Attribution and Conversion Lag (Do Not Panic Early)
What beginners misread
- Ads and GA4 can show different numbers.
- Conversions can arrive hours or days later.
Conversion lag
Some businesses:
- book calls same day
- purchase same session
- convert after several visits
Beginner rule:
- do not make big changes based on 24-hour data.
Attribution differences
- Google Ads: optimized for ad interactions and bidding systems
- GA4: analytics model and reporting attribution
Mini-lab
Write your expected conversion lag:
- same day
- 1-3 days
- 7+ days
Then choose a review cadence that matches it.
Next Step
Continue to Lab: End-to-End Conversion Test Script.