What Changed on June 15, 2026

On 15 June 2026, Google changed how advertising data flows between Google Analytics 4 and a linked Google Ads account. The change is structural, not cosmetic: the ad_storage signal in Consent Mode is now the single authority over what advertising data — ad cookies, device and user identifiers, and the activity used to build remarketing audiences — GA4 collects and passes to Google Ads.

Before this date, two separate switches had to agree before advertising data could flow. The Google Signals setting inside the GA4 Admin had to be on, and the ad_storage consent signal had to be granted. Both gates had to open. After 15 June 2026, that dual-gate model is gone. ad_storage alone decides. If ad_storage is granted, Google Ads may collect and use permitted ad signals regardless of whether Google Signals is enabled or disabled.

If your GA4 property is not linked to a Google Ads account, this change does not affect your data collection or reporting. For everyone running conversion campaigns, maintaining remarketing lists, or feeding Smart Bidding from GA4, it is one of the most consequential consent changes since Consent Mode v2 became mandatory.

Google Signals Has a Narrower Job Now

Google Signals is not being deleted — it is being demoted. From 15 June 2026, the Google Signals setting (and the Google Signals API) governs only one thing: whether your GA-sourced data is associated with signed-in Google users for behavioural reporting inside Analytics. That covers cross-device reporting, demographics and interests reports, and signed-in user recognition within GA4.

What Google Signals no longer does is control whether advertising cookies and identifiers are collected and shared with Google Ads. That responsibility has moved entirely to ad_storage. Google describes the motivation in its own documentation as deduplication of controls — collapsing two overlapping settings into one clear authority. The practical effect is that your consent banner, not a hidden Admin toggle, now determines whether advertising data flows.

There Is No Longer a Fallback If Your Banner Is Wrong

Under the old model, a correctly enabled Google Signals setting could partly mask a flawed consent implementation. That safety net is gone. After 15 June 2026, if your CMP fails to set ad_storage='granted' when a visitor genuinely consents, advertising data simply does not flow — conversions, remarketing audiences, and Smart Bidding signals can go dark with nothing to catch the gap. Conversely, if your banner wrongly defaults ad_storage to granted, you risk collecting ad data without a valid legal basis. Your consent configuration is now the single point of failure.

What ad_storage Granted vs Denied Now Does

The behaviour of the ad_storage signal is now unambiguous:

ad_storage='granted' — Google may read and write advertising cookies and identifiers, collect the data needed for remarketing audiences, and pass permitted ad signals to your linked Google Ads account. This happens whether or not Google Signals is enabled.
ad_storage='denied' — advertising storage is blocked. No ad cookies or identifiers are written, and the visitor's activity is not used to build advertising audiences or passed to Google Ads for ads purposes. With Consent Mode v2's Advanced mode, cookieless pings may still flow to support conversion modelling, but no advertising identifiers are collected.

This is why ad_storage is described as the single authority: it is the one lever that, when consent is denied, ensures ad data is correctly redacted, and when consent is granted, allows it to flow. A consent management platform exists precisely to set that lever correctly on every page load, for every visitor, in every region.

Note that ad_storage is the authority over storage and collection. It works alongside the other Consent Mode v2 ad signals — ad_user_data (whether collected data may be sent to Google for advertising) and ad_personalization (whether data may be used for personalised advertising and remarketing). A compliant setup must wire all three to real consent state, but it is ad_storage specifically that replaced Google Signals as the gate on Ads data collection.

The Bigger Picture: A 2025–2026 Consolidation

This change does not stand alone. It is one step in a deliberate consolidation of consent and ads controls across Google's stack.

In July 2025, Google tightened enforcement of its EU User Consent Policy. Accounts that were not passing correct, properly-formatted EEA consent signals lost access to ads personalisation and audience features for European users. That enforcement made a correctly configured Consent Mode v2 implementation a hard prerequisite for measurement in the EEA and UK — see our guide on Google Consent Mode v2 for the full setup.

The 15 June 2026 change builds directly on that foundation: now that Google relies on Consent Mode signals to enforce its consent policy, it makes sense for those same signals — specifically ad_storage — to be the single control over Ads data collection.

Separately, and later in 2026 (a distinct event with its own timeline), Google is moving ads-personalisation settings out of the GA4 interface and into the Google Ads UI. Do not conflate the two: the June 15 change is about who controls Ads data collection (now ad_storage); the later migration is about where you manage personalisation settings (the Ads interface). Both point the same direction — consent and ads controls converging on Google Ads and Consent Mode.

What Breaks If Your Banner Is Misconfigured

Because ad_storage is now the only thing standing between a consenting visitor and your advertising data, banner misconfiguration has sharper consequences than before:

Conversions stop importing. If consent is granted but your CMP never updates ad_storage to granted, GA4 collects no advertising data to attribute, and imported conversions in Google Ads dry up.
Remarketing audiences shrink. Audiences built on GA4 data can only grow from sessions where ad_storage was granted. A banner that under-reports consent slowly starves your lists.
Smart Bidding loses signal. Bidding algorithms that previously benefited from a Google Signals fallback now see only what ad_storage permits. Misfires translate directly into degraded ROAS.
Compliance exposure. The opposite failure — defaulting ad_storage to granted before the visitor chooses, or ignoring an EEA visitor's refusal — means collecting advertising data without a lawful basis under the GDPR and ePrivacy rules.

In short, a misconfigured banner produces either broken tracking or a compliance risk, and frequently both at once on different parts of the same site.

How to Audit Your Setup Before It Costs You

The good news is that a correctly built Consent Mode v2 implementation already does the right thing — this change rewards setups that were done properly and punishes those that leaned on Google Signals as a crutch. Work through the checklist below to confirm which camp you are in.

The core questions are simple: does your banner default all ad signals to denied before a choice is made, does it set ad_storage='granted' the instant a visitor genuinely consents, and does it correctly redact ad data when they refuse — especially for EEA and UK traffic? If you can answer yes to all three with evidence from a real test, you are in good shape. For help reading the signals in the browser, see our server-side tracking validation guide, and for the regional rules behind "who must see what," our GDPR vs CCPA vs PECR comparison.

June 2026 GA4 + Google Ads Consent Audit

Confirm whether your GA4 property is linked to Google Ads
If there is no Ads link, this change does not affect you. If there is, every item below applies. Check GA4 Admin → Product links → Google Ads links.
Verify ad_storage is wired to real consent state
Your CMP must set ad_storage='granted' only when the visitor genuinely consents, and ad_storage='denied' otherwise. This is now the single gate on Ads data collection — test it explicitly.
Wire ad_user_data and ad_personalization to consent too
ad_storage controls collection, but a compliant Consent Mode v2 setup must also set ad_user_data and ad_personalization from the same consent decision. Missing signals default to denied.
Default all ad signals to 'denied' before any choice (EEA/UK)
For European visitors, the initial Consent Mode state must be denied for ad_storage, ad_user_data, ad_personalization, and analytics_storage until the visitor acts.
Test the EEA / UK denied path end to end
Simulate a European visitor who refuses. Confirm no advertising cookies or identifiers are written and that GA4 sends only cookieless pings — no ad data should reach Google Ads.
Test the granted path and confirm data flows
Accept consent and verify ad_storage flips to granted, advertising cookies are set, and conversions/audiences populate in Google Ads. This catches banners that silently fail to update.
Stop relying on Google Signals for Ads data
Google Signals now only affects signed-in behavioural reporting inside GA4. Do not treat it as a control over Ads data collection or as a fallback for a flawed banner.
Re-check after deploying any banner or tag change
With no Signals fallback, a regression in your consent wiring now fails silently. Re-run the granted and denied tests whenever you change the CMP, GTM container, or page template.

Your CMP Is Now the One Lever That Decides

With Google Signals out of the picture for Ads data, a correctly configured Consent Mode v2 banner is the single thing deciding whether advertising data flows or is redacted. That is exactly what a consent management platform is built to get right on every page load. To go deeper, start with What Is Google Consent Mode v2?, then review how Consent Mode shapes GA4 reporting and how to optimise your consent rate without cutting compliance corners.

The Bottom Line

The 15 June 2026 change simplifies Google's control structure but raises the stakes on getting consent right. ad_storage is now the single authority over GA4-to-Google-Ads advertising data; Google Signals has been narrowed to in-Analytics behavioural reporting. There is no second switch to compensate for a banner that fires the wrong signal.

If your Consent Mode v2 implementation already defaults to denied, updates promptly on real consent, and redacts ad data for visitors who refuse, this change is a non-event — your setup behaves exactly as Google now requires. If it does not, the time to find out is before your conversions quietly drop or a regulator asks why ad cookies appeared without consent. Audit it now, test both paths, and treat your banner as the production-critical system it has become. For the authoritative details, see Google's own write-up, Updates to Google Analytics Data Controls.