6 Google Ads Attribution Models – Which One Is Best For Your Business?

Attribution models isn′t something people talk about all the time.

You might log in to Google Ads every day and take a look at keywords, audiences, or ad copy, for example.

But it′s not every day that you think about attribution.

In most cases, it′s a “set it and forget it” thing. However, the day has come!

The day you got confused about which models to use in your Google Ads campaigns.

Well, I′m going to make it clear for you in this article.

In a few minutes, you′ll discover the different types of attribution models and which one(s) will bring the best results for your business.

Are you ready to go?

Google Ads Attribution Models

As the title implies, so far, there are 6 types of attribution models to choose from.

These models attribute different percentages or values to the various stages of the customer journey.

As you′ll discover later on, choosing the right one comes down to understanding your prospect′s customer journey.

Personally, there′s only one or two I use frequently, first-click, or data-driven.

So, let′s break down each of them, in order of appearance on Google.

Data-Driven

The name data-driven doesn′t give you much insight into how it actually works.

Basically, it uses machine learning to determine the best values of attribution, taking into consideration your account data.

Last Click

As the name suggests, this attribution model gives most of the conversion credit to the last click or ad interaction.

First Click

Similar to the model mentioned above but in the opposite way, first click attribution assigns most of the conversion credit to the first clicked ad.

Linear

This attribution model distributes the credit for the conversion equally across all clicks throughout the customer journey.

Time Decay

For this one, Google gives most of the credit to clicks that have happened closer to the conversion. Think of it as a staircase.

Position Based

This model gives 40% of the conversion credit to both the first and last click, and distributes 20% among other clicks that happened in between.

For most businesses advertising on Google, with small to medium budgets, first-click is the attribution model of choice.

Choosing The Right Attribution Model

As I mentioned earlier, choosing the best Google Ads attribution models, comes down to business type and customer journey.

Choosing the right model isn′t something you should take lightly!

This is where advertising strategy and business goals meet. You need to think about these models before getting serious about spending money on ads.

That being said, let′s take a lot at some examples.

Scenario 1 – The General Approach

For most businesses advertising on Google, with small to medium budgets, first-click is the attribution model of choice.

That is the case because it allows you to better understand the effectiveness of the first interactions with your advertisements.

If you′re on a limited budget, you′ll use more direct response ads.

Therefore, you′ll have the tendency to focus more on that first ad interaction.

Scenario 2 – Large Budget & Tons of Data

If your Google Ads account is cranking a fair amount of ad spend, meaning you have at least 15,000 ad interactions and 600 conversions within 30 days, then you can use this model.

However, and Google clearly states this, if your ad interactions drop to 10,000 or below 400 conversions while using data-driven attribution, you won′t be able to continue using it.

So, make sure you have... (continue reading here)