[GA4] Get started with attribution (2025)

Overview

Customers may do several searches and click several of your ads before making a purchase or completing another important action on your website or app. Typically, all credit for the important action, called a key event, is given to the last ad customers clicked. But was it solely that ad that made them decide to interact with a key event on the path to a key event? What about the other ads they clicked on before it?

Attribution is the act of assigning credit for important user actions to different ads, clicks, and factors along the user's path to completing the action.

An attribution model can be a rule, a set of rules, or a data-driven algorithm that determines how credit is assigned to touchpoints along a user's path to completing important actions.

There are 3 attribution models available in the Attribution reports in Google Analytics 4 properties:

• Data-driven attribution
• Paid and organic last click
• Google paid channels last click

Access the Attribution reports

To access the Attribution reports:

1. In Google Analytics, click Advertising on the left.
2. Under Attribution, click Attribution models or Attribution paths.

Data-driven attribution

Data-driven: Data-driven attribution distributes credit for the key event based on data for each key event. It's different from the other models because it uses your account's data to calculate the actual contribution of each click interaction.

Each Data-driven model is specific to each advertiser and each key event.

How data-driven attribution works

Attribution uses machine learning algorithms to evaluate both converting and non-converting paths. The resulting Data-driven model learns how different touchpoints impact key event outcomes. The model incorporates factors such as time from key event, device type, number of ad interactions, the order of ad exposure, and the type of creative assets. Using a counterfactual approach, the model contrasts what happened with what could have occurred to determine which touchpoints are most likely to drive key events. The model attributes credit to these touchpoints based on this likelihood.

Paid and organic last click

Paid and organic last click: Ignores direct traffic and attributes 100% of the key event value to the last channel that the customer clicked through (or engaged view through for YouTube) before converting. See examples below of how key event value is allocated:

Google paid channels last click

Google paid channels last click: Attributes 100% of the key event value to the last Google Ads channel that the customer clicked through before converting. If there is no Google Ads click in the path, as in Example 6, the attribution model falls back to Paid and organic last click.

Select attribution settings