What it is

Google tag gateway serves your Google tags (such as gtag.js or the Google Tag Manager container) from your own domain instead of from googletagmanager.com. It doesn't change what data is collected, and it doesn't replace Consent Mode. It changes where your Google tags load from, and often when they load compared with ComplyDog.

How it affects consent

ComplyDog has to set the consent defaults before your Google tags load. With Google tag gateway, that order can break:

  • One-click setup through a CDN (such as Cloudflare) adds the Google tag to your pages automatically. This often means you no longer control where the tag sits on the page, so it can load before ComplyDog.
  • Manual setup keeps you in control of the order, so you can make sure ComplyDog loads first.

When a Google tag loads before ComplyDog, the debug panel shows that your Google tags loaded before ComplyDog set the consent default.

Learn more in Google's documentation:

  • Google tag gateway overview: https://developers.google.com/tag-platform/tag-manager/gateway
  • Setting up Google tag gateway: https://developers.google.com/tag-platform/tag-manager/gateway/setup-guide

How to check whether a tag uses Google tag gateway

Check one of these:

  1. In your Google account: in Google Ads, Google Analytics or Google Tag Manager, open the Google tag gateway settings and check the status of your domain. If it shows as active, your tags use Google tag gateway.
  2. In Google Tag Assistant: go to https://tagassistant.google.com, connect your website and let the page load. Open the Google tag and look at the hits it sends. If they go to an address on your own domain instead of googletagmanager.com or google-analytics.com, the tag uses Google tag gateway.

If a late tag uses Google tag gateway

We recommend switching to advanced Consent Mode. In advanced mode, Google tags load straight away and send only limited, cookieless signals until the visitor consents. Because of that, it works reliably with Google tag gateway, including when the tag loads before ComplyDog. See our Google Consent Mode setup guide for how to use advanced mode.

Depending on your needs, also enable Data Transmission Controls and Global Consent Defaults in your Google tag settings. These control what your Google tags send before ComplyDog sets consent. Learn more: https://developers.google.com/tag-platform/security/guides/consent

If you'd rather keep control over load order instead, choose one of these:

  • Move all Google tags into Google Tag Manager and serve Google Tag Manager through Google tag gateway. Add the ComplyDog template from the Community Template Gallery on the Consent Initialization - All Pages trigger, so it runs before every other tag.
  • Set up Google tag gateway manually instead of using one-click CDN setup. Then place the ComplyDog install code at the very top of the <head>, above the Google tag.

After making changes, open your website with ?cdog_debug=1 added to the address to check your setup again.