Attribution models in Google ads

An attribution model changes how you track your conversions. The attribution model can be different in Google Ads and Google Analytics, and therefore can cause some confusion where you are seeing different conversion values in Ads and Analytics

There are 7 different attribution models in Google Ads. An attribution model changes how you track your conversions. The attribution model can be different in Google Ads and Google Analytics, and therefore can cause some confusion where you are seeing one conversion value in Google Analytics and another in Google Ads.

The seven different attribution models:

Last Interaction attribution model

Using Last Interaction attribution model, the last touchpoint — for example, the Direct channel would receive 100% of the credit for the sale.

Last Non-Direct Click attribution model

Using Last Non-Direct Click attribution model, all direct traffic is ignored, and 100% of the credit of the sale goes to the last channel that the customer clicked through before converting.

Last Google Ads Click attribution model

Using Last Google Ads Click attribution model, the last Google Ads click would receive 100% of the credit for the sale.

First Interaction attribution model

Using First Interaction attribution model, the first touchpoint would receive 100% of the credit for the sale.

Linear attribution model

Using Linear attribution model, each touchpoint in the conversion path would share equal credit for the sale.

Time Decay attribution model

Using Time Decay attribution model, the touchpoints closest in time to the sale or conversion will get most of the credit. For example, we could imagine a sale where the Direct and Email channels would receive the most credit because the customer interacted with them within a few hours of conversion and the Social Network channel would receive less credit because that was interacted with a week earlier.

Position Based attribution model

Using Position Based attribution model, 40% credit is assigned to each of the first and last interactions, and the remaining 20% credit is distributed evenly to the middle interactions. In