On January 11, 2027, Google Ads, Display & Video 360, Search Ads 360, and Campaign Manager 360 tags will be able to process the full IP address of visitors whose data passes through a server-side Google Tag Manager container. Google Analytics will continue redacting IP addresses, but the change will shift control from a single rule for the entire container to the processing performed by each tag.
Google announced the change in a notice to advertisers. The company says it will allow network signals, such as IP addresses, to be processed to improve ad measurement and personalization. It also mentions privacy-enhancing technologies and filters against spam and invalid traffic, although it does not identify specific technologies or quantify the expected effect.
The change affects processing in server-side containers, not all Google Tag Manager installations. The notice says the four families of advertising tags will accept the full IP address; it does not mean that every visitor will be identified by name or that every website installation will automatically send this information.
From global settings to tag-level control
Until now, the server-side container could redact or hide IP addresses globally. From the announced date, Google describes a model in which each tag manages the signals it receives. Tags sending information to its four advertising products will begin accepting the full address; Analytics tags will continue to redact IP addresses.
The distinction also matters for third-party providers. Google says third-party tags will retain independent control over the signals they accept. The notice does not specify how each template will behave or whether it will retain its current processing unchanged, so the outcome will depend on which fields it reads and how it is configured.
Google's notice describes the change as follows:
“Server containers in Google Tag Manager will transition from container-wide IP address redaction to individual tag-level processing.”
— Google, notice to advertisers
Transformations provide a way to modify data before it becomes available to tags. Google says they can redact signals before any tag accesses them. Its help documentation explains how to use this feature in a server-side container to change the IP address received by a specific tag.
A transformation can replace the IP with a partial version
The Google Tag Manager guide proposes creating a custom template variable that uses the getAnonymizedIpAddress function, then creating an “Augment event” transformation that overwrites the ip_override field with the anonymized value. The container owner can select the affected tags and check the result in Preview before publishing the configuration.
The partial IP generated by this function does not remove the entire address. According to the API documentation cited by Search Engine Journal, it zeros out the last octet of an IPv4 address and the last 80 bits of an IPv6 address. Google's help page describes the result as a partially redacted IP address.
The guide notes that Google Analytics server-side tags already apply partial redaction by default. For third-party tags, processing depends on the field they use: if they read ip_override, transforming that field may cover them; if they query a custom header or a different parameter, that field must be modified and the relevant tags selected.
Google published instructions for this mechanism, but the notice does not clarify whether opting out of the new behavior will be a single setting for the container, an option for each tag, or a transformation that each administrator must configure. Search Engine Journal and PPC Land note that the email refers readers to a help page for opt-out instructions without clearly identifying that page in the notice itself.
The notice requires consent where required by law
Google says advertisers must provide users with appropriate notices and obtain legally required consent before beginning data collection. For those using Google's advertising products in the European Economic Area, the notice requires compliance with the company's EU User Consent Policy. PPC Land specifies that the policy also covers end users in the UK and Switzerland.
In the European Union, an IP address may constitute personal data in certain circumstances. Receiving an IP address does not, by itself, automatically reveal a person's name, but the change does affect a signal that may be subject to privacy and consent requirements.
The documentation and email do not explain how the new processing will relate to Consent Mode or what will happen to requests that arrive without consent. PPC Land notes that, since July 28, 2025, Floodlight tags in server-side containers have transmitted requests without consent between servers to improve modeled conversions; Google has not said whether those requests will carry a full IP address after the change.
The notice also does not specify where full IP addresses will be stored or for how long. Google presents the measure as part of an update that integrates privacy-enhancing technologies and retains filters for spam and invalid traffic, but it does not name the technologies or publish measurement results that would make it possible to assess the effect.
Available documentation and background
Support for IP redaction in server-side Analytics tags has appeared in Tag Manager release notes since March 2021, according to Search Engine Journal and PPC Land. Transformations arrived in June 2023, according to Search Engine Journal; PPC Land dates their release to June 7 of that year and notes that on August 24, the ability to apply a rule to entire tag types was added.
The current notice did not appear in the Tag Manager release notes reviewed by Search Engine Journal on November 3 or by PPC Land on November 2. Google published the guide to redacting IP addresses through transformations, but that page explains how to preserve a partial IP address; it does not, by itself, define the scope of the new transition or which accounts will receive the change.
The notices circulated publicly in early November. Search Engine Journal reported that Google Ads specialist Adriaan Dekker shared the email on LinkedIn on November 2. PPC Land also attributed its circulation to Dekker. Paid Media Collective recorded another post by Matteo Zambon with an image of a Google-branded notice stating the date January 11, 2027; the outlet cautions that the image shows no recipient or headers and does not establish which accounts received it.
IP processing in other Google products is not identical. PPC Land compares the change with the AdSense control introduced on June 1, 2026, which kept the sending of full IP addresses to certain buyers disabled by default. In the case of server-side GTM, by contrast, the notice establishes a new default behavior under which affected advertising tags can receive the full address unless the administrator redacts or otherwise limits it.
What administrators should review before January
Google's guide makes it possible to check what leaves the server: select the affected tags in the transformation, run a preview, and verify that the IP address is redacted before the data leaves the container. If a third-party tag uses another field, the transformation must target that specific field. The documentation recommends saving the transformation and publishing the container after validating the result.
Search Engine Journal recommends reviewing Google Ads, Floodlight, and other destination tags within containers and determining which field each one reads. MetricMaven also suggests deciding for each tag whether to send a full IP address, a partial one, or none, taking region and consent into account. These are recommendations from those outlets, not additional instructions included in Google's email.
The consequences for measurement have not been quantified. Google says the update aims to improve ad measurement and the filtering of invalid traffic; MetricMaven suggests that figures could change, but notes that Google has published no data that would make it possible to measure the impact. It has also not been clarified whether a transformation created before January 11 will continue working unchanged after that date.
The date Google has confirmed is January 11, 2027: from then on, the four advertising products will be able to receive full IP addresses through server-side tags, while Analytics will continue redacting them. The available guide makes it possible to test a tag-level transformation in Preview before publishing any changes.
Sources: Search Engine Roundtable, Search Engine Journal, PPC Land, Google Tag Manager Help, MetricMaven, Paid Media Collective
