Attribution Window
What is attribution window? Meaning & examples
An attribution window (also called a conversion window or lookback window) is a defined period of time after an ad interaction when a platform is allowed to attribute conversions back to that touchpoint.
If the conversion event (purchase, lead, app install, trial start, etc.) happens inside that window, the ad can receive credit. If it happens outside, it won’t be counted for that ad in that platform’s reporting.
Quick example: You run a campaign on social media. A user clicks your ad on Monday. If your attribution window is seven days, and they buy on Sunday, that purchase can be credited to the click. If they buy the following Tuesday, it’s outside the window and won’t show up as a conversion for that campaign (even if the ad helped).
This is why attribution windows sit at the center of marketing analytics. They decide which marketing touchpoints qualify for credit, when conversions count, and how much credit each channel appears to generate.
How do attribution windows work in practice?
Attribution windows are basically timestamp rules inside an analytics system:
A user has a touchpoint (click, impression, video view, email click, etc.).
The platform records the time and a user identifier (cookie, device ID, login, hashed email, etc.).
Time passes. The user converts (or doesn’t).
The platform checks whether the conversion happened within the window.
If yes, the touchpoint can be eligible under your attribution models (last click, first click, linear, time-decay, data-driven, and so on). If no, it’s ignored for that ad.
A few details that matter in real reporting:
Click-through vs view-through: Most platforms track a click through window and (optionally) a view through window. Clicks tend to get longer windows because intent is higher. Impressions are easier to over-credit, so view windows are often shorter.
Multiple marketing touchpoints: In a real customer journey, users bounce between ads, search, email, and direct visits. The attribution window controls which of those customer interactions are even eligible to count.
Cross-device reality: People research on one device and convert on another. Some analytics tools can link multiple devices (logged-in users, modeled matching), some can’t. That alone can change what gets attributed, even with the same window.
Default attribution vs your settings: Many teams never touch default settings, then wonder why numbers don’t match across dashboards. Your attribution window settings and attribution settings are the first place to look.
Why attribution windows matter for marketing performance
Attribution windows don’t just change reporting. They influence decisions.
They reshape your KPIs
Change the attribution window length, and your reported conversions, CPA, and ROAS can shift—sometimes a lot. A longer window tends to capture more delayed conversions, which can make upper-funnel channels look stronger. A short attribution window tends to reward fast-converting channels.
That’s not “good” or “bad.” It’s measurement behavior. The problem is treating it like truth without context.
They affect budget allocation and campaign effectiveness
Most teams move money based on what the dashboard says. If one channel uses a longer window (or includes view-through) while another uses short windows (or click-only), you’re not comparing performance fairly. That leads to bad budget allocation, and eventually weak campaign effectiveness across the account.
They influence campaign optimization
Platforms optimize toward what they can measure. If your window is too short for your buying cycle, you may undercount conversions that were actually driven by your marketing efforts, starving the algorithm of the signal it needs for campaign optimization. If it’s too long, you can end up training the system to chase cheap touches that correlate with conversions but didn’t truly cause them.
They’re essential for proper attribution in multi-channel journeys
If a customer sees your video ad, later searches, then finally buys after an email reminder, the window determines which interactions are eligible, and the attribution models decide how credit is split (or who gets full credit). Get the window wrong and you’ll misread the journey.
Common types and lengths of attribution windows
An attribution window defines the period of time during which an ad interaction can be connected to a conversion event. In practice, different attribution windows exist because not all customer interactions carry the same intent, and not all marketing campaigns influence users in the same way.
Understanding the types of attribution windows available—and when to use each one—is essential for proper attribution and accurate measurement across channels.
Click-through attribution windows
A click through attribution window starts when a user clicks an ad. If a purchase, signup, or other conversion happens within that window, the click can receive credit.
This is the most commonly trusted setup because a click signals active intent. The user didn’t just scroll past an ad; they chose to engage.
Where click-based windows work best
Google Ads search campaigns
Retargeting and bottom-of-funnel campaigns
Email and lifecycle marketing
High-intent landing pages
Typical attribution window length
1–3 days for branded search or urgent offers
Seven days for most ecommerce and lead generation
14–30 days for higher-consideration products
Click-based models are especially useful for campaign optimization, because they produce cleaner data for platforms that need fast feedback loops.
However, extending click windows too far—especially on branded traffic—can distort how much credit ads receive and inflate performance that would have happened organically.
View-through attribution windows
A view through attribution window begins when a customer sees an ad impression but does not click. If the user later converts within the window, that impression may be credited.
This setup is most common in social media, display, and awareness-focused campaigns, where exposure—not immediate action—is the goal.
Where view-through windows help
Prospecting on paid social
Display and reach-focused campaigns
Brand awareness initiatives
Where they break down
Impressions are easy to generate. Without tight limits, view-through attribution can claim credit for conversions that were only loosely related to the ad—or not influenced at all.
That’s why experienced advertisers:
Use short windows (often 1 day)
Treat view-through data as directional
Rarely use it as the primary source for budget decisions
Used carefully, view-through attribution provides valuable insights into awareness. Used carelessly, it undermines accurate measurement.
Engaged view attribution
Engaged view attribution is a more refined version of view-through attribution, commonly used for video ads. Instead of crediting every impression, the window only starts after meaningful engagement—such as watching a minimum duration of the video.
This helps filter out accidental exposure and reward real attention.
Why engaged views matter
A user who watches a video for several seconds demonstrates different user behavior than someone who scrolls past instantly. That difference matters when assigning credit.
Typical window length
Often 24 hours
Occasionally extended for upper-funnel campaigns
Engaged view attribution works best when combined with short windows and analyzed alongside click data, not in isolation.
App install and post-install attribution windows
In mobile marketing, attribution is often split across multiple conversion windows:
A short window for the app install
Longer windows for post-install actions like purchases or subscriptions
This reflects real behavior. Installing an app is often an immediate decision, while monetization takes time—especially for subscription services.
Common setups include:
7-day click / 24-hour view for installs
30–90 day windows for in-app purchases or subscription starts
Separating these windows allows marketers to attribute conversions more realistically without overstating early-touch influence.
Short windows vs longer windows: what changes in practice?
A short attribution window (1–7 days)
Prioritizes immediate intent
Reduces over-attribution
Can undervalue awareness and education
A longer window (28–90+ days)
Captures delayed decisions
Reflects complex customer journeys
Increases the risk of crediting correlation, not causation
Neither approach is inherently better. The mistake is using the same window for every channel, campaign, and question.
| Attribution window type | Common window length | Best use case | Primary risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Click-through | 1–30 days | Search, retargeting, high-intent campaigns | Over-crediting bottom-funnel traffic |
| View-through | 1–7 days | Awareness, display, social media | Inflated conversions from impressions |
| Engaged view attribution | 24 hours–3 days | Video ads with real engagement | Limited visibility into long-term impact |
| App install | 7 days | Mobile acquisition | Misses delayed installs |
| Post-install conversion | 30–90+ days | Subscriptions, in-app purchases | Blurred causality without testing |
How to choose the right attribution window length
The right attribution window is not universal. It depends on how your customers behave, how your campaigns are structured, and how you plan to use the data.
Here’s a practical framework marketers can actually apply.
1. Use real conversion timing data
Start with evidence, not assumptions.
Pull time-to-conversion reports from google analytics, your CRM, or other analytics tools. Look at:
Time between first touch and conversion
Time between last click and conversion
Distribution, not just averages
If most conversions happen within seven days, a 30-day window may exaggerate results. If conversions continue well past day 14, a short window will undercount real impact.
This is the foundation of choosing the right attribution window length.
2. Align the window with decision complexity
Different products require different windows:
Impulse purchases → short windows
Mid-priced ecommerce → moderate windows
B2B, high-AOV, or subscription services → longer windows
The more research, trust, or internal approval involved, the longer your lookback window needs to be to reflect reality.
3. Separate optimization from evaluation
This is where many teams go wrong.
Use short windows for day-to-day optimization and bidding
Use longer windows to evaluate channel contribution and strategy
Trying to answer both questions with one window usually leads to bad trade-offs and noisy data.
4. Match the window to the campaign’s objective
The same channel can need different windows for different campaigns.
Ask:
Is this campaign meant to drive immediate action?
Or is it introducing the brand and shaping future demand?
The campaign’s objective should guide the window—not the platform’s default attribution.
5. Pressure-test longer windows
Long windows can hide weak incrementality. If you rely on longer windows:
Run holdout tests or geo experiments
Monitor what happens when spend pauses
Compare lift, not just attributed volume
This is how attribution windows help you move from reporting to insight.
6. Document and standardize attribution window settings
Once you choose your attribution window settings:
Apply them consistently across reports
Document them for stakeholders
Avoid frequent changes unless the business model changes
Consistency enables trend analysis and helps marketers understand performance without constant re-interpretation.
Platform-specific attribution windows and discrepancies
Even with clean tracking and a well-implemented analytics system, you should expect conversion numbers to differ across platforms. In most cases, the issue isn’t broken data—it’s different attribution windows, attribution settings, and reporting rules applied by each tool.
Every platform is trying to answer the same question—which marketing touchpoints deserve credit for a conversion?—but they define the answer differently.
Google Ads vs Google Analytics vs ad platforms
Each platform applies its own logic for how long an interaction can influence a conversion event, and how much credit it can receive.
Google Ads attributes conversions based on the conversion action’s attribution window and selected attribution model (for example, last click or data-driven). If a user clicks an ad and converts within the configured conversion window, that interaction can receive credit—sometimes even full credit, depending on the model.
Google Analytics often applies stricter rules. It may use event-based or session-based logic, stronger deduplication, and different cross-channel definitions of the customer journey. Even with the same window length, GA can report fewer conversions because it prioritizes a more conservative view of customer interactions.
Paid social media platforms frequently include view-through attribution by default or by configuration. That means if a customer sees an ad impression—especially common with video ads—and later converts, the platform may attribute the conversion even without a click. Analytics tools that rely on click based models won’t count that same conversion.
Example: A user sees a social ad on Monday, clicks a search ad on Friday, and makes a purchase on Sunday. One platform may attribute the conversion to the impression, another to the click, and a third may split or ignore one of those touches entirely—depending on its lookback window, attribution models, and default attribution rules.
This is why the same marketing campaign can look wildly different across dashboards.
Why numbers don’t match—and what to check first
When conversion counts differ, start with these common causes:
Attribution window length: one platform may use seven days, another a longer window
Click vs impression logic: click-only vs impression-based attribution
Identity matching: cookies, logged-in users, or modeled matching across devices
Deduplication: whether the same conversion is counted once or multiple times
These differences don’t mean your data is wrong. They mean each platform is applying a different version of attribution.
A practical way to manage attribution discrepancies
To keep teams aligned—and to make informed decisions—you need structure, not endless reconciliation.
Define a source of truth. Choose one system (often your warehouse or primary analytics platform) as the official view of performance for the business. This ensures consistency when evaluating marketing efforts across channels.
Use platform data for optimization, not validation. Let Google Ads, paid social, and other platforms guide in-platform decisions like bidding and creative testing. Use your core analytics setup for cross-channel reporting.
Document attribution clearly. Maintain a simple internal reference that lists:
Your default settings
Chosen attribution window and conversion window by platform
Which types of attribution and models are in use
What qualifies as a conversion in each tool
This documentation helps marketers understand why numbers differ and prevents confusion when reviewing performance across different campaigns.
Attribution windows & Related topics
Attribution windows connect directly to how you measure, test, and improve performance across channels and on-site.
Ecommerce Attribution: Sets the rules for how orders are credited across channels and touchpoints, heavily shaped by attribution windows.
Customer Journey Analytics: Helps you map and analyze the full customer journey so your window reflects real behavior, not guesses.
Traffic Source: Attribution windows influence which traffic source gets credit, especially when users return later through direct or branded search.
Incrementality Test: Validates whether attributed conversions were truly caused by ads, which becomes critical as windows get longer.
Conversion Funnel: Window choices affect which funnel stages appear to “drive” conversions, especially when multiple touchpoints happen days apart.
Cohort Analysis: Lets you evaluate customers acquired under different windows and see whether reported gains translate into real downstream value.
Key takeaways
An attribution window is a defined period after a click, impression, or engaged view when a conversion can be credited.
The attribution window length changes reported CPA/ROAS and can shift how channels rank in performance.
Use time-to-conversion data from your analytics tools to choose the right attribution window for your business.
Platform differences (click vs view, default settings, identity matching) are a major reason conversion numbers don’t match.
Treat windows as measurement choices—not facts—and pair them with incrementality where possible.
FAQs about Attribution Window
Yes—when the intent and decision speed are meaningfully different. A retargeting campaign often benefits from short windows, while prospecting or video needs longer to reflect delayed impact. The key is not mixing apples and oranges when comparing performance across different campaigns.