From August 2026, Google will use IP addresses for ad measurement and personalisation in the UK, EEA and Switzerland, triggering new consent requirements.
Here’s what it means for brands.
What the update is:
- Google is now expanding how it’s allowed to use IP addresses across the UK, EEA and Switzerland, moving away from purely operational uses (serving ads, routing traffic, fraud prevention etc.) to ads measurement and ads personalisation – Something the rest of the world mostly has been doing already and we’re catching up.
- Google isn’t collecting new data – it already receives IP addresses however the key change is declaring the purpose of this data.
- Naturally IP addresses count as personal data under UK/EU GDPR, this now triggers consent requirements that weren’t previously in required. Hence sites will be required to run a certified Consent Management Platform (CMP) to serve ads to EEA/UK/Swiss users going forward – with ongoing audits to check compliance.
What Does This Mean for Brands Operating across the UK, EEA and Switzerland
New measurement signal
IP-based identification gives another way to stitch together cross-device attribution and measure real-world outcomes (e.g., store visits) as cookies and other identifiers degrade. Whilst the use of UUID’s is the more optimal setup, this serves as a good interim solution.
Consent becomes the gating factor
Businesses that don’t have a CMP correctly setup risk being unable to access these new measurement capabilities – meaning a compliance gap could directly translate into lost ad performance or revenue. This is a strong prompt to audit your CMP setups now (are they TCF-certified, is Feature 3 consent being properly requested and passed?)
Privacy scrutiny likely to increase
Unlike cookies, IP addresses can’t be deleted by users, and the ICO have flagged concerns about persistent device recognition, so we can expect continued regulatory attention and potential brand nervousness around this, worth getting ahead of in any consent-related conversations.
