Last-Click Attribution

Last-click attribution gives all conversion credit to the final touchpoint before the conversion.

Under a last-click model, whatever channel delivered the last click gets one hundred percent of the credit and everything upstream gets zero. GA4 no longer offers plain last-click across all traffic, but it keeps two variants: Paid and organic last-click, and Google paid channels last-click, which ignores direct traffic and hands credit to the last paid or organic touch.

A user clicks a Paid Social ad on Monday, returns via Organic Search on Wednesday, then types your URL directly and buys on Friday. Under Paid and organic last-click, the Organic Search visit takes the full credit because Direct is skipped. Paid Social, the thing that started it, gets nothing.

Last-click systematically undervalues everything at the top of the funnel. Awareness channels almost never get the last click, so a last-click view makes them look useless and makes bottom-funnel and branded channels look like heroes. Judge prospecting on last-click and you will defund the exact campaigns feeding your conversions.

The last click is the easiest to see and the easiest to over-reward.