What is Attribution Model?

The mathematical rule or framework that determines how credit for sales and conversions is assigned to different touchpoints in user conversion paths.

A user clicks a Facebook Ad on Monday. They click a Google Search Ad on Wednesday. They type your URL directly into their browser on Friday and finally buy your product. Who gets the credit for the sale?

Last Click: In this model, "Direct" gets 100% of the credit because it was the last thing the user did. (GA4 actually uses 'Data-Driven' out of the box, but 'Last Click' is how Universal Analytics historically handled things).
Data-Driven: The default in GA4, this uses machine learning to dynamically assign fractional credit to Facebook and Google Ads based on their estimated impact on the final sale.

Understanding your attribution model is critical; changing it in the admin settings will literally rewrite the past metrics in your traffic reports.

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Related Terms

Data-Driven Attribution

An algorithmic attribution model that uses machine learning to evaluate both converting and non-converting paths to assign fractional credit to marketing touchpoints.

Key Event

The new GA4 terminology (formerly 'Conversions') used to designate the most important user actions that drive business success.

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