Smart Geo-targeting: show every visitor the right consent banner for their region

Privacy laws are not the same everywhere. Europe requires explicit consent before any tracking, most US states use an opt-out model, and countries like Japan or Australia only require a notice. With Smart Geo-targeting, Consentik detects each visitor’s location and automatically serves the consent banner their local law requires — so you stay compliant in every region without configuring each country by hand.
Availability: Smart Geo-targeting is included in the Advanced plan. You’ll find it in the Geolocation tab of the Settings dashboard.

How it works

Consentik already detects each visitor’s location across 284 regions (countries, plus individual US states). Smart Geo-targeting adds a legal ruleset on top: every region is mapped to one of three consent modes, and the banner your visitor sees is built for that mode.

Region-to-law mapping is maintained by Consentik and updated as new laws phase in — you don’t need to track legislation yourself.
Note: This article explains how the feature works and is not legal advice. If you’re unsure which rules apply to your business, please consult a legal professional.
Learn more about 3 consent models: Opt-in, Opt-out, Notice.

Turn on Smart Geo-targeting

1. In the Consentik admin, open the Settings dashboard and go to the Geolocation tab.
2. Find the Smart Geo-targeting card and switch the toggle On.
3. A confirmation note appears: each visitor now gets the consent mode their region’s law requires. Regions with no specific law use a safe default you can change.
4. Click Save to publish.

When the toggle is Off, one banner applies to every region — exactly like before. Your per-region configuration is kept, so you can switch the feature off and on without losing anything.

Choose where the banner appears (Display restriction)

The Display restriction card controls where the banner shows; Smart Geo-targeting controls which mode each region gets. They work together:

• All countries — the banner appears everywhere (recommended, since compliance follows the visitor).
• Specific regions — the banner only shows in regions you pick with Edit regions. With Smart Geo on, visitors inside those regions still get the law-correct mode; visitors outside them simply won’t see a banner.

Review and fine-tune your regions

With Smart Geo-targeting on, the region grid lists all 284 regions, grouped By continent or By law. For each region you’ll see its ISO code, a law badge (GDPR, GPC, PDPA…) and its consent mode:

• Locked regions show a 🔒 chip with the mode required by law — for example, EU countries are locked to Opt-in and US states with privacy laws are locked to Opt-out. These can’t be changed.
• Adjustable regions (no specific law) show a three-way selector — Opt-in / Opt-out / Notice. For example, you can switch a region with no privacy law to Notice to reduce friction for those visitors.

Useful tools in the grid:

• Search any country or state by name.
• Set all N selectable — apply one mode to every adjustable region in a group at once (locked regions are never affected), or you can choose which model you want for each region.
• Reset to law defaults — clear all your overrides and return every region to its legal default.

Check your coverage

The Coverage card answers “with my current setup, which banners will be served, and to how many regions?” It shows a colored bar and counters for Opt-in, Opt-out, and Notice regions. Every number updates instantly as you change settings, before you save.
Click Preview banners in use to see the actual banner variants your visitors will get (up to three — one per mode in use), each with a short description of its behavior.

Preview what a visitor in any country sees

Use the Preview by visitor location card to check any region before saving:

1. Type a country or state into the search box (or pick one of the common examples).
2. Consentik shows the detected mode and law badge for that region — e.g. Germany → Opt-in (GDPR), California → Opt-out (CCPA), Japan → Notice.
3. Below it, the exact banner that visitor would see is rendered with your current (even unsaved) settings.

If the region is excluded by your Display restriction, the preview says so — no banner is shown there.

What changes in the other tabs

When Smart Geo-targeting is on, a status bar appears at the top of the Design, Behavior, Content, and Policy tabs so you always know whether you’re editing a single global banner or the Opt-in banner within a three-variant setup. When it’s off, the bar offers a shortcut: Enable in Geolocation →.

Design

Your banner type choice (Simple Banner or Banner with Categories) applies to the Opt-in banner. Opt-out and Notice regions always use the Simple Banner, because their laws don’t require category controls. The preview panel shows which mode you’re looking at.

Behavior

The Select Consent Behavior card now uses three independent checkboxes — Accept, Reject/Decline, and Preferences — instead of fixed combinations. Each checkbox carries a tag telling you whether the button is required or optional and where it applies. Required buttons come pre-ticked, but you stay in control and can change any of them.

Also in this card, the Data sale opt-out (CCPA) section controls the “Do not sell/share my personal data” checkbox and its label (up to 150 characters). It’s ticked automatically when you first enable Smart Geo-targeting, and it only renders for visitors in Opt-out regions.

• Block element until consent is given is applied automatically per mode: locked on in Opt-in regions, off elsewhere.
• The re-open button turns on automatically for Opt-in and Opt-out regions (in Opt-out regions it’s the visitor’s way back to the Do-Not-Sell control). Notice regions don’t show it.
• Show close icon defaults to on and applies only to Opt-out and Notice banners — these laws require an explicit choice.

Content

Your banner title, message, and button labels are shared by all three modes — the difference between modes is which buttons appear and how tracking behaves, not the wording. Edit your copy once and it applies everywhere.

Integrations

No extra per-region setup is needed — your integrations follow each visitor’s mode automatically:

• Google Consent Mode v2: the head script stays exactly the same (default Denied). In Opt-out and Notice regions Consentik automatically sends a consent update (granted) on page load; in Opt-in regions it waits for the visitor’s choice.
• Auto-Block scripts: blocked at load only in Opt-in regions; in Opt-out regions they run until the visitor opts out; in Notice regions they run freely.
• Global Privacy Control (GPC): honored automatically in Opt-out regions.

FAQ

1. Do I need to reconfigure my existing banner? No. Your current design, content, and behavior settings carry over and become the Opt-in banner. The Opt-out and Notice variants are generated automatically from legal requirements.
2. Can I change the mode for an EU country or a US state with a privacy law? No — regions with a specific law are locked to protect you from misconfiguration. You can adjust the regions that have no specific law.
3. What happens if I turn Smart Geo-targeting off? Everything returns to a single global banner, and all legal locks and tags are removed. Your per-region configuration is kept for when you turn it back on.
4. Does my Google Consent Mode setup need to change? No. The recommended default-Denied head script keeps working as is — Consentik sends the right consent updates per region automatically.

Updated on: 09/07/2026