Data-driven attribution is all the rage these days. If you’re running a Google Ads campaign, you’ve probably heard of it.
But what is it exactly, and what’s so great about it?
Here’s the short answer. Unlike other attribution models, data-driven attribution gives credit for conversions based on how real people actually interact with your ads.
In other words, it’s the best model for giving you true insights into what’s making your customers click, and what isn’t.
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What Makes Data-Driven Attribution Different?
There are several attribution models you can select from in Google Ads.
Many of them, like first-click or last-click, assign all of the conversion value to one ad in your campaign, simply based on whether it was the first or last thing a customer clicked. The problem with this model is that one ad gets all the credit, despite the impact others have on getting your customers to finally convert.
Other attribution models, like linear or time-decay, arbitrarily assign conversion value by spreading it out among various ads in a campaign, either equally or by assigning more weight towards the end. These models aim to address the obvious issues with the first-click and last-click models, but still kind of miss the point.
The Google Ads data-driven attribution model, on the other hand, uses actual customer data to give credit for conversions.
How can it possibly do this? Through the power of machine learning. Let’s break down what that means.
Google’s data-driven attribution model is specific to each advertiser’s account. The model learns based on your account’s conversion data, taking note as people click or interact with different ads in your campaign. Eventually, some of those people will convert. Google then compares the engagement journeys and conversion data of the people who clicked against those who didn’t.
Over time, it may become clear that customers who ultimately convert tend to interact with some of the same ads. This information allows Google to give more credit to those interactions vs. others. As an advertiser, that means you can really see which ads in your campaign are driving conversions. Thanks, data-driven attribution!
Benefits of Google’s Data-Driven Attribution Model
Clearly, the largest benefit of the data-driven attribution model is having more accurate insights into your ads. At last, you can finally see which ads, ad groups, keywords, and campaigns are driving conversions. You can also see which ones aren’t. With this information on hand, you can clean up your ads account to be more effective, boosting your ROI and reducing wasted spend.
But that’s not the only benefit of using Google’s data-driven attribution for your Google Ad campaigns.
Google’s data-driven attribution includes YouTube in its attribution, giving you a holistic view of how your digital advertising strategy is performing across Google’s properties. If you’re running video ads, data-driven attribution can help you see the incremental lift you get from searches and conversions on Google and YouTube, as well as brand awareness and consideration.
This data is powerful. fuboTV found that for every conversion on YouTube, it helped two more conversions happen on Google Search.
You can also use an automated bidding strategy with data-driven attribution to squeeze out even more conversions for your campaigns. Google Ads Smart Bidding strategies will use the conversion data and data-driven attribution to optimize your campaigns for more conversions.
How to Set Up Data-Driven Attribution
To change your existing attribution model, sign in to your Google Ads account.
- Then click Tools > Conversions.
- Click “Edit settings” by the conversion action you want to change.
- Click Attribution model > Data-driven attribution.
- Click Done and Save!
Note: To opt in to data-driven attribution, your Google Ads account must meet certain requirements. To be eligible, each conversion action in your account must have at least 3,000 interactions and at least 300 conversions within the last 30 days.
Putting Data-Driven Attribution to Work for Your Ad Campaigns
Is it time for you to switch to data-driven attribution? Contact Your Marketing People.
Our paid search experts can help you get the most out of your campaigns. From data-driven attribution to automated bidding strategies, we know all the tricks to boost your ROI and lower your cost per click.
