Google will automatically switch some advertisers’ attribution models

Yesterday Google sent an email letting advertisers know that their ad accounts would be switched to data-driven attribution. 

Google’s message to advertisers. The email tells the advertiser which account(s) qualify for the switch and gives them until August 24 to cancel the auto-switch. 

What is data-driven attribution. Google announced in September that data-driven attribution would become the default model, but advertisers would still have access to the five other rule-based models. Data-driven attribution uses advanced machine learning techniques to more accurately understand how each marketing touchpoint contributed to a conversion. 

According to Google, data-driven attribution takes multiple signals into account including ad format and time between the ad and interaction and conversion.

Turn it off. If you don’t want Google making the switch you can turn it off here.  

Why we care. I would understand Google making the switch automatically if they were removing the other five rule-based models and this was the only option (Smart Shopping and Performance Max enter the chat), but just to blatantly switch seems a little extreme, even for Google. Nevertheless, I’m not surprised and it seems like they’re going to keep pushing automatic “upgrades” like this to see how much they can get away with – especially knowing they have market share and advertisers aren’t likely to leave the platform altogether.

Analyze your affected accounts and look into how switching to data-driven attribution would change reporting and conversions. If you want to try data-driven attribution, then you don’t have to make any changes. If you don’t want Google making the switch, be sure to turn it off asap.