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:
Comments (2)
Aiste
August 22, 2025
Subject: Issue with IAB TCF 2.2 consent and Microsoft UET tag
Hi, I’m reaching out regarding an issue ensuring our site meets Microsoft Advertising requirements for EEA consent handling via IAB TCF 2.2. Please see the attached screenshot for Microsoft’s summary of the problem.
Summary:
– We use the WebToffee Cookie Consent plugin and enabled IAB TCF 2.2 a week ago.
– Google Tag Manager Consent Mode is active, and Microsoft UET is restricted by ad_storage consent.
– Testing via VPN and DevTools shows that only the euconsent cookie is generated — the euconsent-v2 -cookie does not appear.
– As a result, Microsoft UET does not receive the required consent signal, and we cannot track EEA conversions.
Steps already taken:
– Enabled IAB TCF 2.2 (worldwide) in the WebToffee plugin.
– Configured GTM to fire UET only with ad_storage consent.
– Verified window.dataLayer updates correctly.
– Still, no euconsent-v2 cookie is created in any scenario.
Questions:
– Does the plugin actually generate the euconsent-v2 cookie, or is this limited in the free version?
– Would we need to switch to a Microsoft-recognized CMP (e.g., CookieYes, OneTrust) to ensure compliance?
Best regards,
Aistė
Hema
September 1, 2025
Hello Aiste,
Thanks for reaching out and for detailing your setup! The euconsent-v2 cookie has been deprecated under IAB TCF v2.2, which now uses a single euconsent cookie—so what you’re seeing is correct. While Microsoft UET may still reference euconsent-v2, the current IAB standard only requires the euconsent cookie. If UET hasn’t fully transitioned, you may notice temporary issues. We recommend updating our plugin to v3.4.2 and enabling Microsoft UET consent mode. As a Microsoft-recognized CMP, this ensures consent sharing works smoothly once the UET script is added to your site’s header.