What Is an Attribution Window?
An attribution window is the period after an ad interaction during which a conversion can still be credited to that interaction.
Platforms use separate windows for click-through conversions, which follow a click, and view-through conversions, which follow an ad impression but no click. Conversion counts change when the window changes, so two reports are only comparable when they cover the same window.
- separate windows
- click-through conversionsview-through conversions
- reporting date
- time of the ad interactiontime the conversion happened
Daniil Maximkin Published Reviewed
- In practice
Why do two platforms report different conversions for the same day?
Each platform applies its own attribution windows, model, and reporting date. A conversion credited to an interaction in one system can fall outside another’s window, or be split across channels differently, so the same order is legitimately counted in one report and not the other.
The reporting date adds a second difference. Some platforms report a conversion against the time of the ad interaction, others against the time the conversion happened.
- In practice
What is the difference between click-through and view-through windows?
click-through window
conversions that follow a click on an ad
view-through window
conversions that follow an impression with no click
Platforms track the two separately and often report view-through conversions in their own column rather than the main conversions column.
Because the windows are settings on each conversion action, changing one changes what is counted from that point forward; it does not rewrite history or change whether the conversion happened.
- In practice
What is the difference between conversion date and interaction date?
Conversion date
when the purchase occurred
interaction date
when the ad was clicked or seen
when the ad was clicked or seenwhen the purchase occurred
A platform that reports by interaction date places the conversion in the period of the click, which moves revenue between days and makes a daily total disagree with the order’s own date.
Some platforms expose both, with separate columns by conversion time for comparisons against analytics or a commerce backend.
- Not to be confused with
Not to be confused with Is not Is a data-retention limit the period after an ad interaction during which a conversion can still be credited to that interaction the lookback window used inside attribution reports set per conversion action An attribution window is not a data-retention limit, and it is not the lookback window used inside attribution reports. A conversion window is set per conversion action; a lookback window decides how far back from a conversion ad interactions are considered.
A shorter window is not automatically more accurate: it changes which conversions are counted, not how many happened. The right window is read from each platform’s documentation rather than assumed.
- Where to check
How do I reconcile across a window?
Fix the window and the date basis before comparing counts. Decide which window the comparison will use, choose interaction date or conversion date, and pull both sides on that basis only.
Then match at order level where a shared identifier exists and classify the remainder: outside the window, credited to another channel, view-through rather than click-through, or a genuine tracking gap.
