Improve your ad campaigns with attribution modelling BUY

What is attribution modelling? The path to an online sale is often complex, with customers performing multiple searches and interacting with different ads along the way. However, the default option in AdWords is to give all credit for a conversion to the final ad click, which often doesn’t tell the full story. Attribution models let you assign credit to each stage of your purchase path; helping you to optimize your campaign performance and better understand your customer journey.

Restaurant Take the example of a restaurant owner in a tourist town, who hangs a new sign outside their business. While the sign is the last thing new customers see before entering, it doesn’t deserve all of the credit for their business. In reality, most are likely there because they read a review online, or searched for restaurants in the area.

Which attribution model is right for you? Every business has different advertising goals. Consider these three examples:

Flower shop

A new hotel chain with a large advertising budget, that wants to increase brand awareness across Europe.

An online retailer with an average budget, looking to drive click-throughs to start building remarketing lists.

A small local florist with a low budget, that wants to target their location on events like Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day.

The hotel chain is going to cast a wide net and drive as many impressions as possible, while the florist is more likely to push for immediate conversions. They’ll be running two distinct campaigns, and will need to measure results differently.

Take the time to figure out if an attribution model better reflects your online strategy: Model

Description

Growth strategy

Why use it?

Last-click (Default)

Gives all credit for the conversion to the last-clicked keyword

Most conservative

Last-click works well for businesses with a limited budget, who need to identify the keywords that drive conversions.

First click

Give all credit for the conversion to the first-clicked keyword

Most growth-oriented

First-click is for those with a larger budget that need to drive new leads towards their website.

Linear

Distributes the credit for the conversion equally across all clicks on the path

Moderate

Linear is good for experimentation, giving you a better idea of how each stage is contributing.

Time decay

Gives more credit to clicks that happened closer in time to the conversion

Conservative

Time decay is a good option for businesses with a long sales funnel, helping to highlight the ads that drive action.

Positionbased

Gives 40% of credit to both the first- and last clicked keyword, with the remaining 20% spread out across the other clicks on the path

Growth-oriented

Position-based is a good way to measure end-to-end performance, while still placing higher importance on the first and last clicks.

Data-driven

Gives credit to clicked keywords based on how imperative they were in the conversion process

Based on account’s performance

Data-driven uses advanced algorithms to measure the data in your account and identify the most influential stages. This option is only available to those that have enough data in their account to qualify.

Remember, attribution models are only available on Search network and Shopping ads, and are not accessible on the Display network. They’re also not capable of tracking app, phone-call or in-store conversions.

How can they help? Attribution models help you invest your resources in the right places at critical points in the buying journey. So, how can they be used to help your business? ● ● ●

Improve your bids based on a better understanding of how your ads are performing Reach customers earlier in the purchase cycle Choose a model that reflects your business, and how people search for the products you offer

There are two big advantages to using an attribution model in your campaigns: Greater keyword understanding By changing how you define keyword success, you’ll be able to see the hidden value in keywords that seemed to be underperforming. As you experiment with keywords that seemed too broad in the past, you may find that they work very well at starting a conversation, just not at finishing it.

Improve landing page experience After honing in on the true value of a keyword, you can begin to optimize your landing pages to support their place in the sales journey.

For example, someone searching for “hotels Tuscany” may still be in the research stage and looking for more information. By using attribution models, you can identify these ‘conversation starters’ and link them to a landing page that gives extra information, instead of to a page optimized for bookings. If you see a model that fits with your online strategy, then follow our Help Centre guides on how to setup and measure your campaigns.

Resources About attribution models Beyond Last-Click Attribution: Google Best Practices Act on attribution