Google Analytics and DoubleClick use different attribution models.
When working with DoubleClick data in Analytics 360, keep in mind that sessions, goal completions,
and transactions can differ depending on which attribution model is being used.
In most Google Analytics reports, the GA Model is used for attribution.
The GA attribution model is also known as “last non-direct click”.
This means that your DoubleClick data will appear in these reports only when a DoubleClick
ad was the last click before landing on your website.
The “non-direct” qualifier simply means that if a user next returns directly to your
site by typing in the URL, that session will also be attributed to your DoubleClick ad
rather than being overwritten with “Source: Direct.”
The GA model also means that a session cannot be attributed to a DoubleClick impression
in these reports.
Note that the DoubleClick Search reports use the GA Model only.
In this example of the Source / Medium report, notice that 52 sessions and 1 ecommerce transaction
with the value of $192.71 were attributed to “dfa / cpm”.
“dfa / cpm” is the default source medium value for DCM traffic.
The other default source / medium values for DoubleClick traffic are "dbm / cpm" for DoubleClick
Bid Manager, and for DoubleClick Search, the source will be the DS Engine Type value that
is set in DS, and the medium will be cpc.
You can override the default values with UTM tags and a configuration setting change
in Analytics.
To learn more about the DCM/DBM auto-tagging override feature, check out the help center link
at the end of this lesson.
If your organization has integrated both DoubleClick Campaign Manager and DoubleClick Bid Manager,
sessions in this report that are processed by both systems will be classified only as
“dbm / cpm”.
Also note that in general, when using Floodlight data outside of DCM and DBM reports, the GA
Model is used.
For example, let’s look at the All Campaigns report which is under “Campaigns” and
outside of the DCM report section.
Floodlight activity is imported into Anaytics 360, and can be viewed under the “Floodlight”
metric group.
Notice that 310 DCM conversions are attributed to the AdWords “accessories” campaign.
This is a sum of all Floodlight activities that are attributed to this AdWords campaign
using the GA model.
Under Acquisition, in the DCM and DBM reports, the DCM Model of attribution is used.
This means that a session will be attributed to DoubleClick if a DoubleClick impression
or click preceded it at any time during the lookback window.
The lookback window is 30 days by default, and can be modified in your DCM account.
If both a click and an impression exist in the lookback window, the session will be attributed
to the click only.
Let’s look at a DCM report as an example.
Under Acquisition, click DoubleClick Campaign Manager, then Advertisers.
We’ll look at the month of April 2017.
We can see that for 1,613 sessions, our site’s users had seen one of our DCM ads in the 30 days
before the session occurred (assuming the lookback window is set to 30 days).
These sessions resulted in almost $33,000 in revenue.
We can also see that click-through sessions were similar with 1,781 but led to nearly
twice as much revenue, around $64,000.
Under Conversions, you’ll see DCM, DBM and DS activity in the Multi-Channel Funnels and
Attribution reports.
In addition to clicks, you’ll see how many conversions are assisted by DoubleClick impressions
as well as exactly where DoubleClick ad impressions and clicks fall in the conversion path.
In this Top Conversion Paths report, display ad impressions--also referred to as “view-
through ”--are indicated by the eye icon.
Clicks on your display ads do not have the eye icon.
What’s important to remember here is that we are no longer looking at sessions--we’re
looking at conversions instead.
The Multi-Channel Funnels reports include user interactions that are part of a conversion
path.
With the DoubleClick integration in place, those conversion paths include not just your
Analytics conversions--ecommerce and goals--but also your DoubleClick Floodlight conversions.
You can choose exactly which conversions--Ecommerce, Goals or Floodlight--to include using the
drop-down menu at the top of every Multi-Channel Funnels report.
In addition, you’ll see an Interaction Type drop-down menu which will include Impressions.
Selecting just Impressions in this drop-down will show you only the conversions that were
assisted by an ad impression.
In the Multi-Channel Funnels reports, the lookback window refers to the time period
before conversion.
The lookback window defaults to 30 days, but you can set it to any value from 1 to 90 days.
In these reports, all user interactions from the lookback window are included.
Unlike in the DCM and DBM reports, in MCF reports if both a click and an impression
happen prior to the conversion, both will be included in a conversion path.
To further explore these reports, check out the links at the end of this lesson.
To summarize, most reports in Google Analytics use the GA Model, where sessions and conversions
are attributed according to last non-direct click.
The DoubleClick Search reports also use the GA Model.
The DCM and DBM reports use the DCM Model, where sessions and conversions are attributed
to DoubleClick clicks and impressions that occurred within a lookback period.
In the MCF and Attribution sections under Conversions, all user interactions from the
lookback window are included.
Understanding how sessions and conversions are attributed will help you more effectively
interpret the DoubleClick data you view in Analytics 360.