Understanding which parts of your Google Ads campaigns are working is essential if you’re trying to scale your results.
Here’s where attribution comes in. It allows you to see the full picture of your visitors’ journey, and identify how users interact with your ads.
But how does Google Ads actually attribute conversions, especially in these times of privacy concerns and tracking limitations?
In this article, we cover the importance of conversion attribution, the different Google Ads attribution models, and how to fix the current attribution issue with underreported conversions.
Why is Google Ads Attribution so Important?
For most visitors who interact with your ads, the path to conversion is rarely straightforward. Between multiple touchpoints, delayed conversions, and several ad interactions, their journey isn’t always a simple click-and-convert case.
Because conversion journeys are quite complex, it can be difficult to accurately pinpoint which ads, ad groups, keywords, are driving results. Most marketers struggle with misattribution and incorrect data, making it challenging to properly optimize their campaigns and improve their ROI.
Before we cover tracking limitations, it’s important to first understand how Google attributes conversions and assigns credit to these different touchpoints.
Explaining the Different Google Ads Attribution Models
If you’ve been running Google Ads for a while, you probably remember that there were six conversion attribution models, namely data driven, last click, first click, position based, time decay, and linear attribution.
Out of these six models, only the first two are still valid as of September 2023. Google retired first click, position based, time decay, and linear attribution models due to their limited insights.
So, what’s the difference between the two remaining attribution models offered by Google?
- Data driven attribution: This is the default option recommended by Google. This attribution model leverages machine learning to analyze the data and assign conversion credit across various touchpoints, based on their individual impact. In order for these results to be accurate, you need to have a good amount of conversion data.
- Last click attribution: This is a much simpler model, and as the name suggests, it assigns conversions to the last ad a user clicked on before converting. You can use this model if your conversion funnel is short, with few touchpoints.
Both these models, but especially the first one, rely on accurate data tracking to provide useful results. Currently, there are some limitations to what you can track with Google Ads alone.
The Issue with Google Ads Attribution
With privacy regulations getting more strict, it’s becoming more and more difficult to properly track and attribute conversions.
Third-party cookies, which are used to track user actions across various sites, are being removed from leading browsers due to privacy concerns and new GDPR rules. Firefox and Safari have already implemented a default mode without third-party cookies, while Chrome is also slowly removing them. This makes it increasingly tricky to assign user actions to different touchpoints, and it prevents marketers from seeing the full picture of users’ journey to conversion.
To make matters worse, the biggest mobile operating system launched their update iOS 14 in 2020. This update allows users to opt out of tracking, significantly reducing the amount of collected data.
We explained that Google’s main attribution model relies heavily on data to attribute conversions correctly. This newly imposed data limitation means that you can’t currently measure how effective your ads are for Apple users or visitors on specific browsers.
As a result, the conversions you see on your Google Ads interface are most likely underreported. You are missing out on data, and chances are that you are optimizing your campaigns based on incorrect insights.
To counter this issue, marketers are looking for more efficient ways to understand the true results of their Google Ads campaigns. The good news is that Google has rolled out a Conversion API endpoint through which you can report conversions.
So, how does this work and what does it mean for you as an advertiser?
How to Solve Google Ads Attribution Problem with ClickFlare
The best approach to counter the attribution issue is to use a third-party tracking tool which accurately tracks conversion data, and connect it to Google Ads via API. This connection allows you to post conversion data from your tracker back to Google.
Our click tracker, ClickFlare, has a direct API integration with Google, using Google’s offline conversion upload. We gather conversions and upload them in batches every hour, which is a higher upload frequency than most trackers out there.
ClickFlare’s Google Conversion API integration, differently from other trackers, also works great with Google Ads MCC (manager) accounts.
In just a few easy steps, you’ll be able to connect the two platforms by simply adding your login details and giving ClickFlare permission to access your Google Ads accounts.
ClickFlare’s server-side tracking solution ensures that you capture all conversion data, despite the new updates and regulations. You also have full control over which data you post back to Google Ads.
Best Practices for Tracking Google Ads with a 3rd Party Tool
If you decide to use a third party tracking tool like ClickFlare to track your Google Ads campaigns, there are a few best practices you need to keep in mind.
First, Google doesn’t like redirected traffic (i.e., redirecting visitors through a third party tracker). Doing this could get you banned.
And that’s not all – Google is also very selective about the type of scripts that run in your landing pages. That means you can’t simply rely on the classic direct tracking script method either.
ClickFlare provides solutions for these issues that will prevent you from getting banned. When creating campaigns on ClickFlare, you can choose to only use direct tracking as the transition between ads to landing pages.
Another tip to keep in mind is that the lander tracking script should use a subdomain of your lander’s domain. ClickFlare will be able to track your campaigns by providing you with a tracking script you need to inject into your landing page.
Conclusion
Being able to precisely track and attribute Google Ads conversions is crucial when it comes to optimizing and scaling your campaigns. Due to recent privacy regulations, iOS updates, and cookie limitations, the conversions you see on Google Ads are most likely underreported.
Using a third-party tracker, such as ClickFlare, allows you to track all conversions with accuracy and post them back to Google Ads via API.
Need some help with tracking and attribution for Google Ads? Talk to one of our experts and get some personalized advice!
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