As many of you may already be familiar with, Last click attribution has been the default option for assigning credit for a conversion to the final click. However, AdWords has now expanded to include six different attribution models — last click, first click, linear, time decay, position-based, and data driven. These six reports give more insight about how users are interacting with your ads and lets you choose how much credit each click gets for your conversions. This in-turn allows you to pick an attribution model that works best for you and better optimize your bids based on your report findings.
These six reports can be found in the Tools tab in your AdWords account. Once there, select Attribution from the drop-down menu.
Benefits of Moving Beyond Last Click Attribution
As you can imagine, moving beyond the last click attribution model can provide several benefits when it comes to AdWords reporting and optimization.
First off, these new attribution model choices allow you to select an attribution model that works best for you and your business. Whether you want to give credit for the conversion to the last-clicked keyword (Last-click) or give more credit to a click that happened closer in time to the conversion (Time decay), will all depend on you and your overall goals for your AdWords account.
Secondly, moving beyond last click attribution also allows you to act on the various attribution models by bidding to your chosen model. This in turn gives you a better understanding of the value of your keywords through testing and re-examination of such things as early influencer keywords that may have been previously paused.
Finally, moving beyond last click attribution also allows you to custom tailor your strategy based on each customer journey. Since no two customer journeys are alike, there is a lot to examine and test within the conversion path. Now is the perfect time to move beyond last click attribution and better understand the various sales funnels that each customer takes along the customer journey.