How to find your Meta attribution setting, step by step

To find your Meta attribution setting, add the Attribution setting column in Ads Manager, then open the ad set's attribution selections to see each window. The default is usually 7-day click, 1-day view and 1-day engagement. Compare the windows side by side, then hold them against how long your own buyers take in GA4.

Meta's setting does two jobs at once. It decides which purchases Meta may claim for an ad, and it tells the delivery system which purchases to chase. GA4 then shows how long your buyers really take, which is the ruler every window is measured against.

Open Ads Manager and GA4 in two tabs. The first five steps happen in Meta, the last three in GA4 and your reporting.

Step by step

1. Add the Attribution setting column. Ads Manager reports each ad set's purchases under that ad set's own setting, so this column tells you which rules each row follows. If you use a custom column set, add it through Customize columns, then click into the campaign. Menu path: Ads Manager > Columns dropdown next to View Setup > Customize columns > search Attribution setting > Apply.
2. Open the attribution selections. Meta says you choose the setting per ad set, under Optimization & delivery, when you create the campaign. Its engage-through guide gives the clicks: the Conversion section, Show more options, then Standard attribution selections. Menu path: ad set > Conversion > Show more options > hover Standard attribution selections > Edit.
3. Read each window the way Meta defines it. Click-through offers 1 or 7 days after a link click, and view-through None or 1 day after an impression. Engage-through offers 1 day after any other click or a 5-second video play. Menu path: the same Standard attribution selections panel, under its three headings.
4. Check the model above the windows. Below Attribution model, the Options dropdown holds the choice between standard and incremental, and the windows belong to standard only. Meta says you cannot change the model after you publish the campaign. Menu path: ad set > Conversion goals > Show more options > Attribution model > Options.
5. Put the windows side by side. Compare attribution settings shows the same ads under 1-day view, 1-day click, 7-day click and 28-day click, whatever the ad set optimizes for. Pick All conversions or First conversion before you apply. Menu path: Ads Manager > Columns: Performance > Performance > Compare attribution settings > pick settings and conversion count > Apply.
6. Check what your reports pull from the API. A report built on Meta's Insights API uses the default windows unless it asks for each ad set's own setting. Meta's reference says to set use_unified_attribution_setting to true to get the same behaviour as Ads Manager. Where to look: the use_unified_attribution_setting parameter on the insights request, or ask whoever built the report.
7. Read GA4's lookback window. GA4 credits touches inside its key event lookback window, and for purchases that window defaults to 90 days. You can also choose 30 or 60 days. Menu path: GA4 > Admin > Data display > Events > Attribution settings.
8. Measure how long your buyers take. GA4's Key event attribution paths report lists each path with Days to key event and Touchpoints to key event. Download it, then add up how much revenue closes within a day and within a week. Menu path: GA4 > Advertising > Key events > Key event attribution paths > Share this report.

A worked example

Here is one ad set on the default setting for one week, with round numbers made up for illustration.

For illustration, the Results column shows 90 purchases: 60 after link clicks within 7 days and 30 after views within 1 day. If you switch the comparison in step 5 to 1-day click, 40 of the click purchases remain. For illustration, the other 20 came 2 to 7 days after a link click. Add 28-day click to the comparison and, for illustration, it shows 75, so 15 purchases came 8 to 28 days after a click.

For illustration, the 12 engagement purchases never reach Results while view-through is switched on. Meta's engage-through setup page works the sum the same way: 5 click-through, 15 view-through and 3 engagement conversions show as 20 results.

None of these windows changes a single sale. They change which sales Meta files under the ad, and which buyers the delivery system goes looking for next.

Now hold the windows against real timing. Store A is one store's anonymised GA4 export, 1 January 2024 to 21 August 2026, holding shares of revenue only. On its Journeys sheet, journeys with 1 touch hold 79.5% of revenue and take 0.5 days to buy. Journeys with 10 or more touches hold 3.0% of revenue on the Journeys sheet and take 16.0 days.

In a store shaped like that, 1-day click and 7-day click would report nearly the same revenue, because most buyers finish inside a day. A Meta click at the start of a 16-day journey would miss both 1-day and 7-day click, yet sit inside the 28-day comparison. GA4's 90-day lookback would still credit that click.

That is why Meta and GA4 can disagree in both directions. Meta counts views GA4 never sees, and GA4 keeps slow clicks Meta has already dropped. Step 8 tells you which of the two your own buyers make more of.

What to check when the report looks wrong

• Two similar ad sets report very different results. Check the Attribution setting column before you blame the creative. A 7-day click ad set and a 1-day click ad set can reach the same buyers and still report different totals.
• Engagement purchases never show in Results. That is by design when an ad set uses click-through, view-through and engage-through together. Meta's Results column then counts click and view conversions only, so read engagement in the comparison columns.
• The same setting gives different numbers in two accounts. Meta says some accounts may still run the older click-through and engage-through definitions while the change rolls out. Before March 2026, shares and saves could count as clicks.
• The 28-day click column comes up short. Meta says a campaign live for less than 28 days gives only partial 28-day data. Compare it again once the campaign has run that long.
• A dashboard disagrees with Ads Manager. It may be reading the API's default windows instead of each ad set's setting. Step 6 tells you which.
• GA4 credits Meta campaigns with sales Meta does not report. Long journeys do this. A click older than 7 days drops out of Meta's count, while GA4's lookback for purchases runs to 90 days by default.

What to do this week

1. Write a one-line attribution log for each campaign. Note the model, the windows and the date you checked, using steps 2 and 4. Pass: every ad set you compare shares one line. Fail: you have two lines, so compare within each group and never across.
2. Download one month of purchase paths from GA4. Use step 8 and sort by Days to key event. Pass: most revenue sits in paths that close within a week. Fail: a large share takes longer, so neither Meta window sees how those buyers started.
3. Test one dashboard against Ads Manager. Pick one ad set and one date, and read purchases in both. Pass: the numbers match. Fail: they differ, so label the dashboard with the windows it uses, or have it switched to each ad set's setting.

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 actions attributed to your ad (Meta Business Help Center); Set up engage-through in Meta Ads Manager (Meta Business Help Center); About attribution models and attribution settings (Meta Business Help Center); How to use incremental attribution in Meta Ads Manager (Meta Business Help Center); Results (Meta Business Help Center); About multiple attribution settings (Meta Business Help Center); Compare attribution settings in Meta Ads Manager (Meta Business Help Center); Ad Account Insights reference (Meta for Developers); Simplifying Ad Measurement for a Social-First World (Meta); Select attribution settings (Google Analytics Help); Key events attribution paths report (Google Analytics Help).

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