Attribution Lookback Window

An attribution lookback window limits how far before a conversion an interaction can be considered for credit. Eligibility also depends on touch type, identity policy, and conversion definition. A qualifying interaction receives whatever share the selected attribution model assigns; eligibility alone does not guarantee a positive share.

For a conversion at noon on October 8, a seven-day elapsed-time window can include touches from noon on October 1 and exclude touches at or after conversion time. That is the main lab’s boundary rule. Vendor rules may use different time or touch conventions, so preserve the exact settings rather than only the number seven.

This differs from a funnel conversion window measured forward from entry, the observation period needed for a cohort to mature, and the ingestion horizon used to retrieve corrected reports. A seven-day attribution window does not imply that rereading seven days of source data captures every correction.

Increasing the window changes the eligible paths. It does not recover missing identity links or prove that older interactions caused the purchase. A conversion with no eligible touch remains unattributed under the policy; that is not evidence that it was a direct visit.

See Integrating Marketing and Attribution Data for worked examples.

Reference: Analytics attribution settings.