I’m glad you found the post useful.

By default, Google Analytics uses “last” attribution. You can change that. Here’s more info: http://www.google.com/support/googleanalytics/bin/answer.py?answer=55556&topic=10999

Omniture let’s you pick. You can set it to share credit among tactics. Craig has more about that and attribution in general:
http://www.blogs.commerce360.com/2008/01/are-your-ppc-reports-wrong-let-me-count-the-ways/

HTH,
-Alex

Daisy

Thanks for following up. You answered my questions for the day!

BJ Wright

Thanks for the comment. I’m glad this was a timely post.

1.) Mostly, you’ll be limited to what your tool lets you do. It’s a bummer, but a fact of life.
2.) I know Omniture does three and GA can do 1 or 2. I used to use WebTrends, but I’m not sure what the new version (8) lets you do. You’ll have to poke around.
3.)
a.) I’m specifically referencing options you have with Google AdWords tracking that will let you see conversion from other non-AdWords campaigns within its interface. The AdWords help documentation has full details about destination URLs.
b.) I don’t know off the top of my head whether AdWords attributes through 1, 2, 3, 4 as I generally rely upon site-side analytics (to avoid this very problem)
c.) Again, I’m not sure of the cookie length, as it varies from vendor to vendor. The industry standard is 30 days, but I’ve seen them up to 90. Check the help documentation for a specific answer or ask your AdWords account manager.

I hope that helps!
-Alex

I started out my day searching for this exact post! Thanks for the easy find. As before I have some more questions:

1. Which of the 4 types of Attribution have you found to be the most effective? Which should I use on my websites?
2. What analytic programs use attribution method 3 or 4? Is there a hack to get Google Analytics to report this way?
3. a.”Pick Your Source and Stick To It”: What is the additional tagging to get around this? Do you have a reference where we could start?
b. Does the Adwords conversion code still credit itself if the person returns through a tagged URL by email and makes a purchase? Meaning this sale would be credited 2 different ways within Adwords & Analytics?
c. How many days out does the Adwords conversion code track? If the person returns 45 days later and makes a purchase will it be credited back to the original ad?

I hope you don’t mind the additional questions? Thanks for the great resource.

BJ Wright