In this guide
- Attribution assigns credit for a conversion to the ads and channels that came before it.
- Every model is a choice, not a fact. Compare a few and look at where they agree.
- Better data (server events, good matching, longer cookies) improves every model more than choosing a clever one.
Every marketer wants to know which ad made the sale. The honest answer is that most sales have many touches, and any rule for splitting the credit is an assumption. That does not make attribution useless. It makes it a tool that you read with care. This page explains the ideas, the data they need and how to set up tracking so your attribution is as good as it can be. For the model families see marketing attribution models and for how server events change the numbers see how server-side tracking affects attribution.
What you need to track
| Data | Why |
|---|---|
| Source and campaign (UTM parameters) | Know where the visit came from |
| Click IDs (gclid, fbclid, ttclid, msclkid) | Let ad platforms match sales to clicks |
| A visitor identifier | Join sessions of the same person |
| The conversion with value and a transaction ID | Know what was bought and avoid double counting |
| Customer data (hashed e-mail, phone) | Match when cookies are lost |
3 things to remember
Scroll and the points stack up.
Attribution assigns credit for a conversion to the ads and channels that came before it.
Every model is a choice, not a fact. Compare a few and look at where they agree.
Better data (server events, good matching, longer cookies) improves every model more than choosing a clever one.
Where attribution is calculated
Inside each ad platform
Meta, Google and TikTok each credit their own ads. They use click and view windows and overlap with each other.
In your analytics
GA4 and tools like Open Tracked analytics credit channels using your own first-party data and a chosen model.
In your store and CRM
The source of truth for orders and revenue.
Click windows and view windows
A click window is how long after a click a conversion is credited, often 7 or 30 days. A view window is how long after seeing an ad without clicking. Platforms differ and change defaults. A longer window gives more credit and more overlap. Pick windows that fit your sales cycle and compare platforms on the same basis.
Runs on your domain, anywhere
Your tracking runs on your own domain, so a visit from any country is handled the same way.
Common mistakes
A practical set-up
Standardise UTMs
One naming scheme for source, medium and campaign.
Capture click IDs and store them
First-party cookie, then on the order or lead.
Send server-side events
With hashed e-mail and a shared event ID.
Use first-party analytics
To see spend, revenue and ROAS by channel on your own data.
Review monthly
Compare platform numbers with your own and with your store.
Where Open Tracked helps
Open Tracked's server container collects events on your own domain, its power-ups keep cookies and identifiers alive, and its analytics product shows acquisition, creatives, orders and profit side by side, on first-party data. That gives you your own attribution view to hold against the platforms' views.
Ask Ari instead of digging through reports
Ari reads your tracking and ad data and answers in plain words.
Frequently asked questions
What is attribution tracking?
Recording and analysing which ads and channels lead to conversions, so credit can be assigned.
Which attribution model is best?
None is universally best. Compare a few and look at where they agree.
Why do platforms claim the same sale?
Each uses its own rules and windows, so credit overlaps.
How does server-side tracking help attribution?
It recovers events lost in the browser and improves matching, so more sales are linked to the right ad.
Do I need UTMs if I use auto-tagging?
Yes, for sources that do not auto-tag and for your own analytics.
Do I need spreadsheets to read my results?
No. Once tracking is live, the Open Tracked analytics shows spend, revenue, ROAS and profit, and you can ask Ari, the built-in AI assistant, questions about your own numbers in plain words. Ari's allowance depends on your analytics plan.
Is Open Tracked different from Open Track or Open Space Track?
No. Open Tracked is the official name of our server-side tracking platform, and the website is opentracked.io. Many people search for it as Open Track, OpenTrack or Open Space Track. All of them lead to the same product: server-side Google Tag Manager hosting, first-party analytics and a CRM pipeline.
Fix your tracking at the source
Open Tracked hosts your server-side Tag Manager, keeps first-party cookies alive and shows what each ad is really worth.
The Open Tracked team
We build Open Tracked: server-side tracking hosting, analytics and the tools around them, for stores that spend on ads. Questions about this guide, or an idea for the next one?
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