The Strategist Center

Google Ads uses Last-Click attribution by default. This means:

If someone sees your YouTube ad on Monday, searches your brand on Wednesday, and converts via a Shopping ad on Friday—the Shopping campaign gets 100% credit. The Search campaign gets nothing. The YouTube ad is invisible.

This causes chronic underinvestment in top-of-funnel channels.

Your CFO sees: "YouTube campaign: $5K spend, $2K revenue, 0.4x ROAS. Kill it."

But the reality is: YouTube drove the brand search that drove the Shopping conversion. Without YouTube, that $15K Shopping revenue doesn't exist.

The Strategist Center makes this invisible value visible.

How it works:

We pull daily spend from your Display/Video campaigns and daily conversions from your Search campaigns. Then we calculate Pearson's r between these two time series with various lags (0, 1, 2... up to 14 days).

Interpreting the results:

The Optimal Lag:

The system highlights the time delay where correlation peaks.

If Display → Search correlation peaks at lag=5 days, it means Display ads take approximately 5 days to drive Search activity. This is your awareness-to-intent pipeline.

Example output:

Lag 0 days: r = 0.12 (no same-day effect)

Lag 3 days: r = 0.38 (moderate)

Lag 5 days: r = 0.67 (strong) ← Optimal lag

Lag 7 days: r = 0.41 (fading)

Lag 14 days: r = 0.09 (no effect)

Translation: Your Display ads create intent that materializes as Search conversions approximately 5 days later.

Data requirements: Minimum 30 days, ideally 90 days. At least $1K/day total spend for statistical reliability.

What it is:

A Display campaign shows $5K direct revenue in Google Ads. But it assisted $80K in downstream conversions. That $80K is ghost value—real revenue that wouldn't exist without the Display campaign, but isn't credited to it under Last-Click.

How we surface it:

The Strategist Center analyzes:

Ghost Value Calculation:

For each campaign, we calculate:

Ghost Value = Assisted Conversions × Average Order Value

The Ghost Value Card:

For each upper-funnel campaign:

The insight: Your "failing" Display campaign is actually your most valuable asset—it's just invisible under Last-Click.

Use this to justify awareness budgets to your CFO. Export the Ghost Value card as evidence.

The question: Does non-brand advertising drive branded search volume?

How we detect it:

The system tracks:

When non-brand spend increases and branded search volume follows (with a lag), that's the Halo Effect.

Visual: Dual-axis line chart showing Non-Brand Spend (left axis) and Branded Search Volume (right axis) over 90 days.

What to look for:

Pattern 1: Clear Halo

Non-brand spend increases 30% → Branded search volume increases 15-20% within 7 days

Translation: Your awareness campaigns are working. People see your ads, remember your name, search for you later.

Pattern 2: No Halo

Non-brand spend increases 50% → Branded search volume stays flat

Translation: Your awareness campaigns aren't creating brand recall. The creative might be generic, or the targeting is too broad.

Pattern 3: Inverse Halo

Non-brand spend decreases → Branded search volume decreases proportionally

Translation: Your brand is dependent on continuous paid awareness. If you cut Display/Video, brand search will decline. Budget accordingly.

Important note: This analysis uses correlation, not causation. External factors (press coverage, word of mouth, seasonality) can also drive branded search. Use this as directional evidence, not proof.

What it shows:

The most common conversion paths from GA4, showing every touchpoint before the final conversion.

Example paths:

Path 1 (23% of conversions):

Display Ad → Organic Search → Brand Search → Purchase

Path 2 (18% of conversions):

YouTube Ad → Direct Visit → Shopping Ad → Purchase

Path 3 (12% of conversions):

Non-Brand Search → Brand Search → Purchase

Why this matters:

Under Last-Click, Path 1 gives 100% credit to Brand Search. Display gets nothing.

But Display initiated the journey. Without it, the user never would have searched your brand.

The Touchpoint Frequency Table:

The insight: Display and YouTube are journey starters (high First Touch %). Brand Search and Shopping are journey closers (high Last Touch %). Both are essential.

Recommended credit model: Consider switching from Last-Click to Position-Based (40% first touch, 40% last touch, 20% middle) for more balanced attribution.

Attribution analysis is a monthly strategic exercise, not a daily task.

First Monday of Every Month (60 minutes):

Step 1: Correlation Check (15 min)

Open the time-lagged correlation matrix. Has the optimal lag changed? Is the correlation strengthening or weakening?

Step 2: Ghost Value Audit (15 min)

Review Ghost Value for each upper-funnel campaign. Any campaigns with high Ghost Value but low direct ROAS? → These are your hidden heroes. Don't cut them.

Step 3: Halo Effect Trend (15 min)

Check the dual-axis chart. Is branded search growing with non-brand spend? If not, your awareness creative might need refreshing.

Step 4: Path Analysis (15 min)

Review the top 5 conversion paths. Any new patterns? Any channels disappearing from paths (might indicate tracking issues)?

Output:

A one-page attribution summary showing: True ROAS per channel (including Ghost Value), Halo Effect strength, Recommended budget allocation shifts.

Use Strategist Center when you want to:

Don't use Strategist Center when you want to:

Who Should Use This:

✅ Strategists and CMOs (cross-channel budget decisions)

✅ Analysts (attribution modeling)

✅ Agency leads (justifying channel mix to clients)

❌ Daily practitioners (too strategic for daily optimization)

How Often: Monthly. Quarterly for formal reporting to stakeholders.