What is the default Meta attribution setting?
Usually 7-day click, 1-day view and 1-day engagement. Meta credits a purchase to an ad clicked within 7 days, or seen or engaged with within 1 day. Its API reference leaves engagement out. The setting also steers who sees your ads.
By Joris van Huët, Founder & CEOUpdated 7 min read
Meta's default attribution setting is usually 7-day click, 1-day view and 1-day engagement. A purchase counts if the buyer clicked a link in your ad within 7 days, or saw or engaged with it within 1 day. Since March 2026, likes, saves and shares count as engagement, not clicks. Each ad set keeps its own setting.
What the default counts, part by part
The default is three windows, each asking how recently something happened. Did the buyer click a link in your ad, see it, or tap, save or watch it?
Meta's Help Center defines the parts. Click-through counts purchases within 1 or 7 days after a link click on your ad. View-through counts purchases within 1 day after an impression. Engage-through counts purchases within 1 day after any other click, or a video played for 5 seconds.
Which windows make up the default depends on the Meta page you read. Meta's Help Center page on the Results metric names 7-day click, 1-day view and 1-day engagement. Its Marketing API reference says the default option means 7-day click and 1-day view. One counts engagement and one does not, so trust the Attribution setting column over both.
Ads Manager then reports each ad set's purchases under that ad set's own setting. Two ad sets side by side can be counting by different rules, and the table will not shout about it.
Then there is the date. On 3 March 2026, Meta said click-through would count link clicks only, for website and in-store conversions. Shares, saves and likes moved to engaged-view, now renamed engage-through. An engaged video view also dropped from 10 seconds to 5.
What one store's data shows
The usual answer stops at the window names. Windows measure time, so here is what one store's GA4 export shows about the time buyers take.
One store's anonymised GA4 export, 1 January 2024 to 21 August 2026. It holds shares of revenue only: no ad spend, no order counts.
| What the export shows | Share of revenue | Source cell |
|---|---|---|
| Journeys with 1 touch (0.5 days to buy) | 79.5% | Journeys sheet, 1 touch row |
| Journeys with 2 to 3 touches (12.5 days to buy) | 12.2% | Journeys sheet, 2-3 touches row |
| Journeys with 4 to 9 touches (16.9 days to buy) | 5.4% | Journeys sheet, 4-9 touches row |
| Journeys with 10 or more touches (16.0 days to buy) | 3.0% | Journeys sheet, 10+ touches row |
On the Journeys sheet, single-touch journeys hold 79.5% of revenue and take 0.5 days to buy. Every window Meta offers is long enough for a buyer who decides within half a day. For most of that store's revenue, picking 1-day or 7-day click would barely move the count.
The rest is slow. Journeys of 2 or more touches hold 20.6% of revenue on the Journeys sheet (12.2% + 5.4% + 3.0%). They take 12.5 to 16.9 days to buy, again on the Journeys sheet.
Meta's longest click window is 7 days, and its view and engagement windows are 1 day each. If a Meta ad opened one of those slow journeys, every Meta window had shut before the purchase. GA4 would still see that first touch: its key event lookback window for purchases defaults to 90 days.
So in that store, the choice of window matters little for the fast four fifths. No Meta window reaches back to the start of the slow fifth. The export holds no spend and no Meta figures, so it cannot say whether the store ran Meta ads at all. It is one store, not a benchmark. Use it as a ruler for your own export: how much revenue closes inside a day, and how much takes longer than a week?
Why does the usual answer mislead?
Because it sounds like one fact about Meta. It is a setting on each ad set, and one account can hold several. An ad set on 7-day click will claim more purchases than its twin on 1-day click, from the very same buyers.
The label also hides a change of meaning. Before March 2026, a share or a save could count as a click. Now only a link click does, and Meta says some accounts may still run the older versions while the change rolls out. A "7-day click" trend line across that switch compares two rulers with the same name.
The usual answer also treats the setting as a reporting filter. It is an instruction too. Meta's Help Center says standard attribution "optimizes delivery for selected time windows and user behaviors". Its developer reference says the ad set's attribution spec is used for attributing conversions for optimization.
So the windows define what a win looks like. With 1-day view in the default, a purchase the day after someone scrolled past your ad is a win. The delivery system then hunts for more wins of that kind.
The easiest wins are people who were about to buy anyway. Think regulars and shoppers halfway through checkout. The setting cannot tell an ad that persuaded from an ad that was merely present. It is a scoreboard that also picks the players.
Dashboards add one more twist. If yours pulls Meta data through the API, it may report every ad set on the default windows. Meta's reference tells developers to set use_unified_attribution_setting to true to get the same behaviour as Ads Manager. Ask whoever built it which one it does.
What can the default not tell you?
Whether the ad caused the purchase. A window only says the purchase came soon enough after a click or a view. Meta's own March 2026 announcement calls experiments such as Conversion Lift the gold standard for that question.
A shorter window is not a more honest one, either. Switching to 1-day click drops slow buyers the ad did persuade, along with quick buyers it did not. You get a smaller number, not a truer one.
What to do this week
- Read the Attribution setting column for every live ad set. In Ads Manager, open the Columns dropdown next to View Setup, choose Customize columns, search for Attribution setting and click Apply. Pass: every ad set you compare shares one setting. Fail: the settings differ, so compare results only within each setting.
- Put your buyers' timing next to Meta's windows. In GA4, click Advertising, then Key event attribution paths under Key events, and read Days to key event for purchases. Pass: most revenue closes within a week, inside the default. Fail: much of it takes longer, so Meta's report misses those buyers by design.
- Compare windows on your biggest campaign. In Ads Manager, open Columns: Performance, select Compare attribution settings and pick 1-day click, 7-day click and 1-day view. Pass: most results stand on clicks alone. Fail: views carry the campaign, so test it with a holdout before you scale it.
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: About attribution models and attribution settings (Meta Business Help Center); Ad Account Insights reference (Meta for Developers); Ad Set reference (Meta for Developers); Simplifying Ad Measurement for a Social-First World (Meta); Results (Meta Business Help Center); About multiple attribution settings (Meta Business Help Center); Compare attribution settings in Meta Ads Manager (Meta Business Help Center); About actions attributed to your ad (Meta Business Help Center); Select attribution settings (Google Analytics Help); Key events attribution paths report (Google Analytics Help).
Related answers
Frequently asked questions
Should I switch my Meta ad sets to 1-day click?
Only as a test. The setting also steers delivery, so a shorter window changes who sees your ads, not just the count. Try it on one new ad set, then judge it on total Shopify orders rather than on Meta's own results.Does Meta's default include engage-through?
Meta's pages disagree. Its Help Center page on Results names a default of 7-day click, 1-day view and 1-day engagement. Its Marketing API reference gives 7-day click and 1-day view. The Attribution setting column shows which windows each of your ad sets really uses.Why does my dashboard show different Meta results than Ads Manager?
Often because it pulls data through Meta's API on the default windows. Ads Manager reports each ad set on its own setting. Meta's API reference says to set use_unified_attribution_setting to true to get the same behaviour as Ads Manager.
Go deeper: Incrementality testing, explained.
Sixty-second versions of these ideas: Causality Engine on YouTube Shorts.
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Terms in this article
- AttributionAttribution identifies user actions that contribute to a desired outcome and assigns value to each. It reveals which marketing touchpoints drive conversions.
- Attribution ModelAn Attribution Model defines how credit for conversions is assigned to marketing touchpoints. It dictates how marketing channels receive credit for sales.
- ConversionConversion is a specific, desired action a user takes in response to a marketing message, such as a purchase or a sign-up.
- DashboardsDashboards are graphical user interfaces that provide at-a-glance views of key performance indicators (KPIs). They monitor campaign performance and visualize attribution insights.
- ExperimentsExperiments are scientific procedures that test hypotheses or demonstrate facts. In marketing, experiments like A/B tests determine the causal effect of campaign changes, enabling data-driven decisions.
- Google AnalyticsGoogle Analytics is a web analytics service that tracks and reports website traffic.
- IncrementalityIncrementality measures the true causal impact of a marketing campaign. It quantifies the additional conversions or revenue directly from that activity.
- Incrementality TestingIncrementality Testing measures the additional impact of a marketing campaign. It compares exposed and control groups to determine causal effect.