Attribution
Attribution is the process of crediting conversions to the ads, clicks, or impressions that led to them, determining which marketing earned the result.
What it actually means
Attribution answers the question 'what caused this sale?' by assigning credit to the touchpoints along a customer's path. Because most buyers see multiple ads and visit multiple times before converting, attribution is inherently a model, not a fact — different models distribute credit differently. Meta uses an attribution window (commonly 7-day click and 1-day view) to decide which conversions to credit to an ad. Attribution matters because it drives which campaigns you fund and which you cut; flawed attribution leads to defunding the very ads that are working. Privacy changes have made attribution harder and noisier, pushing advertisers toward server-side tracking and blended, business-level measurement.
Local businesses often get phone calls and walk-ins that platform attribution never sees. Ask new customers how they found you, and treat the dashboard as one input, not the whole truth.
Related terms
An attribution window is the time period after a click or view during which a resulting conversion is credited to the ad.
A view-through conversion is credited when someone sees your ad without clicking it, then converts within the view attribution window.
The Meta Pixel is a snippet of code on your website that tracks visitor actions and sends them back to Meta for measurement and ad optimization.
The Conversions API sends conversion events to Meta directly from your server, supplementing the browser pixel for more complete and reliable tracking.
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