I've been pondering this for a while (thanks for the post); and I think part of this comes back to lifetime visitor values. If someone searched and converted again on the same site – makes me think that this company wasn't top-of-mind as a direct return visitor; and makes me think that a better loyalty program needs to be put into place if it happens often (it'll happen some regardless).

If product 2 was complimentary to product 1 — meaning that by buying the first product the company was more likely to do business again with the same product – then the initial keywords should get some attribution.

If product 2 was completely different, and the initial keyword didn't help increase the conversion process for the 2nd buy – they the first keyword shouldn't get any attribution.

Now – how do you automate and scale that type of decision?

I've been pondering this for a while (thanks for the post); and I think part of this comes back to lifetime visitor values. If someone searched and converted again on the same site – makes me think that this company wasn't top-of-mind as a direct return visitor; and makes me think that a better loyalty program needs to be put into place if it happens often (it'll happen some regardless).

If product 2 was complimentary to product 1 — meaning that by buying the first product the company was more likely to do business again with the same product – then the initial keywords should get some attribution.

If product 2 was completely different, and the initial keyword didn't help increase the conversion process for the 2nd buy – they the first keyword shouldn't get any attribution.

Now – how do you automate and scale that type of decision?

My Answer: Only if they contributed to the conversion.

This is a trick question. You have not provided enough information to give an answer.

Show me a few thousand cases of people clicking on various ads in various different sequences, who buy at different times along the way, and I'll analyze it and give you the answer.

Maybe 60% of the people who see Ad #3 will then buy, and the data shows that it makes no difference whether they ever saw Ad #1 or Ad #2. Or maybe people who saw Ad #1 are twice as likely to buy when later they are exposed to Ad #3. Without the data, it's impossible to say.

Is this a guest post by the Mad Hatter? : )

This blog is amazingly great, one of my favorites, but today's question throws me for a loop!

Also, in countries where Google has a search share of 70-80% it's safe to assume that Adwords often overrides banners and other forms of advertising. In other words, Google has the luxury of “stealing” credit from other ads (as measured in many web analytics tools) simply because searching is so common.

Click on banner ad #1 -> Click on banner ad #2 -> Search on Google -> All credit to Google.

We see a banner, we click on it, we don't buy right away. A day later we decide to buy, but we can't remember the URL. We search. We buy. Kaching Google.