Consumer journeys are complex, and marketers need the tools to understand how different networks, campaigns and ads work together to create conversions as YouTube, Google Display Network and Discovery campaigns can all be a part of a user’s path to conversion. Attribution reports and our attribution models can help marketers uncover these insights.
You can view YouTube, Google Display Network and Discovery ad engagements in these reports by selecting Networks from the 'Dimension' drop-down menu.
Learn more about attribution reports.
Benefits
Attribution reports:
- Show how search, YouTube, Google Display Network and Discovery campaigns work together to drive conversions
- Allow you to view search clicks, YouTube clicks and video engagements, Display clicks, and Discovery clicks and engagements along the path to conversion
- Provide insights into campaign performance and showcase how credit is distributed across attribution models
- Inform your tCPA or budget setting by showing you which campaigns and networks assist conversions
Requirements
For cross-network paths to be visible, you must:
- Advertise on the Google Search Network, YouTube, Google Display Network or Discovery
Note: If you have different Google Ads accounts driving search, YouTube, Google Display Network and Discovery traffic to the same website with the same goals, be sure to use cross-account conversion tracking, which requires a manager account (MCC).
- Use Google Ads or Google Analytics 4 (GA4) conversion tracking
Note: Offline conversion tracking can't measure some YouTube engagements. These conversion types will show paths across Search and YouTube clicks only. Data-driven attribution support for Discovery campaigns is rolling out in the coming months.
Best practices for cross-account conversion tracking
For attribution reports to display cross-network activity, you must use Google Ads conversion tracking with visibility into Search Network, YouTube, Google Display Network and Discovery campaigns. If you use cross-account conversion tracking, make sure that search, YouTube, Google Display Network and Discovery campaigns across different accounts all track conversions at the manager account (MCC) level.
Use the account map feature in Google Ads to verify that your account is set up to accurately display cross-network reporting.
Here's how to check your cross-account conversion tracking setup:
- In your Google Ads account, click the tools icon
on the upper right.
- Under 'Setup', select Account map.
- In the navigation menu, click Conversion tracking parent to see which accounts inherit manager-level conversion tracking.
- If a tick mark icon doesn't appear next to an account, that account uses account-level conversion tracking, and any conversion and campaign data from those accounts won't be visible in the cross-network attribution reports. Consider setting up cross-account conversion tracking to ensure that you're capturing the full picture in the attribution reports.
What to expect
Like any update to your attribution models, you might see some changes to campaigns reporting when you move from a search-only attribution model to a cross-network (search, YouTube, Google Display Network and Discovery) attribution model:
- Fractional credit: Credit for a given conversion is distributed between contributing ad interactions, according to your selected attribution model. As a result, you'll see decimals in your "Conversions" and "All conv." columns for the first time for some campaign and network types when you switch to a non-last click model.
- Time lag: Google Ads reports conversions according to the date of the ad interaction. Since a non-last click attribution model shares conversion credit between multiple interactions, each of which happened at a different point in time, the time lag associated with your 'Campaigns' reporting may increase. As a result, you may see a temporary, slight dip in conversions for very recent days after changing your attribution model.
- Credit shifts: With any change to your attribution model, you could see conversion credit shifts across the various campaigns, networks, ad groups and keywords using that conversion action.
- Note: You can check the model comparison report to compare 2 attribution models side-by-side and review credit distribution between them (for example, 'last click' and 'data-driven').
How reporting varies
Here's how conversions are reported differently in the cross-network attribution reports vs. the "Campaigns" page:
| Attribution reports | 'Campaigns' page | |
|---|---|---|
| Time of event | Time of conversion | Time of the ad query preceding the click that led to a conversion. (Add 'by conv. time' columns to the 'Campaigns' page to match the reporting time in attribution reports.) |
| Network coverage |
Search Network, YouTube (including Google video partners), Google Display Network and Discover Note: Performance Max and Demand Gen campaigns will be labelled as 'Cross-Network'. |
Search Network (including Search partners), YouTube (including Google video partners), Google Display Network, Gmail, Google Maps, App and Discover |
| Campaign coverage |
Search, Shopping (including Smart Shopping), Video, Display (not including pay for conversions), and Demand Gen App campaigns aren't supported yet. |
Search, Shopping (including Smart Shopping), Video, Display, Demand Gen, App, Hotel |
| Video format coverage |
Ad sequence, Bumper, non-skippable in-stream, skippable in-stream |
Bumper, Masthead, non-skippable in-stream, outstream, skippable in-stream, in-feed video |
| Conversion coverage |
Google Ads conversion tracking*, Google Analytics goal and conversion import (including Android app conversions), offline conversion import, call conversions (click to call, call import, website call conversions) and app conversions *Note: Engaged-view conversions (EVCs) are supported in both Google Ads and Google Analytics 4 (GA4) properties, but conversions attributed to impressions (VTCs) are currently not supported in GA4. |
All sources in attribution reports, plus store visit conversions |
| History windows |
'Conversion windows' apply in the attribution reports in the same way they do for the 'Campaigns' page. In addition, you can use a 'lookback window' in the attribution reports to determine how far back in time from a conversion you want to include ad interactions for the data in the reports. For example, you may want to only consider ad interactions within 30 days of conversions (regardless of the conversion windows of those conversions). The 'model comparison' report also has a 'default' lookback window option. The 'default' option sets the lookback window for each conversion to its conversion window. |
A 'conversion window' is set for each conversion action within Tools > Measurement > Conversions. Any conversion without a preceding ad interaction within its conversion window is not counted in Google Ads. Learn more about conversion windows. |
