Hey Reader,

I’ve been working with a long-time client on tightening up some of the gaps in their attribution, and one major roadblock keeps coming to mind. And that’s 125 real, confirmed leads, all trackable in the platforms that generated them, but nowhere to be found in GA4.

But this isn’t a broken tracking issue, or due to ad blockers, or consent settings. Instead, these leads came through Google LSA form fills and Google Ads lead forms. Both formats let a potential customer fill out a contact form directly in the search results, which means no click-through, no page load, no session. As a result, GA4 had nothing to capture, because there was no website visit to capture! The platforms, of course, knew about the leads. The client knew about the leads. GA4 was completely unaware they had ever existed.

This kind of gap is difficult to fix because it’s almost impossible to offsite data (with attribution!) in GA4. I say “almost impossible” because there is a rumour that something may be coming out on Google Marketing Live on May 20, that may help. We’ll see.

But even if I close this gap, there will be another in the future because more lead gen is moving into off-site formats. As platforms want to keep you on their own ecosystem, and why force them to come to your website if you still get the lead? Session-based analytics was built for a world where leads came to you but that world is getting smaller.

If your reporting is entirely website session-based, you're likely measuring an increasingly narrow slice of your actual lead activity. What are you missing? It’s worth taking the time to note down what you’re not seeing, and accounting for that in your reporting approach.

Dana DiTomaso Founder ​dana@kpplaybook.com​

A Different Way to Evaluate Impressions

Something we’ve been working on with clients through a lot lately is auditing Google Search Console impressions not just by volume, but by where in the funnel those impressions are actually showing up. If 70% of your impressions are awareness-stage keywords and only 10% are comparison-stage, that's a content strategy problem masquerading as a traffic problem.

I put together a framework that shows you how to categorize your impression mix, set a target state based on your actual sales funnel, and track whether the mix is shifting over time. It's a useful thing to look at before you invest more in top-of-funnel content.

​Impression Share by Funnel Position →​

New book: Zero Click Marketing

Amanda Natividad and Rand Fishkin of Sparktoro have a book coming through their own publishing company (Damn Gravity, great name!), and the premise is: how do you build a brand and generate leads when every platform is optimizing to keep your potential customers from ever clicking anywhere? The answer they're making the case for isn't to abandon content, but instead to rethink what "successful content" looks like in a world where reach and visibility matter more than traffic.

​Pre-Order Zero Click Marketing →​

Being found vs being chosen

Navah Hopkins from Microsoft gave this talk at a recent conference, and the framework she lays out is fantastic. “Being found" is a technical checklist: indexability, feed hygiene, structured data, crawlability. Meanwhile, "being chosen" is the human piece: trust signals, reviews, whether you actually deliver on what you promise. What I really liked about this framing is that it highlights that you can nail every technical signal and still lose if the human infrastructure isn't there.

​Watch the talk →​

Pitching server-side tagging to real-world clients

You know server-side tagging is worth doing, but every time you try to explain it, the conversation turns into a snoozy technical lecture no one wants. This piece from Stape is worth bookmarking if you’re struggling with communicating the value of server-side tagging. Try out this framing for your next proposal, and I’m sure it’ll help close the deal.

​Read the piece →​

Where You Can Find Me ​———•

I was recently on Talia Wolf's Heart Before Cart podcast talking about the fragmented funnel, attribution gaps, and why trust is increasingly the thing that actually drives conversion decisions. We got into on-site search as an underused signal, how to build an exits report by using GA4's explorations section, why Reddit is an underserved ad platform for a lot of brands, and how to visualize measurement gaps for clients who still want a tidy source/medium table. I really enjoyed my chat with Talia and I hope it gives you lots of food for thought!

​Listen to the episode →​

That's it for this Huddle. Have questions or have a topic for a future issue? Hit reply and let me know!

Want more? You got it!