Universal Event Tracking is a tool Microsoft Ads uses to monitor customers’ actions after clicking on ads. This is achieved by placing a UET tag, which collects data to track conversion goals and target customers with the remarketing list.
As data privacy regulations evolve, advertisers must ensure compliance, especially when engaging users in the EEA, UK, and Switzerland. Microsoft Advertising requires that advertisers obtain explicit customer consent before setting cookies, known as UET Consent Mode. When UET Consent Mode is enabled, UET tags will check for user consent before sending any data for tracking or advertising. Integration with a Consent Management Platform like WebToffee’s GDPR Cookie Consent plugin ensures that user permissions are properly managed, making it easy to implement consent-based tracking in a compliant manner.
- UET Consent Mode is supported in GDPR Cookie Consent version 3.3.1 and above.
- By default, UET collects user behavior data right away — unless restricted by scripts.
Consent mode behavior:
| Consent Value | Description |
|---|---|
| granted | First and Third-party cookies can be read and written by UET. |
| denied | First-party cookies are blocked. Third-party cookies are not written and only read in a limited manner for fraud detection. |
Cookies used by UET Consent Mode
| Cookie Name | Type | Description | Cookie Category |
|---|---|---|---|
| _uetvid | First-party | Stores a unique ID to track users across sessions for analytics and remarketing purposes. | Advertisement |
| _uetsid | First-party | Session ID is used to identify a user during a single session. | Advertisement |
| MUID | Third-party | Microsoft User ID set by Bing.com to recognize users across websites and services. | Advertisement |
With UET Consent Mode, cookies like _uetvid and _uetsid store values only after user consent. If consent is denied, they may still appear—but with empty or null values, maintaining full privacy compliance.
Steps to configure UET consent mode
- Add the UET script to the header.php file. You can get the UET script from your Microsoft Ads Account. If you use the UET plugin, like Microsoft Advertising Universal Event Tracking, you must add the UET ID instead of the script.
- In your WordPress settings, click on Cookie Consent > Microsoft Clarity Consent tab, then enable Support Microsoft UET Consent Mode.
- Test and Validate: Use the UET Tag Helper extension for Chrome or Edge to validate your UET Consent Mode setup.
- What to Look For:
- Before user gives consent: asc = denied OR no UET event fires.
- After consent: asc = granted on all subsequent UET events.
- Steps to test:
- Install UET Tag Helper.
- Open your site and interact with the consent banner.
- Use the Tag Helper to verify the asc (ad_storage consent) parameter.
- What to Look For:
