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Google is all about automation, whether you like it or not. In their e-mail to advertisers, they let them know about their ad accounts switching to data-driven attribution.
In the e-mail, Google tells the advertisers which of their accounts qualify for the switch and gives them a deadline for cancelling the auto-switch, Search Engine Land reports. We went through our e-mails and here’s what we got:
But, wait – what is this data-driven thing now?
Back in September, Google revealed its plan to turn data-driven attribution into a default model. At the same time, they said that the other five rule-based models will still exist and be available for usage.
By using advanced machine learning techniques, data-driven attribution can understand the contribution each marketing touchpoint made to lead to conversions. Google says data-driven attribution accounts for several factors, such as ad format and time between ad and interaction.
As Barry Schwartz explained in this article, data-driven attribution checks the website and your ads on various platforms and uses data from your account to figure out which keywords and campaigns have the biggest impact on your business. In the end, it checks out how people engaged with your ads and comes up with a plan to move forward.
“Data-driven attribution allows us to assign the right credit to every touchpoint. With automated bidding and data-driven attribution, we’ve seen an 18% reduction in cost of sales over last-click” – Lara Harter, Head of Online Marketing, DocMorris
So according to Lara, this could help save up some resources and direct them somewhere else. This option could work well with Smart Campaigns, but as always – you should do your own mini research.
The Backlash
However, not everyone is happy with this move by Google. For example, David Melamed expressed his opinion on LinkedIn:
“Data driven attribution doesn’t understand your cashflow needs. It doesn’t understand the human side of your account. Conversion & attribution models SHOULD NEVER be taken out of the hands of advertisers… Especially when Google owns the auction house.”
Others have a bit different opinion:
IMU – accts w/o a significant number conversions-won’t really see a difference, so not a big advantage. For accts with lots of data, DDA can give a better picture of a customer’s journey. More attribution given to TOFU and MOFU vs Last Click model giving it to mainly BOFU/Brand — Greg (@PPCGreg) July 26, 2022
If you don’t want Google to make the switch, you can turn the option off using the link you got in the email.
Sure – data-driven attribution might actually work for you, but make sure you analyze everything first.
Compare the changes that would happen if you do make the switch.
