Starting June 15, 2026, Google Ads reads only ad_storage from Consent Mode. For businesses advertising in Poland, this change is especially significant: Poland is an EU member state fully subject to GDPR, and Polish users are among the more privacy-conscious audiences in Europe - with above-average cookie refusal rates in many industries.
If your Google Ads campaigns target Polish users, verify your Consent Mode setup before June 15. Here is what changes and how to check it.
Why Poland Requires Extra Attention
Poland's data protection authority (UODO - Urząd Ochrony Danych Osobowych) is one of the more active enforcement bodies in the EU. Polish courts and UODO have issued penalties for non-compliant cookie consent practices. Pre-ticked advertising consent boxes are not permitted. The consent request must be genuine, informed, and freely given.
The practical result: a significant share of Polish users decline advertising cookies. Industry benchmarks for Polish market sites suggest 35-55% of users decline or partially decline non-essential cookies, depending on industry vertical.
Before June 15, Google Signals in GA4 partially supplemented Google Ads data for these non-consenting users. That supplementary channel closes on June 15. From that date, ad_storage is the only input Google Ads uses.
For Polish market advertisers with high refusal rates, a misconfigured ad_storage signal means a substantially larger data gap than for markets with lower refusal rates.
What Changes on June 15
Before June 15, Google Ads drew data from:
ad_storage- primary signal for ad conversion trackingad_personalization- audience building- Google Signals in GA4 - cross-device data supplementing Ads audience pools
From June 15, Google Ads uses only ad_storage.
For Polish market campaigns:
- Conversions from users with
ad_storage = 'denied'disappear from Google Ads reports - Remarketing audiences built from Polish visitors stop growing for non-consenting users
- Smart bidding (Target ROAS, Target CPA) loses data on a segment that in Poland can represent a significant portion of your audience
Who Is Most at Risk
High risk:
- Businesses whose primary market is Poland
- Any advertiser using remarketing lists for Polish audiences
- Smart bidding users where Polish market drives significant conversion volume
- Advertisers who configured Consent Mode v2 in 2024 and haven't revisited it
Lower risk:
- Campaigns where Poland is a secondary market with low budget allocation
- Advertisers not using smart bidding or remarketing
Three Verification Steps
Step 1 - Check the Tag in Google Tag Manager
In GTM, locate your Google Ads Conversion Tracking tag. Under Consent Settings, verify the tag requires ad_storage consent and has no override that allows firing without consent.
Review your CMP plugin settings. Popular choices in Poland include Cookiebot, OneTrust, Complianz, and Usercentrics. In the GTM integration settings for your CMP, confirm that the "Marketing" or "Advertising" consent category maps to ad_storage - not solely to analytics_storage.
Step 2 - Verify Signals in Google Tag Assistant
At tagassistant.google.com, enter your site URL and enter debug mode. Interact with your cookie banner.
Expected behavior:
- Accept all →
ad_storage: granted - Decline / only essential →
ad_storage: denied
If ad_storage returns denied even when a user accepts advertising cookies, your CMP is not correctly updating the GTM signal. If ad_storage does not change at all, the CMP is not sending the update call to GTM.
Step 3 - Check Tag Diagnostics in Google Ads
In Google Ads, navigate to Tools → Measurement → Conversions. Open each active conversion and check the Tag Details tab. Look for "Consent Mode signal coverage." Coverage below 60-70% for Polish-market campaigns signals a configuration issue.
Consent Mode Modelling for High-Refusal Markets
In markets with high cookie refusal rates like Poland, Consent Mode Modelling becomes more important - but also more dependent on correct signal configuration.
Modelling works by estimating conversions from non-consenting users based on patterns from consenting users. It requires:
- 700+ consented conversions per week
ad_storageto correctly firedenied(not absent)
Without denied signals, Google cannot estimate the non-consenting population. Correct signal configuration is therefore more critical in Poland than in lower-refusal markets.
Fixing Common Issues
CMP plugin for WordPress or Joomla: Update the plugin. Verify "Advertising" category is mapped to ad_storage in GTM integration settings.
Manual Consent Mode implementation in GTM: Check gtag('consent', 'update', {...}) calls. Consent update must fire before conversion tags.
Custom CMP: Ask vendor to confirm compatibility with June 15 Google requirements in writing.
Related reading
For context on how Google's recent May 2026 Core Update affected Polish market search rankings, see the analysis of who recovered after the May 2026 Core Update in Poland.
FAQ
Q: Does the June 15 change affect advertisers based outside Poland but targeting Polish users? A: Yes. Consent Mode requirements apply based on the location of your users, not your company. Any advertiser targeting users in Poland (an EU country) must comply with GDPR-based consent requirements and the June 15 signal change.
Q: Polish users frequently decline cookies. Should I invest in Consent Mode Modelling? A: Consent Mode Modelling is already active for all Consent Mode v2 implementations - you don't choose to invest in it separately. The question is whether your ad_storage signal is configured correctly, which is the input modelling needs to function. Without the correct signal, modelling cannot compensate for the data gap.
Q: We run a small e-commerce store in Poland with under 500 conversions per week. Is this relevant? A: Yes. Even at lower conversion volumes, misconfigured ad_storage means conversion data from non-consenting users doesn't reach Google Ads. For smaller accounts, each lost conversion data point has proportionally more impact on smart bidding performance.
Q: Can I avoid needing Consent Mode by running only non-personalised ads? A: Running non-personalised ads (NPA) removes the personalisation requirement but not the conversion tracking requirement. You still need ad_storage to be properly configured for conversion tracking to work.
Q: Is there a Polish-language guide from Google about these changes? A: Google's official support documentation is available in Polish at support.google.com/google-ads in the Consent Mode section. The June 15 changes apply uniformly across all Google Ads accounts - there is no Polish-specific exception.
