Ad glossary · Tracking and data · Checked 2026-10-23
What is attribution: how Meta and GA4 each claim the same order
Attribution is the set of rules that assigns credit for a conversion, such as a purchase, to the ads, clicks and channels a person touched before it.
- English
- Attribution
- Area
- Tracking and data
How it is used
Each tool claims conversions by its own rules: Meta uses its attribution setting (by default 7-day click, 1-day view and 1-day engaged-view), GA4 uses its own models (data-driven, last click) and gives no credit to direct visits. Meta, GA4 and your store will never agree exactly; what matters is whether the gap is stable.
| Type | Window | What counts |
|---|---|---|
| Click-through | 1 or 7 days after a click | Conversions after a link click on the ad |
| View-through | 1 day after an impression | Conversions by people who saw the ad and did not click |
| Engaged-view | 1 day after an engagement | Conversions after a non-link click (likes, comments) or a 5-second video play (97% of a shorter video) |
Meta’s attribution setting
Under standard attribution, an ad set can count 1 or 7 days after a click, 1 day after a view and 1 day after an engagement. The default for results is 7-day click, 1-day view and 1-day engaged-view.
“Engaged” means non-link clicks such as likes and comments, and video plays of 5 seconds (97% of a shorter video); the change is still rolling out. A separate incremental attribution mode models whether the ad caused the conversion, and cannot be compared with standard attribution.
Attribution is not incrementality
Attribution answers “whose order is this” and never asks whether it would have happened without the ad. Retargeting and brand-name ads are where attribution looks best and lift is smallest. To know what ads really add, run a test with a control group.
Example
Someone clicks an ad on Monday without buying and types the URL to buy on Friday. Inside its 7-day click window Meta credits the ad. GA4’s models give no credit to direct visits unless the whole path is direct, so if GA4 recorded Monday’s click with its UTMs, it credits Meta too; if it never saw that click (no UTMs, blocked by consent), the order shows up in GA4 as direct.
Not to be confused with
Incrementality: attribution shares out credit; incrementality asks whether the sale would have happened without the ad.
FAQ
What is Meta’s default attribution setting?
Meta says results default to 7-day click, 1-day view and 1-day engaged-view. It can be changed at ad set level, for example to 1-day click.
Why does Meta report more purchases than my store?
Usually the same order is claimed by more than one channel, view-through attribution counts people who never clicked, or pixel and Conversions API events are counted twice for lack of deduplication. Check deduplication first, then the attribution setting.
Where the course puts it to work
- Intermediate, chapter 6: Reading ad data: the four formulas behind the report
- Intermediate, chapter 7: Reading GA4: traffic, the shopping funnel and three-way reconciliation
- Advanced, chapter 10: Incrementality: how much the ads really added
Official sources
We read each page below on 2026-10-23 and built the definition from it.
- About Attribution Models and Attribution Settings · Checked 2026-10-23
- Results · Checked 2026-10-23
- Get started with attribution · Checked 2026-10-23
- Handling Duplicate Pixel and Conversions API Events · Checked 2026-10-23