If you’re running campaigns in the European Economic Area (EEA), there’s a new must-know update from Google Ads that could impact your performance—and even prevent campaigns from publishing.

🚨 What’s new?

Google Ads now flags missing Consent Mode as a performance issue before you can publish a new campaign. In some cases, you won’t be able to publish at all unless you bypass it (e.g., by duplicating tabs—a workaround, not a solution).

❗Why it matters

This isn’t just about GDPR compliance anymore. Missing Consent Mode now directly affects ad personalization and campaign performance. Without proper consent signals:

• Your campaigns might underperform

• You may see a warning like:
  “End-user consent signals are required to use ad personalization features in the European Economic Area (EEA)”

• Your campaigns could even be restricted or blocked from running

✅ How to fix it

Before launching any new campaigns, make sure you:

1. Get a Google-certified Consent Management Platform (CMP)
   This ensures your consent requests are compliant and recognized by Google.

2. Pass consent signals correctly
   Use either gtag.js or Google Tag Manager (GTM) to transmit consent info to Google.

3. Verify everything is working
   Use Tag Assistant or DebugView to confirm your consent signals are firing properly.

Thomas Eccel spotted this change.