How to configure consent management using GTM and Axeptio

In this article, we'll walk you through the process of setting up consent management using Axeptio and Google Tag Manager (GTM). The configuration involves several key steps, which we'll explain in detail:

• Configuring the Axeptio cookie banner.
• Integrating Axeptio with the server GTM.
• Setting up the server-side GTM container, a custom domain, and a Custom Loader.
• Adding the Axeptio cookie banner to the website.
• Configuring the transport URL using the Axeptio CMP tag.

With the client-side method, the Axeptio script is loaded in the browser and is retrieved from the Axeptio domain. With server-side tracking, the scripts required for displaying the consent pop-up are loaded from your domain.

The client-side approach comes with several limitations. Ad blockers and browser restrictions can interfere with loading scripts from third-party domains. For example, browsers like Safari have a seven-day limit on cookie lifespans, which means users are repeatedly prompted for consent.

Managing consent on the server-side will eliminate these impacts. This method provides more control over the data collection process as well as lets you bypass ad blockers and browser limitations.

Please note: using server-side tracking doesn't eliminate the need to request user consent for data collection.

Consent management in server-side works the following way:

• The consent banner collects the user's consent preferences and passes them to a tag (such as the Google tag) that sends the consent status from the browser to the server GTM container.
• The Google tag includes a parameter that reflects the user's consent status, which is then forwarded to the server container.
• Inside the server GTM, tags respond based on the value of that consent parameter, determining how or whether they fire.

To complete the setup below, you need to have configured a web GTM container.  

1.1 Go to your project → go to “My banners” → click “New banner”.    

1.2 Specify the countries you target and the language you need for the cookie banner.

1.3 Be sure to enable the toggle “Create a ConsentMode V2 banner” if it meets your tracking needs.

Click “Create and personalize”.

1.4 On the next steps, you can personalize the cookie banner according to your preferences. 

Be sure to click on “Let me choose” on the banner and activate the option.

Activating it will add a new screen to your widget, featuring the four parameters of Google's Consent Mode.

1.5 Click “Publish”.

Please note: to make the cookie banner display on your website, you need to specify your data and the plan you go with on Axeptio.

The configuration of server-side tracking is recommended as it provides greater control over how consented data is processed and shared. 

😎If you are already on the server-side, please skip this step.

To manage consent on the server side, you need to complete a few basic configurations:

• Set up your server GTM container and host it on Stape.
• Enable the Custom Loader to make data collection less susceptible to ad blockers.
• Configure your web container to send data to the server GTM container.
• Configure the custom domain to create a first-party tracking endpoint, improving data collection reliability and reducing the impact of browser restrictions on tracking.

For detailed instructions, please click on the corresponding collapse elements below:

2.4 Set up a custom domain

When configuring your custom domain for server-side tracking, you can choose between same-origin and a custom subdomain.

For the detailed configuration of same-origin and custom subdomain, please refer to our guide on custom domains.

2.5 Use the Setup Wizard to automatically add GTM entities into containers

Setup Wizard is a free solution developed by Stape and available to all Stape users. It helps you:

✅ Automatically generate and add all the required entities to your web and server GTM containers, so you can start tracking data right away;

✅ Configure data transfer from your web container to your server container;

✅ Guide you through the CMS app configuration process, if it’s required for your tracking setup.

To start using the Setup Wizard, log in to your Stape account and go to sGTM. Select the required container and click the Setup Wizard icon next to Container settings.

3.1 Go to your web GTM container and add the Axeptio CMP tag from the template gallery.

3.2 Create a new tag with Axeptio CMP as the tag configuration.

3.3 Configure the tag.

• Add the Project ID. You can find this in the bottom-left corner of your Axeptio account.

• Add the Cookies Version. The value can be found in the cookie banner → “Versions” section.

• Be sure to check the box next to “Activate Google Consent Mode v2” if you activated it in the Axeptio interface while creating the banner.

3.3 Add a trigger for the Axeptio CMP tag.

Select “Consent Initialization – All Pages” as a trigger.

3.4 Check the tags in your web GTM container and update triggers for them if needed.

You need to set up consent for tags without built-in consent checks.

In the tags without Built-in Consent Checks, expand the Consent Settings section, select “Require additional consent for tag to fire,” and choose a purpose; in our case, it is "analytics_storage". 

Check the complete list of consent types in Google’s documentation.

3.5 Add a trigger group for such tags.

First, configure a trigger that checks whether the required consent has been granted based on the consent statuses. It should have the following properties:

• Trigger type – Custom Event
• Event name – axeptio_update (that’s an event that Axeptio pushes to dataLayer; it contains the consent statuses)
• Trigger fires on all custom events

Then, you can create trigger groups that include multiple triggers for the tag: one to check the consent status and another to fire the tag when the relevant event occurs.

To ensure that your server-side GTM container receives the correct consent status, you only need to update the Google tag settings in your web GTM container. During configuration, select either Advanced or Basic Consent Mode, depending on your requirements.

To get more info on the difference between these two mode types, please click on the collapse element below:

Advanced Mode configuration

With Advanced Consent Mode enabled, Google tags can continue sending consent-aware, cookieless signals even when users do not grant consent for analytics cookies.

To enable this setup, configure the consent settings for the Google tag in your web GTM container. No additional consent configuration is required in the server-side GTM container.

Basic Mode configuration

With Basic Consent Mode, Google Analytics doesn’t collect any data until the user explicitly grants consent.

To configure this setup, set the Google tag in your web GTM container to require the appropriate consent types. The server-side GA4 setup will automatically process the consent signals received from the web GTM container, so no additional configuration is needed in the server container.

For a convenient debugging process, we will use the Stape GTM Helper Chrome extension. When troubleshooting consent settings, the extension allows you to view consent statuses in the server GTM container preview (the feature that is not available in sGTM by default).

The Stape Chrome extension also includes features to simplify the debugging process, such as an entity filter, request URL formatter, website tracking scanner and evaluator, and more. For a complete overview of all available features, check out our Stape Chrome extension guide.

To debug Axeptio banner setup, follow the steps below:

1. Run Preview mode in both web and server GTM containers.

2. Interact with your cookie banner. For example, accept all the cookies or reject some of the cookies.
3. Return to the Preview window in your web GTM container.

You should see the Consent Update event triggered before axeptio_update event and any other events configured in the container, such as page views or clicks.

This confirms that the consent state was initialized before any tracking tags fired, ensuring that analytics and marketing tools follow the visitor’s consent preferences from the start of the session.

Axeptio pushes two events:

• axeptio_update – this is the primary event. Axeptio fires it, every time when the consent state is read or modified. The event will be pushed automatically on every page load when Axeptio checks the user's existing cookies to see what they have previously accepted.
• axeptio_update_consent – this event fires when a user clicks the banner to accept or change their choices through their session. 

4. Open the axeptio_update event and navigate to the Consent tab. You should see the following:

• Default statuses (first column) are set to Denied, according to the settings defined in the Axeptio banner configuration.
• On-page Update and Current State (the second and third columns) correspond to the status you’ve specified on the page via the consent banner. 

5. Verify that consent information is correctly passed to the server GTM container.

Enable the “Consent mode server side” toggle in the Stape GTM Helper extension.

Next, open the server GTM preview window and select the latest triggered event. Check that the consent statuses for ad_storage and analytics_storage match the values shown in your web GTM preview.

Implementing server-side consent management with Axeptio is a privacy-compliant solution that helps bypass the limitations of client-side tracking. By routing scripts and consent interactions through your own domain, you gain greater control over data collection and lower the impact of ad blockers and browser restrictions on the data.