Glossary · Attribution
What is view-through conversion?
A view-through conversion is a conversion credited to an ad that the person saw (an impression) but did not click, because they converted within a set time after seeing it.
Also called: VTC, Impression-based conversion
Updated
How are view-through conversions counted?
View-through conversions = conversions within the view window after an impression, with no ad click
The ad platform records the impression with its own identifiers. If the same person converts within the view-through window — for example Meta's default 1-day view window — and didn't click any ad in the meantime, the platform reports a view-through conversion. Google Ads reports them for display and video campaigns, with a separate view-through window.
View-through conversion example
A display campaign reaches 400,000 people and gets 600 clicks and 30 click-through conversions. The platform also reports 220 view-through conversions. Most of those 220 people would likely have bought anyway — they're your existing audience, and the ad simply happened to load on a page they visited. Counting them at full value makes the campaign look eight times better.
Why view-through conversions matter
Brand and video ads can influence people who never click, so ignoring views entirely under-credits them. But view-through counts are self-reported by the platform selling the ads, can't be verified from your own data, and overlap heavily with conversions that would have happened regardless.
How to treat view-through conversions
- Report them separately from click-through conversions; never add them together silently.
- Use short view windows.
- Validate with holdout or geo tests: does conversion actually drop where the ads don't run?
- Compare against your own analytics, which only sees visits — a large gap means much of the claimed impact isn't visible as traffic.
How VisitTrack handles view-through conversions
VisitTrack measures visits to your site, not ad impressions on other sites, so it doesn't count view-through conversions — and doesn't claim to. A visit appears as a touch only when someone actually arrives, with a referrer, UTM tags or an ad click ID. That makes VisitTrack's revenue-by-channel a conservative, verifiable baseline to hold ad platforms' view-through claims against. See revenue attribution.
Frequently asked questions
Should I count view-through conversions?
Count them separately and with caution. They can reflect real brand influence, but they're reported by the ad platform, can't be verified in your own analytics, and often include people who would have converted anyway.
What is the difference between click-through and view-through conversions?
A click-through conversion follows a click on an ad; a view-through conversion follows only an impression, with no click, within the view-through window.
Related terms
- Attribution windowAn attribution window, or lookback window, is the maximum time between an ad interaction or visit and a conversion for that interaction to receive credit for it.
- ImpressionsImpressions are the number of times a piece of content — a search result, an ad, a post — was displayed to users, whether or not anyone clicked it.
- Click IDA click ID is a unique identifier that an ad platform or social network appends to a link's URL when someone clicks it — such as gclid for Google Ads, fbclid for Meta or twclid for X — so the click can be matched to a later conversion.
- Multi-touch attributionMulti-touch attribution is any attribution approach that divides the credit for a conversion across several of the touchpoints that preceded it, instead of giving it all to the first or last one.
- Last-touch attributionLast-touch attribution is an attribution model that gives 100% of the credit for a conversion to the source of the last visit before it happened.
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