Why use data-driven attribution? And which Google product to use?

Understanding what marketing channels contribute to customer conversions and then assigning credit to each appropriately is crucial to any digital marketing strategy.

Google’s products have a range of attribution models and each varies greatly with the level of customisation and how much of a whole picture they present to you. Different models let you allocate how much credit each action gets for your conversions; depending on the model chosen, the credit is given out in different ways.In this blog, we review each Google product that has DDA available.

What data driven attribution models are available?

• Last click: full credit is given to the last clicked ad and relevant keyword
• Last non-direct click: full credit is given to the last non direct click (this is only available in GA and is the default attribution model)
• First click: full credit is given to the first clicked ad and relevant keyword
• Linear: credit is equally distributed across all clicks (organic and paid) in the customer journey
• Time decay: more credit is given to clicks that happened closer to time of conversion
• Position based: the first and last clicked ads are both given 40% credit, and the remaining 20% is split equally across all other clicks
• Custom model: you are able to build a completely bespoke model based on any of the predefined models available
• Data-driven attribution: credit is distributed based on past data for this conversion.

Search Ads 360

SA360’s data-driven attribution model can encompass display clicks, paid clicks, paid social clicks and natural search clicks. To use DDAM in Search Ads 360, you’ll need:

15,000 clicks and 600 Floodlight conversions in the last 30 days.

The initial learning period takes 24 hours, so ideally data-driven attribution would be set up at least 24 hours before you want to use it.

To set up data-driven attribution in Search Ads 360: Create Channel Groupings (e.g. generic keywords, brand keywords) > Select which Floodlight activities you want to be analysed in the DDAM > Apply Channel Groupings > Create columns in the interface.

Things to consider:

• SA360 ignores search and display impressions, so the DDAM only considers clicks that lead to conversions
• You need to be set up on Campaign Manager and a common set of Floodlight activities to track display clicks
• You need to use Search Ads 360 Natural Search reporting and have Equal attribution option chosen to track natural search clicks
• Offline conversions can be used to generate a model if the click ID for conversions is less than 30 days old.

Google Analytics

There are seven attribution models to choose from in the free version of Google Analytics, but you will need to be an Analytics 360 customer to access data-driven attribution modelling.

Google Analytics 360

Unlike Google Ads and Search Ads 360, Analytics 360 has a holistic overview of user actions from all digital marketing activity. So, creating a data-driven attribution model in GA360 can provide in-depth insight to how each channel contributes towards conversions.

Data-driven attribution models (DDAM) are only available in GA360 if you meet the following initial requirements:

• Google Analytics 360 customer
• Have either Ecommerce Tracking or Goals set up
• Have a Google Ads account with at least 15,000 clicks on Google Search and a conversion action with at least 600 conversions in the last 30 days.

You also need to meet the ongoing requirement of 400 conversions per conversion type, with a path length of 2+ interactions, and 10,000 paths in the selected reporting view, over a 28 day period. DDAM in Analytics 360 provides a rounded view of how each channel contributes to conversions. The insights can be used to inform your budget strategy, highlighting how investing in particular channels may provide a higher ROI.