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Performance & Measurement
4 min read
Ad attribution is how you decide which ads and touchpoints get credit for a conversion. Because a customer often sees several ads across channels before buying, attribution is the set of rules — or models — that divides that credit, and it quietly shapes every decision about where to spend next.
Track the touchpoints. Each ad interaction on the path to a conversion is recorded.
Tie them to a conversion. Those touches are linked to the eventual sale or signup.
Apply a model. A rule decides how much credit each touch receives.
Feed it back. Credit informs which channels get more or less budget.
Last-click. All credit to the final touch before converting.
First-click. All credit to the first touch that started the journey.
Linear. Credit split evenly across every touch.
Data-driven. A model assigns credit based on real contribution.
It steers budget. Whatever gets credit tends to get funded.
It reveals assists. Good attribution shows channels that help but rarely close.
It grounds decisions. It replaces opinion about what works with evidence.
Privacy limits tracking. Cookie loss and consent gaps blur the path.
Cross-device gaps. Journeys that span devices are hard to stitch together.
Model bias. Last-click overcredits the finish and starves discovery.
Correlation is not cause. Credit is not the same as true incremental impact.
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