Hi Skye,

I can confirm the (default) lookback window in the non-MCF reports e.g. Acquisition reports is 6 months.

Best,
Paul

Thanks for such informative article! However could you please help me to understand if the lookback window in the acquisition report is 6 months instead? As I’m confused to see this on Google support article that the campaign timeout is 6 months by default – https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/2795871?hl=en
I’m not able to find the article that Google mention the default lookback window in acquisition report is 30 days…

Hi Arif,

Thanks for your comment. This is something I haven’t set up / explored before.

Can’t give you a solution right now, but will at it to my list of future articles.

You might want to ask this question on a GA related forum.

Best,
Paul

I was facing the same issue you mentioned in the article.

I can’t combine MCF funnel API with Core Reporting API. I wanted to filter assisted conversion with Goal Conversions.

Can you guide me on the technical work around. I am using Supermetrics Data Studio Pro version.

Thanks, Arif

Hi Jeremy,
The accurateness depends on what information you are looking for. Both reports have different “time periods” on which the attribution and reports are created.
Further, I don’t fully understand what you are saying at number 1: “blog pages is one of the channels”? Are these pages on a different domain not measured in this GA setup?
I need more background information to properly advice.

Hi Sam,

Good question! Usually I don’t like to work with averages, because companies and how they perform differ for many reasons.
Three things:
– I recommend taking a look at your conversion cycle and see how long it takes (on average) before a visitor converts. Still debatable data because of cross-browser, device etc. behavior.
– Play around with the setting – 7 days, 14 days, 30 days, 60 days, 90 days. What is the impact on conversion/attribution – is there a sweet spot?
– To give you an idea, usually 30 days is a good place to start. Go up and down with the setting, see what happens and analyze your data in multiple ways.

Don’t believe someone who says, “you should set it to 90 days”. It isn’t that simple!

Nothing written on stone, but you need to find a model that suits your business best. This requires trial and error and working toward a model that best helps you to optimize your efforts.

Best,
Paul

Thank you Bastien!

I recommend taking into account the impact you’re striving for with your marketing efforts. The time period may be shorter or longer than the default 30 days (in my experience, it’s more often longer than 30 days). Actually, I like to set a few different lookback windows and find out what happens to the data. Are there big differences if I extend or shorten the lookback window? This way you will learn a lot. Further, you can use the “Time Lag” report to get some first ideas. Not exact science in my case, playing around with different scenario’s and all the other information I have!

Great to hear from you Miroslav and I appreciate your kind words!