Attribution window
Attribution window
The period in which a platform credits an order to its ad after a click or a view.
Formula
Commonly available: a 7-day click, or a 1-day view
How to read it
- Before comparing platform numbers with your own orders, align the window and the date basis: the platform credits the order to the ad's day, your system records it on the order's day.
- A longer window gives prettier, less accurate numbers; a shorter one gives harsher, truer ones. What matters is settling on one and always comparing against it.
- Search campaigns usually want a shorter window, because the decision arrives faster than it does in discovery.
The common mistake
Adding up orders from Meta, Google and Snapchat and comparing the total to your revenue. Each platform credits the same order to itself, so the sum exceeds your actual business — and decisions get made on orders that never happened twice.