Different responsibilities
Consent management platform
- Shows the notice and preference controls.
- Records and restores the user’s choice.
- Exposes categories or consent events to the site.
Google Consent Mode
- Sets consent states for supported Google tags.
- Changes storage and request behavior.
- Receives updates when the CMP state changes.
The handoff is where failures happen
A banner may look correct while never sending an update. Consent Mode may have a denied default but map CMP categories incorrectly. Test the interface, the stored choice, the consent command and resulting requests as one connected flow.
What to validate
- The CMP appears and records the intended choices.
- The initial Consent Mode state runs before Google tags.
- Each CMP choice maps to the expected consent values.
- The saved choice is restored on later page views.
- Withdrawal produces a new update and the expected tag behavior.
Check both sides
The public audit identifies visible CMP and Consent Mode signals. Follow it with a runtime test to prove the handoff under real user choices.