Install GoTrust with Google Tag Manager

What the template does

Every time a page loads, the template:

1. Sets the Consent Mode default before any other tag runs. Visitors in the EEA, UK and Switzerland always start with every consent type denied (except security_storage). Everywhere else starts with the defaults you choose in the tag, which are all granted unless you change them.
2. Restores a returning visitor's choice straight away, before the banner loads, so tags on the first page view already see it.
3. Loads the GoTrust banner. When the visitor accepts, rejects or saves their choices, the template passes the new state to your Google tags with Google's updateConsentState API.

Appearance, categories, languages and cookie lists are still managed in your GoTrust dashboard, exactly as with the HTML embed. To set up a banner that meets Google's banner requirements, follow these steps.

Before you start

• Edit and publish access to your GTM container.
• From your GoTrust dashboard (Cookie Consent Management → your domain → Consent Code, under “Configuration Details”): your Config ID, Domain and Environment.

Install

1. Add the template. In GTM, open Templates → Tag Templates → Search Gallery, search for “GoTrust”, select GoTrust – Consent Mode & CMP Loader and click Add to workspace.
2. Create the tag. Go to Tags → New, name it (for example “GoTrust CMP”) and choose the GoTrust template as the tag type.
3. Fill in the three required fields from your dashboard: GoTrust Domain ID (Config ID), Registered Site URL (Domain) and GoTrust Platform Base URL (Environment). The other settings work as they are; see Settings if you want to change them.
4. Set the trigger to Consent Initialization - All Pages. If your container doesn't have it yet, create it under Triggers → New → Consent Initialization. This is required: on any other trigger the default is set too late, after other tags may already have run.
5. Preview and check. Click Preview, open your site and confirm that:
   • the GoTrust banner appears;
   • in Tag Assistant, the tag fired on Consent Initialization, before any other tag;
   • the Consent tab shows the default state, and an update after you make a choice in the banner.
6. Publish the container.

Settings

Required

Consent Mode Type

This sets wait_for_update, which Google describes as controlling how long to wait before data is sent: up to Wait For Update milliseconds (2000 by default) with Advanced, no wait with Basic. Whether a tag is blocked until the user interacts with the banner (Google's Basic consent mode) or loads with the default consent states (Advanced) is set in each tag's own consent settings in GTM.

Consent Mode Defaults

One setting per consent type (ad_storage, analytics_storage, ad_user_data, ad_personalization, functionality_storage, personalization_storage, security_storage). These apply to visitors outside the EEA, UK and Switzerland until they make a choice. All are Granted by default. If you set them to Denied, GoTrust still grants consent for visitors in countries where no banner is configured, so measurement continues there.

The EEA, UK and Switzerland always start denied and can't be changed here.

Regional overrides (optional)

Add a row to give specific regions their own defaults, for example specific US states. Enter comma-separated ISO codes such as US-CA, US-CO, BR and choose Granted or Denied for the types you want to change; types left “Not set” use the global default. Google applies the most specific matching region.

Codes for the EEA, UK and Switzerland (including subdivisions such as ES-CT) are ignored.

Advanced Settings

Debug Mode

Logs the template's steps to the browser console. Turn it on while testing and off before publishing. Errors are always reported, whether or not it's on (see Troubleshooting).

How consent reaches Google

How GoTrust categories map to Consent Mode:

Basic and Advanced consent mode

Google describes two setups (see Google's consent mode guide): in Basic consent mode, Google tags are blocked until the user interacts with the consent banner; in Advanced consent mode, Google tags load when a user opens the website, with the default consent states set. With this template you choose per Google tag in your container:

• Basic: on the Google tag, open Advanced Settings → Consent Settings, choose Require additional consent for tag to fire and add the consent types it needs (for example analytics_storage for Google Analytics, ad_storage and ad_user_data for Google Ads). Fire the tag on a Custom Event trigger with event name gotrust_consent_update instead of a page-view trigger. GoTrust pushes this event after every consent update — when the visitor makes a choice, and on each page for returning visitors — so the tag fires once consent is granted. In the GoTrust tag, set Consent Mode Type to Basic.
• Advanced: keep your Google tags on their usual triggers with no additional consent required; they load with the default consent states set. In the GoTrust tag, set Consent Mode Type to Advanced.

Reopening cookie preferences

The banner has its own floating settings button. To open preferences from your own link or button as well, call showGoTrustCookiePreferences:

<button type="button" onclick="window.showGoTrustCookiePreferences && window.showGoTrustCookiePreferences(true)">
  Cookie preferences
</button>

You can add this to your site's HTML or as a GTM Custom HTML tag.

Troubleshooting

When something fails, the template always pushes a gotrust_template_error event to the dataLayer, with gotrust_error_stage and gotrust_error_message. Look for it in Tag Assistant's Data Layer tab.

Misconfiguration debug mode

GoTrust can check whether your installation lets a Google tag run before the consent default or the IAB TCF stub is in place. This works for both GTM and HTML embed installs.

Open your site with ?gt-shim-debug=1 added to the URL (for example https://www.example.com/?gt-shim-debug=1) and check the browser console. Nothing is logged for normal visitors.

• Setup correct: [GoTrust Shim] Debug: OK confirms the Consent Mode default and TCF stub were set before any Google tag. For GTM template installs, the message says the template sets the default on the Consent Initialization trigger; check in Tag Assistant that it fires before your other tags.
• Problem found: a warning starting with [GoTrust Shim] MISCONFIGURATION DETECTED: names what was found.

The checks look for:

• A Google or ad-tech script placed before the GoTrust script in the page HTML, the most common mistake with HTML embeds.
• A Google tag (gtag.js or Google Tag Manager) that had already run before GoTrust loaded.
• Entries already in window.dataLayer before GoTrust set the default.

For GTM template installs, where GTM always loads first, the last two checks and the check for Google's own tag scripts are skipped.

Google documentation

• Set up consent mode — Google's developer guide to consent mode, including Basic and Advanced setups.
• Consent mode in Tag Manager templates — how CMP templates like this one set defaults and updates.
• Troubleshoot consent mode with Tag Assistant — checking the default and update commands on your site.

Support

Email support@gotrust.tech, or open an issue on github.com/gotrust-technologies/gotrust-gtm-community-template.