Should You Use Google Ad’s New Data-Driven Attribution Model?

Dec 7, 2023

Google Ad's new attribution model called 'Data-Driven' has become the new default when setting up new Google Ad Conversions. Is it better than the last default 'Last Click' attribution model?  Should you be using it on your campaigns?

Regarding this new Data-Driven Attribution Model, Google states, "Before making a purchase or completing another valuable action on your website, people may click or interact with several of your ads. Typically, all credit for the conversion is given to the last ad customers interacted with. But was it really that ad that made them decide to choose your business?"

Essentially, the new Data-Driven Attribution Model is similar to other attribution models like Position-Based, where you get the bigger picture on your customer's journey.

It may seem like a huge change but for most campaigns, the difference between 'Last Click' and the new 'Data-Driven' attribution model will be negligible. This is because for some campaigns most conversions come from the first click, which also makes it the last click. Both attribution models would attribute the conversion the same way in this case.

It only starts to differ if your campaign has a lot of conversions coming from people searching multiple different keywords and clicking over to your site multiple times from different keywords before they convert.

So should you switch? If your campaigns are performing well, I probably wouldn't bother switching. Why fix what's not broken? It could have a negative effect on your campaign, or send your campaign back into learning mode causing unnecessary stress.

When starting off new campaigns, I'd say it doesn't hurt to try the new attribution model, especially if you're using auto or smart bidding strategies.

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