How to set up data-driven attribution in GA4, step by step

In GA4, open Admin, then Events under Data display, then Attribution settings, and choose Data-driven as the reporting model. It is usually set already. Then check which channels can receive credit and the lookback window, and read the result in the attribution models and paths reports.

Seven steps, one property. The menu paths come from Google's help pages as they read on 1 October 2026. You need the Marketer role or above on the property to change attribution settings, and less to read the reports.

Step by step

1. Open the attribution settings. Google keeps the key event attribution settings next to your events. Note what each one says before you change anything, because the model setting rewrites past reports. Menu path: GA4 > Admin > Data display > Events > Attribution settings.
2. Choose Data-driven as the reporting model. It changes key event reports that use event-scoped dimensions, such as Source, Medium, Campaign and Default channel group. Session-scoped and user-scoped dimensions, such as Session source or First user medium, do not change. Menu path: Attribution settings > Reporting attribution model > Data-driven > Save.
3. Pick the channels that can receive credit. Paid and organic channels lets every channel share it. Google paid channels shows only conversions from Google Ads. Paid and organic is the default for GA4's own reports, and it applies to web conversions only. Menu path: Attribution settings > Channels that can receive credit.
4. Set the key event lookback window. For purchases and other non-acquisition key events, the default is 90 days, and you can choose 30 or 60. Touches older than the window get no credit, and a change applies going forward only. Menu path: Attribution settings > Key event lookback window.
5. Compare data-driven with last click. Pick purchase in the key events menu at the top left, since all key events are added together by default. Set the Attribution model (non-direct) columns to Data-driven and Paid and organic last click, then read the % Change columns. Menu path: GA4 > Advertising > Attribution > Attribution models.
6. See where the credit sits on the path. The paths chart uses Paid and organic channels last click until you switch its model to Data-driven. It then shows credit for early, mid and late touchpoints, and hovering over a touchpoint shows its share. Menu path: GA4 > Advertising > Attribution > Attribution paths; Google's paths page lists it as Key event attribution paths, under a Key events drop-down.
7. Line up Google Ads. Data-driven is the Google Ads default for most conversion actions, so check yours rather than assume. If the purchase action is built on a GA4 key event, GA4 still sends it on last click. Menu path: Google Ads > Goals > Conversions > Summary > (conversion action) > Edit settings > Attribution model > Data-driven > Save > Done.

A worked example

For illustration, take one invented purchase of €120 and follow it through the settings. Say the buyer clicked a Meta ad, then an email two days later, then a Google Ads search ad the next day, and bought.

Under Paid and organic last click, Paid Search gets the whole sale: 1 key event and €120 of revenue in this worked example. Switch the reporting model to Data-driven and the same purchase is split. For illustration, the Key events column might show 0.25 for Paid Social, 0.25 for Email and 0.5 for Paid Search.

Those shares sum to 1.0, as Google's help says they must. Revenue follows them: €30, €30 and €60 in this worked example. GA4 does not show how it chose the split, so read these shares as a picture of the mechanics, not a forecast.

Now the other settings. Set Channels that can receive credit to Google paid channels, and from then on only the Google Ads click can carry this sale. Shorten the purchase lookback to 30 days and nothing changes in this worked example, because all three clicks fall inside it.

In the attribution models report, Paid Search shows -50% in the % Change column for this one sale in this worked example. Email and Paid Social rise from nothing. Nothing about the buyer changed; only the rule did.

How much of your revenue looks like this path? One store's export gives a feel for it. Journeys with 2 to 3 touches hold 12.2% of revenue and took 12.5 days to buy (Journeys sheet). Journeys with 4 to 9 touches hold 5.4% and took 16.9 days (Journeys sheet).

Those rows are where switching to data-driven can move credit in this one store. A journey of one touch has nothing to share. So before you read meaning into a big % Change, check how much revenue sits in multi-touch paths at all.

What should I check when the report looks wrong?

• Last year's numbers changed too. A new reporting model applies to historical and future data, so old reports now show the new split. The lookback window and the credit channels apply going forward only.
• Traffic acquisition did not move. It runs on session-scoped dimensions, which the reporting model leaves alone. Look in the attribution reports instead.
• Data-driven and last click look identical. If most revenue comes from one-touch journeys, there is little to split. Google Ads' help also says the two models can give the same results, depending on data availability.
• Decimals appeared in Key events. That is fractional credit: one purchase shared across touches. It is expected, not a bug.
• Totals differ from the ad platforms by date. The attribution models report uses Event time by default. Switch Reporting time to Ad interaction time to credit touches inside your date range instead.
• Part of your date range looks thin. Paid and organic data-driven attribution starts on 1 November 2021. The Attribution reports include data from 14 June 2021 onwards, so start your range later.
• The paths chart and the table disagree. The chart follows the model picked in its drop-down. The credit in each table row is an average across the paths in that row.
• Google Ads shows other conversions. GA4 uses last click for Google Ads conversions based on key events. A change to the credit channels can also take a few days to reach Google Ads.

What to do this week

1. Record today's settings with the date. In Admin, under Data display, open Events, then Attribution settings. Note the model, the credit channels and the lookback window, with today's date. Pass: anyone comparing reports can tell which settings built them. Fail: a model switch rewrites history and nobody can tell old figures from new.
2. Read one real path with the chart on Data-driven. In Attribution paths, pick purchase and switch the chart's model drop-down to Data-driven. Hover over the touchpoints of your top multi-touch path. Pass: early touches hold visible credit, so the model is sharing it out. Fail: late touchpoints hold nearly all of it, so check whether most paths have one touch.
3. Check the purchase action in Google Ads. Open Goals, then Conversions, then Summary, select the purchase action and read its Attribution model under Edit settings. Pass: you know which model drives your bids and you have noted it next to GA4's. Fail: it is a GA4 import and you assumed data-driven, while GA4 sends it on last click.

Check the homework. Your GA4 Attribution paths export already holds the evidence. Causality Engine reads that one file and shows what each channel caused next to what last-click gave it, in 1 to 2 minutes, for €99 once (excluding VAT), refundable within 30 days. Check the homework

Sources, 1 October 2026: Get started with attribution (Google Analytics Help); Select attribution settings (Google Analytics Help); Key event attribution models report (Google Analytics Help); Key events attribution paths report (Google Analytics Help); About data-driven attribution (Google Ads Help); About attribution models (Google Ads Help).

Related answers

• All GA4 how-to questions
• What is data-driven attribution in GA4?
• What does data-driven attribution mean for a beauty store?
• Attribution window, defined
• Data-driven attribution, defined