Conversion window
attribution window / click-through window / click-through conversion window
A conversion window is how long after somebody clicks your ad a resulting action still gets counted. Google's default for click-through conversions is 30 days. Changing the window is not retroactive, so an action that fell outside the old window does not get counted later.
Every conversion action in Google Ads has its own window. After an ad click, Google keeps counting conversions for that action for as long as the window allows, which is 30 days unless somebody changed it. For Search and Display campaigns it can be set anywhere from 1 day up to 30, 60 or 90 days, depending on where the conversions come from. Separate, shorter windows cover people who watched a video ad (3 days by default) or only saw an ad (1 day).
A change only counts from that day forward. Google's own example: a click on March 1 with a 30 day window, cut to 10 days on March 7, then raised to 20 days on March 16. A conversion on March 13 was outside the window in force at the time, so raising it again never brings it back.
Choose the window from how long your customers take. Google points to the time lag report in its attribution reports for this. For a business where most people call within a day or two of clicking, 30 days already covers it. For a big job where people collect quotes for weeks, a longer window catches the enquiry that comes late.
To change it, open Goals, then Conversions, then Summary, open the action, click Edit settings and expand Click-through conversion window. If the action is imported from Google Analytics with attribution set to paid and organic channels, the window has to be changed in Google Analytics instead.
In practice
A remodeler's customers often click an ad, then call about six weeks later after getting other quotes. With the default 30 day window, those calls are never counted, so the campaign looks weaker than it is and automated bidding learns only from the quick deciders. Setting the window to 60 days counts calls like that from the day of the change. The ones already missed stay missed.
Not the same as
- Lookback window
- A control in Google's attribution reports that sets how far back the report looks for ad interactions to credit. It changes the report, not what gets counted, and Google says it is different from the conversion window setting.
- Conversion delay
- The time between the click and the conversion. The window is the limit on how long that delay can be and still count.
Why it matters to you
Google says Smart Bidding counts and optimizes for whatever window you choose. A window shorter than your customers take hides real leads from your reports and from the bidding, so the campaign spends toward the people who decide fastest. Because the change is not retroactive, the right time to check it is before a busy season, not after.
What to ask or check
- 01What is the click-through conversion window on each action we count as a lead, and when was it last changed?
- 02How long do our customers usually take from first click to first call or form?
What people get wrong
That widening the window recovers leads it missed. It does not. A conversion that fell outside the window in force when it happened is never counted.
Where you will see it
In the conversion action's settings in Google Ads, and as a column in the All conversions table under Goals.
Where we fit
Lead and call tracking is one of the things we sell, and it goes in before any ad budget is spent. Reports and settings like this one are part of that work.
See how we do it