--- title: Attribution Model — definition for local businesses | Siite description: "Attribution models explained: how credit for a booked job is assigned across search, ads and referrals, and why last click flatters the wrong channel." url: "https://siite.co/dictionary/attribution-model" type: static generatedAt: "2026-10-22T08:21:10.739Z" --- Metrics & Analytics # Attribution Model The rule that decides which marketing touch gets credit for a job — first click, last click, or a share spread across everything the customer saw on the way. Also goes by Attribution [![Siite](/images/layout/logo.svg)Written by Siite](/about/)Updated September 8, 2026 ## Entry contents [All Terms A to Z←Browse the full dictionary](/dictionary/) Almost nobody hires on first contact. Someone sees a van, searches the company name a week later, clicks an ad, reads the reviews, and calls from the Google listing. An attribution model is the rule that decides which of those moments gets the credit for the job. > **Briefly explained** > > - How credit gets divided among the steps that led to a sale. > - Last click is the default, and it flatters the final touch. > - Every platform reports a different answer, and all of them are partial. > - The model matters less than using one consistently. ## What are the models? You will meet four of them in practice. - **Last click:** All credit to the final touch before the call. Simple, and biased toward branded search. - **First click:** All credit to whatever created the awareness. The mirror image, with the opposite bias. - **Linear or position-based:** Credit shared across the path, either evenly or weighted toward the ends. - **Data-driven:** Credit assigned from patterns observed in your own account. The most useful, and it needs volume to work. ## Why does last click cause trouble? Because it rewards the channel that was always going to be last. Someone who already knows your name searches it and clicks. Last click hands the job to branded search, and the billboard, the article and the display ad that built the awareness show nothing. Cut those, and a few months later the branded searches thin out too, for reasons the report will not explain. ## Why will the numbers never agree? Each platform counts what it can see and ignores what it cannot. Google Ads claims the Google touches. Meta claims the Meta touches. Both use their own windows, both count view-throughs differently, and neither knows what your CRM knows. Adding their conversions together double-counts the same job. Pick one system as the book of record. Use the others to diagnose, not to decide. ## How do you use this without overthinking it? - Choose one model and keep it stable long enough to compare periods - Treat the gaps between models as information rather than noise - Tag everything that is not auto-tagged. See [UTM parameters](/dictionary/utm-parameters/). - Ask customers how they found you, and record the answer on the job - Check the whole picture against the thing that cannot be argued with: total booked work against total spend over a season ## What do the terms mean? - **Touchpoint:** Any interaction on the way to a sale. - **Attribution window:** How long a touch stays eligible for credit. - **View-through conversion:** Credit claimed for an impression nobody acted on. - **Data-driven attribution:** Credit worked out from what your own account has actually seen. - **Book of record:** The one system you let settle arguments. Owner questions ## What owners ask us about Attribution Model ### Which attribution model should I use? +Start with data-driven attribution in Google Ads if you have the conversion volume for it, and read it next to a simple last-click view. The comparison tells you more than either number alone. ### Why do my platforms report different numbers? +Because each one claims the touches it can see and uses its own window. Google Ads, Meta and your CRM will never agree. Pick one system as the book of record for decisions. ### How do I attribute a call from a sign or a van? +You ask. For offline sources, a "how did you hear about us" field on the job ticket beats any model, as long as somebody fills it in every time. ### What is an attribution window? +The period during which a touch stays eligible for credit. Change the window and the same marketing appears to perform differently, which is why it should be set once and left alone. ### Does attribution matter for a small business? +Less than most reports imply. With a handful of channels, the honest check is total booked work against total spend over a season. Models matter when you have enough volume to act on the differences.Put this to work ## Guides that use this Step-by-step playbooks from the team, written for owners doing the work themselves. No sign-up and no email required. [### Server-side conversion tracking after iOS: what Texas operators lose Browser pixels lose 30–55% of iOS conversion data in 2026. Server-side restores it. What to install, and the real ROAS lift we measure for Texas operators. Read the guide→](/articles/server-side-conversion-tracking-after-ios/)4.9191 reviewsWhere this turns into work ## Credit where it belongs Tracking that sees the whole path, one model used consistently, and a sanity check against booked jobs — so no channel gets cut for work it actually started. [See the service→](/services/google-ads/)[Ask us about it](/contact/) ![Leonardo Miodrag, CMO, Partner at Siite](/images/team/panel/leonardo-miodrag.webp) *Our CMO* ## Related entries - [### Conversion Tracking The setup that records which clicks, calls and forms turned into leads or jobs, so ad platforms and analytics can attribute results instead of guessing.](/dictionary/conversion-tracking/) - [### UTM Parameters Tags appended to a link that tell analytics where a visit came from — the source, medium and campaign written into the URL itself.](/dictionary/utm-parameters/) - [### Cost Per Lead What you spend to generate one inquiry — total marketing cost for a channel divided by the number of leads it produced in the same period.](/dictionary/cost-per-lead/) - [### Customer Acquisition Cost The full cost of winning one paying customer — marketing and sales spend for a period divided by the number of new customers it produced.](/dictionary/customer-acquisition-cost/) [All terms A to Z Browse every term A to Z Open the dictionary→](/dictionary/)