About cross-network attribution

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 Demand Gen campaigns can all be a part of a user’s path to conversion. The attribution reports and our attribution models can help marketers uncover these insights.

You can view YouTube, Google Display Network, and Demand Gen ad engagements in these reports by selecting Networks from the "Dimension" drop-down menu.

Learn more About attribution reports.

Benefits

The attribution reports:

• Show how Search, YouTube, Google Display Network, and Demand Gen campaigns work together to drive conversions
• Allow you to view Search clicks, YouTube clicks and video engagements, Display clicks, and Demand Gen 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 Demand Gen
  Note: If you have different Google Ads accounts driving Search, YouTube, Google Display Network, and Demand Gen traffic to the same website with the same goals, make 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 Demand Gen campaigns is rolling out in the coming months.

Best practices for cross-account conversion tracking

For the attribution reports to display cross-network activity, you must use Google Ads conversion tracking with visibility into Search Network, YouTube, Google Display Network, and Demand Gen campaigns. If you use cross-account conversion tracking, make sure that Search, YouTube, Google Display Network, and Demand Gen 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:

1. In your Google Ads account, click the tools icon on the upper right.
2. Under "Setup," select Account map.
3. In the navigation menu, click Conversion tracking parent to see which accounts inherit manager-level conversion tracking.
4. If a checkmark 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 you're capturing the full picture in the attribution reports.

What to expect

Similar to 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 Demand Gen) 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 the 2 attribution models (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: