---
title: "What Is Last-Click Attribution? — SealMetrics Glossary"
description: "Last-click attribution credits a conversion to the final touchpoint before it. How it differs from multi-touch and why SealMetrics uses it on 100% of data."
canonical_url: "https://sealmetrics.com/glossary/last-click-attribution/"
lang: "en"
content_type: "glossary"
owner: "content"
llm_priority: "useful"
last_verified: "2026-08-16"
source: https://sealmetrics.com/glossary/last-click-attribution/
publisher: SealMetrics
---

Definition

# Last-Click Attribution

An attribution model where 100% of the conversion credit goes to the final marketing touchpoint observed before the conversion event. Simple, deterministic, and the foundation of channel-level reporting.

## What it credits, and what it does not

If a visitor arrives via Google CPC, browses for five minutes and converts, last-click credits the conversion to Google CPC. If a visitor arrives via Facebook, leaves, returns via direct (or via a different source) and converts, last-click credits whichever source was observed on the page where the conversion fired. Earlier touchpoints — the email opened last week, the influencer post seen a month ago — receive no credit.

This is deliberate. Last-click does not measure influence; it measures the source that closed the conversion. For media-mix decisions on a single channel at a time, that is usually the correct question.

## Last-click vs [multi-touch](https://sealmetrics.com/glossary/multi-touch-attribution/)

Multi-touch attribution distributes credit across the chain of touchpoints — linear, time-decay or data-driven. To work, it requires per-user tracking: linking pageview A and pageview B to the same visitor across sessions. That requirement makes multi-touch unreachable for any architecture that does not track individuals. SealMetrics counts events anonymously in aggregate, so multi-touch is not part of the product.

## Last-click on 100% of data

Cookie-based last-click attribution still loses data the moment the cookie disappears. SealMetrics applies last-click at the **event level**: the channel observed on the page where the conversion fires gets the credit, on 100% of observed conversions. No cookie required, no expiration risk, no “direct” bucket inflated by ITP. See the full pattern in the [cookieless analytics pillar](https://sealmetrics.com/cookieless-analytics/).

See last-click attribution running on 100% of your traffic — no consent gaps, no modelling.

[Book a demo](https://sealmetrics.com/demo/)[See pricing](https://sealmetrics.com/pricing/)

### Related concepts

- [Attribution Model A rule or algorithm that determines how credit for conversions is distributed across marketing touchpoints. Common models include first-touch, last-touch, linear, time-decay, and data-driven attribution.](https://sealmetrics.com/glossary/attribution-model/)
- [Revenue Attribution Connecting revenue events (purchases, subscriptions) to the marketing channels that drove them. SealMetrics uses last-click on 100% of observed events — no per-user journey tracking, no multi-touch models.](https://sealmetrics.com/glossary/revenue-attribution/)
- [Attribution Window The time period after a marketing touchpoint during which a subsequent conversion is credited to that touchpoint. Windows vary by channel — Google Ads default is 30 days, Meta is 7 days, GA4 is 30/90 days depending on model.](https://sealmetrics.com/glossary/attribution-window/)
- [Multi-Touch Attribution An analytics model that distributes conversion credit across multiple touchpoints observed for the same identified visitor. Requires per-user tracking and is not part of SealMetrics' last-click, anonymous architecture.](https://sealmetrics.com/glossary/multi-touch-attribution/)

Learn more: [Complete Data Pillar](https://sealmetrics.com/complete-data/) · [Product](https://sealmetrics.com/product/)

Quick answer

Last-click attribution is the attribution model that credits 100% of a conversion to the final marketing touchpoint observed before it. If the visitor arrives via Google CPC, browses, and converts in the same session, Google CPC gets the credit. If they leave and return via direct, direct gets the credit. Simple, deterministic, channel-level — the default reporting view of every analytics tool from GA Universal onward.

The cost of simplicity is honesty about what it does not measure: it does not credit earlier touchpoints (emails, influencer posts, retargeting impressions) that influenced the decision before the closing visit. Multi-touch attribution models attempt that — but require per-user tracking across sessions, which collides with consent rejection, ad blockers and Safari ITP. SealMetrics applies last-click at the event level on 100% of observed conversions, anonymously at channel scale, with no cookie required.