What is attribution in GA4?

Attribution is how Google Analytics decides which source gets the credit for a signup or a sale, when the person visited several times from different places before converting. GA4 uses data-driven attribution by default for key events, and you can switch to last click.

An exampleCopy Anchor Link

Someone finds your blog on Google, comes back from your newsletter a week later, and finally types your address and buys. Which source "made" the sale?

• Last click gives it all to the last non-direct source: the newsletter.
• Data-driven shares it between Google and the newsletter, based on patterns GA4 sees across your conversions.

Which models GA4 hasCopy Anchor Link

Admin → Data display → Attribution settings:

• Data-driven (the default): credit is shared using your own data.
• Paid and organic last click: all credit to the last non-direct click.
• Google paid channels last click: for Google Ads users.

Older models like first click and linear were removed in 2023.

Which reports use itCopy Anchor Link

• Advertising reports and key event credit by source use your attribution model.
• Traffic acquisition shows each session's own source, so a conversion appears under the source of the visit where it happened.

That's why the same sale can show under different sources in different reports.

For small sitesCopy Anchor Link

With few conversions, data-driven attribution has little to learn from, and the session view is easier to read: "this visit, from this source, ended in a signup". Read sources as a guide, not an exact split of credit.

In SimpleDashCopy Anchor Link

With Pro, What brings customers shows two whole counts side by side, with no model to configure: the first source (GA4's first user source, where the person first found you) and the last source (the session source of the visit with the signup or sale, as in GA4's Traffic acquisition report). First user source vs session source.

SourcesCopy Anchor Link

• Google: Select attribution settings