Why attribution and impact are no longer the same thing in PPC

Generative AI is significantly altering the customer journey, creating a divergence between what influences a conversion and what receives credit in Pay-Per-Click (PPC) reporting. Consumers now discover products through social media, research via YouTube reviews and Reddit, consult AI-powered search tools for comparisons, and may ultimately convert through a branded Google search ad. While PPC reports might technically credit the last click, this attribution is strategically incomplete, failing to capture the full influence of earlier touchpoints. Generative AI is reshaping brand discovery, purchase research, and advertising platform decision-making, while simultaneously reducing advertiser visibility into these platform processes. Consequently, advertisers can no longer solely rely on platform attribution as definitive business intelligence. Responsive's 2025 "Inside the Buyer's Mind" research indicates that generative AI has surpassed traditional search for one-quarter of B2B buyers, with nearly two-thirds using AI as much as or more than search for vendor research. This trend is particularly strong in the technology sector, where 80% of technology buyers use generative AI at least as much as traditional search for vendor research, and over half use LLM assistants as a primary source for discovering new vendors. If a buyer uses AI to create a shortlist before engaging with search engines or company websites, visibility during this initial research phase is crucial. Brands not appearing in AI-generated answers may be excluded from the consideration set. Google's own search evolution, with AI Overviews reaching over 2.5 billion monthly active users and AI Mode surpassing a billion monthly active users as announced at Google I/O in May, further accelerates this shift.