It shows whether consent mode is implemented. Google says the status can take 48 hours to appear.

Option 1: keep Squarespace's banner

This is the least work, and it is fine if all you run is Google Analytics through the built-in integration and you have no ad tags.

If you also run Google Ads through code injection, paste Google's sample code at the top of the Header field, above your Google Ads snippet. Accept the gaps that come with it.

• All three ad signals follow one marketing switch.
• analytics_storage isn't set by that code, so injected Analytics tags get no instruction.
• Non-Google scripts may still run before a choice.
• The same banner shows to every visitor, wherever they are.
• Any fault in the code is yours to fix.

Option 2: switch it off and use a Consent Mode v2 tool

1. In Cookies & Data Privacy, switch off the toggle beside Cookie banner, so visitors see one banner, not two.
2. Go to Settings › Developer tools › Code injection (on some sites, Website › Website tools › Code injection).
3. Paste your consent tool's line at the very top of Header, above every Google tag and pixel.
4. Save, then repeat the quick check above.

Order matters. Google's guidance is that if consent code runs out of order, the defaults don't work. Code injection needs the Core, Plus or Advanced plan, or some legacy plans. Platform-by-platform steps are in install by platform.

One thing to decide: with the banner off, Squarespace's own analytics cookies follow the Non-essential cookies setting under Advanced Privacy settings. Choosing Restrict there turns them off for everyone. Ask your consent tool whether it covers Squarespace's own cookies.

Side by side, as of October 2026

Where TagSentry fits

TagSentry is one line at the top of your Squarespace Header. It sets Google Consent Mode v2 defaults before any tag runs and shows the right consent for every country, with a "Your Privacy Choices" link in most of the US.

It's free to 5,000 decisions a month. See Consent, or how it fits a small business.

Sources

1. Squarespace Help: Providing cookie consent options with a banner
2. Squarespace Help: The cookies Squarespace uses
3. Squarespace Help: Customize parts of your site with code injection
4. Squarespace Help: Connect Google Analytics to your site
5. Google Ads Help: Set up Squarespace to obtain user consent
6. Google for Developers: Consent mode concepts
7. Google for Developers: Set up consent mode on websites
8. Google Ads Help: Verify consent mode implementation
9. Google Ads Help: Resources for privacy changes for traffic in the EEA