> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.moleculedata.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.moleculedata.com/understanding-your-data/how-attribution-works.md).

# How attribution works

What a touch is, what the nine attribution models do, and which one to pick when you are starting out.

Attribution is the job of deciding **which channel earned an order**. It sounds simple until a real customer shows up: they see a Facebook ad, forget about it, find you on Google a week later, then type your address in directly and buy.

Who earned that sale? There is no single correct answer, which is why Molecule lets you choose.

## What a touch is

A **touch** is one visit to your store that came from somewhere identifiable — a click on your Facebook ad, an organic Google result, a link in a newsletter. One order usually has several.

{% hint style="info" %}
Molecule does not use a tracking cookie of its own. The journey comes from the visit history **Shopify itself records** against each order, combined with the UTM tags on your ad links. That is why the UTM setup matters so much: without it, a paid click looks like an anonymous visit and your ads cannot be credited for what they sold.
{% endhint %}

## The three choices behind the nine models

Every attribution method in Molecule is a combination of three decisions.

**1. Which touch gets the credit**

* **First touch** — all the credit to the visit that started it.
* **Last touch** — all the credit to the visit right before the order.
* **U-shape** — credit shared. One touch takes everything. Two touches split it evenly. With three or more, the first and the last take 40% each and the remaining 20% is shared evenly by the touches in the middle.

**2. Can direct visits win credit**

* **Direct** — yes. Someone typing your address can take the credit.
* **Non-direct** — no. Direct and unknown visits are skipped, and credit goes to the last identifiable source instead.

**3. Can organic search win credit**

* **Non-SEO** variants also skip organic search visits, so your paid channels are credited ahead of SEO.

## One journey, nine answers

Take the customer from the top of this page: they click a **Facebook ad**, later arrive through an **organic Google** result, then come back **direct** and order.

| Attribution method               | Facebook ad | Organic Google | Direct visit |
| -------------------------------- | ----------- | -------------- | ------------ |
| Last touch, direct               | —           | —              | 100%         |
| Last touch, non-direct           | —           | 100%           | —            |
| Last touch, non-direct, non-SEO  | 100%        | —              | —            |
| First touch, direct              | 100%        | —              | —            |
| First touch, non-direct          | 100%        | —              | —            |
| First touch, non-direct, non-SEO | 100%        | —              | —            |
| U-shape, direct                  | 40%         | 20%            | 40%          |
| U-shape, non-direct              | 50%         | 50%            | —            |
| U-shape, non-direct, non-SEO     | 100%        | —              | —            |

Same order, same money, nine defensible ways to hand out the credit. This is why your Facebook ROAS changes when you change the dropdown, and why comparing a number from one model against a number from another tells you nothing.

## Changing the model does not change your revenue

{% hint style="info" %}
Switching attribution method never makes orders disappear. If an order's journey has only the kind of touches a model skips — for example, a direct visit and nothing else — that model falls back rather than dropping the order. Your total sales stay the same. Only the split between channels moves.
{% endhint %}

## Which one should you use

**Start on Last touch, direct.** It is the default, it is the easiest to explain to yourself, and it matches the way most shop owners already think about their sales.

Then use the others as questions, not as settings to keep changing:

* **First touch** asks: which channel is finding me new people?
* **U-shape** asks: what is the whole journey worth, not just the finish?
* **Non-direct** asks: what happens if I stop giving credit to people who already knew my name?
* **Non-SEO** asks: how much of my "paid" performance is really my organic traffic?

{% hint style="warning" %}
Pick one method for day-to-day reporting and stay on it. If you change methods every week, every number moves and you will read it as a performance change when nothing about your ads has changed at all.
{% endhint %}

## Where to use it

The attribution method sits at the top of the [Dashboard](https://docs.moleculedata.com/dashboards/dashboard) and applies to every metric, table and chart on the page.

If a channel you are paying for is not showing up at all, that is usually a tracking problem, not an attribution one — check your [UTM tracking](https://docs.moleculedata.com/tracking-ad-channels/utm-tracking-basics) first.