Definition
Web attribution assigns credit for a website conversion to the marketing touch (a paid click, an organic search, a referral) that produced it, using session and identity data collected in the browser and passed to your analytics or attribution platform.
hypothesis, labeled from research measured 2026-09-01: "web attribution" as a phrase carries thin, low search demand on its own - buyers overwhelmingly search the underlying mechanics instead (UTM tracking, GA4 attribution, cross-domain tracking). This page exists as the connective explainer for that reason: the mechanics live one layer down, on the properties that own them.
Click attribution vs view-through attribution
| Type | What it credits | Where it gets contentious |
|---|---|---|
| Click attribution | A conversion following an actual click on an ad or link. | Rarely disputed - the click is a hard, loggable event. |
| View-through attribution | A conversion following an ad impression the user saw but did not click. | Frequently disputed - it credits exposure, not action, and window length (1 day vs 30) changes the number substantially. |
Cross-domain attribution
When a purchase flow spans two domains (a marketing site and a separate checkout subdomain, for example), the session identifier has to be passed explicitly between them or the second domain looks like a brand-new, unattributed session. This is one of the most common sources of attribution loss we see, and it is a tracking-implementation fix, not a modeling one.
Where the actual mechanics live
Once you're past the definitional layer, the real implementation work - UTM parameter discipline, GA4's own attribution settings, fixing cross-domain tracking - is covered in depth by our Google Analytics practice at ga.webclat.com and our tag-management practice at gtm.webclat.com. This page's job is to connect the concept to the fix, not duplicate either practice's depth.
How web attribution fits the broader model comparison
Once the mechanics are solid, the remaining question is which model to apply to the credit you've correctly captured - see attribution models compared and multi-touch attribution for that layer.