Overview
A consent profile captures a CMP's category structure once so you can reference it from many projects without redefining. If you run ten brands that all use OneTrust with the same category mapping, you configure the mapping in a single profile and every project points at it. Update the profile and the change propagates to every project on the next sync.
This matters because consent categories differ between CMP vendors and sometimes between CMP deployments. Cookiebot's category IDs aren't the same as OneTrust's, and a given OneTrust instance might map "Performance" to category 2 while another maps it to category 4. Consent profiles abstract that nuance into one reusable object.
Navigate to Consent Profiles
Go to AutoTag > Consent Profiles from the left sidebar. You'll see a list of every consent profile defined in the current property, along with the CMP vendor and a count of projects referencing each one.
Profiles are scoped to the property, so if you manage multiple properties, you'll see only the profiles created in the property you're currently viewing. Switch properties in the top nav to see others.
Create a new profile
Click New Consent Profile. Give it a name that communicates the vendor and the category intent, for example OneTrust Standard or Cookiebot GDPR Strict. Select the CMP vendor from the dropdown, then configure the consent categories your deployment uses, such as Performance, Targeting, and Functionality.
Each category maps to a GTM consent type, such as ad_storage or analytics_storage. Getting the mapping right is the single most important part of this page, because incorrect mappings cause tags to fire under the wrong consent state, which is both bad UX and a compliance risk.
Assign to projects
Open a project in ProjectsEdit and select the consent profile from the dropdown. The profile's consent settings will be applied during the next sync to GTM. Any change you make to the profile itself will propagate to every project that references it on their next sync.
If a project has no consent profile selected, AutoTag falls back to the default consent behavior for the privacy vendor enabled on the project. For most cases you'll want a profile assigned explicitly so you retain full control.
Consent profiles are shared across projects within the same property, so changes to a profile affect every project that uses it on the next sync. Each CMP vendor has different default consent categories and the profile is what maps them to GTM consent types, so verify your mapping matches what your deployment actually publishes.
Troubleshooting
Profile changes don't appear in GTM after save
Saving the profile doesn't push to GTM on its own. You need to re-sync every project that references the profile to materialize the change as tag/trigger updates. Head to Projects, click Sync on each affected project, and the profile changes flow through.
Tags fire despite user declining consent
The category mapping in the profile is probably wrong for your CMP deployment. Inspect the CMP's consent API in your browser console to see the actual category IDs being set when the user declines, then cross-reference with the profile configuration. Realign the mapping and re-sync.
Different projects behave inconsistently with same profile
Profiles are scoped per property. If two projects look identical but behave differently, confirm they're actually in the same property. You may have duplicated a profile across properties and only updated one copy.