Common Attribution Challenges in B2B Marketing (And How We Resolve Them)
Attribution in B2B marketing is a challenge. You think your marketing is working, but you need to prove it.
After all, gut feelings aren’t always right, and they don’t keep marketing managers or C-suite satisfied, but data does.
You need to overcome the challenges associated with B2B marketing attribution and prove that marketing is working.
And when I say working, I mean making money for the business.
Long sales cycles, multiple touchpoints, and siloed reporting make B2B attribution messy, but also so, so fun. Correct attribution helps you justify your budget, allocate resources, and tell a clear story about what’s actually driving results.
This blog is based on a recent episode of the Forank Marketing Podcast, where my lovely co-founder and PPC pro, Leigh Buttrey, and I, Zoe Ashbridge, dig into the gritty reality of B2B attribution.
I value B2B attribution, especially how it affects SEO reporting, but Leigh is the real B2B attribution Queen. Leigh is an incredible T-shaped marketer. She knows attribution from the PPC side and has an incredible knack for making sense of all the chaos with tools (maybe recommended throughout this article). I’ve learned so much from Leigh, and if you’re a fellow marketer or business owner trying to get a better grip on attribution, I think you’ll find her perspective super valuable.
Top tip for reading this article: if you prefer soundbites, I’ve linked to many throughout this article. If you click the link, it’ll take you to the right section within the podcast video on YouTube.
Important note: my sound completely messed up for this podcast (so sorry!) Luckily, Leigh talks way more than I do in this one!
If you prefer to listen to our conversation, the video is below, or you can find us on your favourite podcast apps.
What is marketing attribution?
Marketing attribution is the process of identifying which marketing touchpoints contribute to a conversion. Sounds simple enough, right? But in B2B, where buying decisions involve multiple stakeholders, longer sales cycles, and a web of online and offline activity, attribution quickly becomes a lot more complicated.
🎙️ 05:13 – listen and watch the soundbite on YouTube “For those who might not know what attribution is, or what we’re going to be talking about I’ll give you a preface of this. An attribution is the time it takes for someone to convert and what channel the conversion gets attributed to. When we talk about channel we talk about anything from organic, paid, it could be referrals. Attribution depends on which channel gets given that conversion when someone converts.”
What commonly happens is that the marketing channel that closes the deal is the one that gets the attribution.
A sale from a link click in an email, that’s a sale attributed to email.
But is it?
How did you get the email address into your marketing database in the first place?
The key with B2B marketing attribution is establishing to what extent each channel played in closing a deal.
When attribution is working well, it helps marketers:
- Understand which channels are actually moving the needle
- Allocate budget more effectively
- Make strategic decisions based on insight, not assumption
🎙️ 05:53 – listen and watch the soundbite on YouTube “As marketers, you’ll know that someone could touch the brand 10 times before converting, so how do you accurately attribute a conversion to one source? Then the other thing we have to consider is attribution windows as well. This is where it gets really tricky. Google Ads has a default attribution window of 30 days, so if someone sees a search ad of mine and interacts with it and 29 days later they come to the website via organic, Google ads is going to pinch some of that attribution when in actual fact it’s organic led to that conversion, but we do have to attribute it slightly to both.”
Attribution models and their limitations
- First-click attribution: Gives 100% of the credit to the first touchpoint. Great for understanding what brings people into your world. What it doesn’t do is capture the rest of the journey.
- Last-click attribution: Attributes the conversion to the final touchpoint. This is what most CRMs default to, but it often misses the effort that went into warming up the lead.
- Linear attribution: Spreads the credit evenly across every touchpoint. A bit of a blunt instrument, but fairer than first- or last-click alone.
- Time-decay attribution: Gives more weight to interactions that happen closer to the conversion. Sadly, no longer available in Google Ads, but it used to be a favourite of Leigh’s.
- Data-driven attribution: Uses historical data to model how different touchpoints contribute to conversions. This is Google Ads’ current default and generally the best option for longer B2B journeys.
- Multi-touch attribution: A broader term that refers to models (like linear or data-driven) that account for more than one interaction.
🎙️ 09:57 – view the soundbite “I’ll go over what different what we call attribution models and what they mean because you would have probably heard some of these and what we kind of use, what Google Ads uses, what’s not working, what you can’t use anymore, but also why it’s really important to understand what which each of these mean.
“First, there’s first click or first touch attribution and last click or last touch, which means, (if we were talking about organic and Google ads here) the attribution would give credit to organic if that is the first time the user interacted with. Last click will be Google ads because that is the last channel the buyer interacted with for the conversion.
“Next, there’s linear: each organic and Google ads would both get 50/50.
“Data driven iss a little bit different because it uses past data to calculate the actual contribution of each interaction so how I see that working is that if someone came to the website twice via organic and once via Google ads, then the attribution would be split out like that so we could safely say it’ be like 80/20.
“Time decay time decay gives credit to the touch point closer to the time of the attribution so again it would go to Google ads.
“Finally, multi-touch is an influence of multiple touch points so it would essentially a little bit similar to linear. You might give equal credit to both.”
Common challenge we see in B2B attribution
Even with the right models and tools in place, B2B attribution is rarely clean. It’s a multi-touch, cross-platform puzzle, and the way most businesses track and report on performance often doesn’t reflect that reality.
Here are some of the most common issues we see again and again when working with B2B clients:
Siloed reporting
PPC and SEO often get reported in isolation, sometimes even by different teams or agencies. But that separation doesn’t reflect how customers actually behave.
People don’t care if a touchpoint was “organic” or “paid.” They just engage with what’s in front of them.
We see this with our own clients. Leigh handles paid, and I manage SEO, and despite us working closely together, even our reports can appear disconnected. The same lead might be influenced by both, but the way it’s tracked and reported makes it look like we each “own” different conversions.
We’re very careful to quash this in our reporting.
🎙️09:04 – listen and watch the soundbite on YouTube “There is definitely an overlap in what we’re reporting on and our client will sometimes come back and tell us they haven’t as manuy lead forms as reported and we have to explain: yeah because we’re both reporting off one different tools. There is an overlap in the conversions but we’ve tried to attribute fairly across both channels. It’s very difficult when we have to report separately. Google ads may have brought in or organic may have brought in the first click and Google ads retargeting has brought in the conversion but they’ve both equally done the same thing.”
Overreliance on last-click attribution
A lot of CRMs use last-click attribution by default. It’s tidy and easy to report on.
And completely misleading in most B2B contexts.
Last-click tells you the final step before a conversion, but not the journey that got someone there. If a PPC ad brought in a first-time visitor and SEO closed the deal (or vice versa), one channel gets the credit, and the other appears underperforming.
This often leads to poor decision-making around budget and performance.
Inflated display reporting
Display ads can be useful for brand awareness but they’re notorious for muddying attribution. The big culprit? View-through conversions.
A view-through conversion means someone saw an ad but didn’t click it — yet if they convert within a set window, the ad still claims the win.
Some agencies exploit this. They stretch attribution windows to 30+ days and rack up conversion stats for ads that were barely noticed. Meanwhile, the client thinks the display is doing wonders, but GA4 tells a very different story.
🎙️20:22 – listen and watch the soundbite on YouTube “I’ve seen this far too often: display can report on what we call click-through and view-through. A click-through makes sense; you had to click through to the ad and then convert.
Everyone reports on this.“But some report on view-through conversions, so you only have to see a snippet of an ad on a website to earn a conversion. You could convert via retargeting later or organic display, but because you’ve seen that ad, it will attribute to the display ad, even if you were just reading an article and you didn’t even interact with the ad. Say I’m just reading the Daily Mail, for instance and I’ve scrolled past an, but the ad registers thayt as a view because it was displayed while I was reading, but I’m still unaware of it, and 29 days later I convert, the display ad will take the attribution even though I’ve not even recognized it was there.
“This is why I think some agencies do get a bad rep because they will overinflate their conversions based on this data, that’s why it’s so important to have that feedback loop if you’re hiring someone, you really do want to be sharing what you’re seeing your end.”
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Futher listening: Hiring Marketing Freelancers: Yay or Nay? In this podcast we share the red and green flags of good and bad freelancers so you can find someone who won’t overinflate their metrics!
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Top-funnel campaigns dismissed
Awareness campaigns don’t often convert directly, especially in B2B, where decisions take time. But because of how attribution works, these campaigns often look like they’re not pulling their weight.
We’ve seen fantastic top-of-funnel content get killed off prematurely just because it didn’t generate immediate conversions, even though it clearly influenced them down the line.
If you’re only looking at last-touch data, you’ll never see the value of warming up a lead weeks before they convert.
Underreported SEO
SEO is another channel that often gets the short end of the stick or accidentally claims credit it doesn’t deserve. Brand search is a big reason why.
If someone sees a YouTube ad, follows you on LinkedIn, reads your blog, and then searches your brand name to get in touch, organic search gets the win, even though it didn’t start the journey.
How we approach attribution (and solve common B2B marketing attribution challenges)
We’re not claiming to have all the answers, and attribution in B2B will never be 100% perfect. But we do have a process that helps us get to a much clearer picture, especially when working with long sales cycles and multi-touch journeys.
Here’s how Leigh and I approach attribution when we’re working with clients:
Start by defining the sales cycle length
Everything starts here.
If your sales cycle is four days, you might get away with a last-click model. But in B2B, cycles are usually much longer: weeks, months, or even years. That changes everything. A 30-day attribution window (like Google Ads uses by default) simply doesn’t cut it.
If you know that your average lead-to-sale takes 90 days, you need a model and reporting setup that reflects that — otherwise, you’re going to underreport performance and misjudge what’s working.
Use GA4 attribution path reports to show the full journey
We both love GA4’s Attribution Paths report. It’s one of the most eye-opening tools for helping clients see how complex their customer journeys really are.
🎙️16:01 – listen and watch the soundbite on YouTube – “In GA4, they’ve got an attribution paths report which you can have a look at. I I love showing clients this because of what it gives you. It shows you the picture of how many times people actually touch your brand before converting. It will give each of the stages as well so if you’ve got a funneled approach with your ads it’s going to show you at each stage how someone is interacting with your brand. It also shows you how long it takes them to convert and this is especially important when we talk about B2B which tends to be outside of that 30-day attribution window.”
Here’s a screenshot from our client’s Google Analytics Attribution Paths report:
Here’s how you get to that report:
Go to GA4 > in the left-hand menu, click “Advertising“ > “Attribution” > “Attribution paths”
It reveals how many steps typically happen before a conversion and which channels are involved along the way. It’s a great way to show that marketing isn’t linear, and no single channel operates in a vacuum.
Educate clients and management on the difference between platform versus GA4 reporting
One of the biggest sources of confusion in B2B attribution is when different platforms report different things — and they will. Meta might say it drove 12 conversions. Google Ads might say 15. But then GA4 shows something totally different.
We always make time to explain:
- How each platform tracks and claims conversions
- What those attribution windows look like (e.g. Meta = 7 days, Google Ads = 30 days)
- Why we recommend using GA4 as a consistent source of truth for cross-channel insights
🎙️ 36:45 – listen and watch the soundbite on YouTube – “If you are a small business or just starting and you haven’t got a huge marketing budget, I think you can safely use G4 and use that as your source of truth. Attribution path reports build that picture, and as long as all your tracking is okay GA4 is pretty decent. It doesn’t have the longevity, it doesn’t have the longest cycle; I think the maximum it will go up to is like 60 days.
Track everything (even offline)
Some of the best leads don’t leave digital footprints.
That’s why we recommend creating a simple system, even just a shared Google Sheet, to log:
- Word-of-mouth referrals
- Leads that come in via calls or business cards
- Offline events like direct mail, webinars, or meetups
If your CRM allows, build these into your lead source fields. If not, just write them down. It’s low-fi, but it works.
🎙️ 40:20 – listen and watch the soundbite on YouTube –“Do you know how many people don’t track leads even if you’re a small business? Just get a spreadsheet, a Google sheet or whatever, track the date and how they got in touch. Keep all that information because it will help you later down the line when you’re wondering if the quality of leads are good from marketing. It amazes me that people don’t do it, and I think that is a really good way to see some of the offline marketing.
“We did this with the agency and an annual direct mail campaign. We would only do it once a year, and sometimes it would take like two years, so two cycles of that direct mail campaign, to get someone to actually come in and have a visit to the office. If we didn’t keep track of it we wouldn’t hve appreciated it. B2B does take a long time. Sometimes people have tied into contracts for a year in B2B before they can hire someone else to work.”
Talk to sales teams
We’re big believers in closing the loop between marketing and sales.
It’s not enough to report on volume — we want to know about lead quality. Are these the right-fit customers? Are they converting? Did they mention seeing us somewhere unexpected?
Without that feedback loop, you’re flying blind.
Just ask your leads
Especially in B2B, people are happy to tell you how they found you — you just need to ask.
If someone fills out a contact form, make “How did you hear about us?” a required field. Or ask in your first call. These little nuggets often validate what your reporting thinks is happening — or reveal something it missed.
Use attribution software for bigger clients
For more advanced attribution, especially with enterprise or high-ticket B2B clients, we bring in third-party tools. One of Leigh’s favourites is DreamData.
🎙️ 42:16 – listen and watch the soundbite on YouTube“I was introduced to a platform called dream data which is an attribution platform. We got access to the software through a client. Being B2B, Dream Data really helped tie the picture together.
“For our campaign, we didn’t actually didn’t find that many direct conversions via Google ads and the reason for that is because of this attribution window. People weren’t converting in that 30-day window, however having this software that tracks people coming to the website you could marry up is a picture and see they’d lookeded at this ad and this campaign three months ago. Then, they’ve come back organically and they’ve signed up to the email newsletter and they’ve got in touch from that webinar.
“Whilst we haven’t directly converted that Google ads if the Google ads campaign wasn’t in there in the first place they never would have been able to find the brand and they never would have signed up to the webinar etc etc.
“I went through this with the client and and then we could look at reporting and we could say: okay how many sales are in or in the pipeline that were directly from a Google ads and actually that picture was then 50 times more because I remember the client questioned me because it wasn’t what she was seeing on her CRM and the reason for that is because a CRM will do last touch attribution; it’s the final thing that they’ve come from so Google she was asked ‘Where have you got this data from?’ And I and then I explained it with Dreamdata and they were like ‘Yeah that makes perfect sense.’
Dream Data connects the dots between anonymous early sessions, ad impressions, and final conversions, giving you a much more complete view of the journey.
Yes, tools like this are an investment. But if attribution matters to your business (and in B2B, it always does), it’s worth it.
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Case study: We were so proud of this particular case study we published it on our site. Read how our client got:
- £260k worth of contracts in the pipeline from search campaigns alone
- +260% increase in conversions from PPC effort
- 133 new keywords ranking on page one (includes money-generating pages, not just blogs)
- +82% increase in clicks from non-branded keywords
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Final Advice for B2B Marketers
- Attribution is messy but manageable.
- Don’t report view-through conversions as definitive proof of success (and don’t let anyone fob you off with that, either!)
- Avoid overemphasising vanity metrics (CTR, impressions) without real conversion insight.
- Be wary of agencies that inflate attribution to justify their channel worked.
- You can get to 90% accuracy if you combine data, insight, and open communication.
- Choose a model that fits your business, and review it regularly.
- Above all: talk, track, and test — that’s the key to understanding attribution.
Want help from a SEM agency that believes in attribution?
We’d love to hear form you if you want to talk to two professionals who love B2B marketing (especially WordPress websites!) and attribution! Contact us!
