Hey there, I'm Benjamin from Loves Data. In this video, I'm going to explain what attribution is
and outline the different attribution models you can use in Google Analytics. I will also show you
how you can find and apply the attribution models in your Google Analytics reports,
including Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and Universal Analytics. Okay, let's get started!
The attribution reports in Google Analytics help you understand how people engage with
your different marketing channels before they convert. And there are options that let
you control how each of those different marketing touch-points receives credit
after the conversion occurred. For example, if someone found your website by clicking on an ad,
and then returned to your website via an organic search result before converting... In this case,
which touch-point should receive the credit for the conversion? The ad? The organic search result?
Or both? The attribution reports help you to understand this path to conversion. And you
can apply and compare different attribution models in Google Analytics. So let's take a look at the
different standard attribution models... First is the last click model - as the name suggests
this model gives all of the credit to the final click or touch-point leading to a conversion.
Then we have the first click model. This is where all of the credit goes to the first touch-point.
It's important to understand that this will vary depending on the look-back window.
The look-back window controls how much historical data Google Analytics should consider when a
conversion occurs. So this will impact the results you see for the first click attribution model.
The other important thing to consider is the lead time for people converting on your website. If you
expect a longer lead time, then using this model probably isn't going to be very helpful. Next is
the linear attribution model. This is the first model we're looking at that makes use of multi
or mixed attribution - or in other words - where we split credit across multiple touch-points. The
linear model is simple - credit is evenly divided across all of the different touch-points used to
find your website that lead to the conversion. Next is time decay which gives more credit to the
final (or most recent) touch-point and then credit diminishes the further back in time we go. The
model uses a seven-day half-life which means that if we had a conversion today then that touchpoint
would receive credit and then the touchpoint seven days ago would receive half of the amount of
credit from today's touchpoint. Then there is the position-based model. This attribution model gives
40 percent credit to the first touch-point, 40 percent credit to the final (or last touch-point)
and the remaining 20 percent of the credit is divided evenly between the middle touch-points.
Next is 'Google Ads last click'. This is very similar to the last-click attribution model,
but if there is a touch-point from Google Ads in the conversion path then Google Ads will receive
full credit for the conversion. I also wanted to mention, there are a couple of differences
depending on the version of Google Analytics you're using. If you're using Universal Analytics,
then there are two last-click attribution models. One that is called 'Last Interaction'
and another called 'Last Non-Direct Interaction'. The 'Last Interaction' model will give credit to
direct traffic if it's the final touch-point. If you're using Google Analytics 4 (GA4),
then the last-click attribution model will ignore direct traffic for the final touch-point. Now that
we've covered the models, let's take a look at the attribution reports available in Google Analytics.
Let's start with Google Analytics 4 (GA4)... To find the attribution reports, we select
'Advertising' from the menu on the left... And let's open the 'Model Comparison' report...
The report lists our marketing channels on the left... And moving to the right we can see the
number of conversions and revenue for each channel. These metrics are reported twice...
The first set of metrics use the 'Last Click' attribution model...
And the second set of metrics use the 'Linear' attribution model...
So the report allows us to compare how credit is given to our marketing touch-points based on these
two different models. On the very right of the report, we can then see the difference between
the two models. So we can see the percentage increase and decrease when we compare them.
And we can also change the attribution models we are comparing in the report. To do this,
we can select a new model from the drop-down... So let's change 'Linear'... To 'Time Decay'...
To use the report we want to look for significant changes between the models. Changes that have
a positive percent mean that we're potentially under-valuing the marketing channel when we use
the last click model. And a negative percent tells us that we're potentially over-valuing a marketing
channel when we use the last click model. The next report is the 'Conversion Paths' report...
This report provides a visual representation of the marketing touch-points people
engage with before converting. I need to highlight, that the attribution reports in GA4
only include data from mid-June 2021, so you might need to wait until there is more
information collected before the reports become really useful. Now that we've looked
at the reports in GA4, let's take a look at the reports in Universal Analytics...
To find the attribution reports in Universal Analytics, we need to select 'Conversions'...
And then 'Multi-Channel Funnels'... We can now see a number of attribution reports,
including the 'Overview' report, 'Assisted Conversions', 'Top Conversion Paths', 'Time Lag',
'Path Length', and the 'Model Comparison Tool'. Let's open the 'Top Conversion Paths' report...
This report is similar to the 'Conversions Paths' report we saw in GA4. It provides a visual
representation of the different touch-points people use to find our website. At the top,
you can choose the conversion actions that are used for the report, along with the path length,
look-back window, and more. And if we open the 'Model Comparison Tool'...
This is similar to the 'Model Comparison' report in GA4. It lets us compare attribution
models to see the impact on the way we've given credit to our marketing channels.
If you're using this tool in Universal Analytics, then I recommend you start by
changing the first model to 'Last Non-Direct Click', so that it reflects what you see
in your standard reports. You can then select additional models to view the comparison...
And you will also see an option to create your own custom models in Universal Analytics. So
that's how you can use the attribution reports and the standard attribution models inside Google
Analytics. Remember there are some slight differences between the models you will find
in GA4 compared to Universal Analytics. And GA4 also lets you adjust the model used
for your standard reports, while Universal Analytics uses the last non-direct click model
for all of the standard reports. Are you using the attribution reports in Google Analytics?
I'd love to know! Let me know in the comments below! And if you found this video helpful,
then please like it, so I know to make more videos like this. See you in the next video!