Search engines queries listed twice every time

[auctionhugh]

This started happening several months ago. Under recent pageloads, the first page and the last page for each visit are always the search engine hit.

It should only be the first pageload. I'm sorry I don't know how to describe the problem well. Perhaps I can paste in what I'm talking about:

May 2507:17:33 AMMSIE 7.0Windows XP1024x768United Statesadsl-69-211-116-99.dsl.chcgil.ameritech.net (69.211.116.99) [Label IP Address] (http://my7.statcounter.com/project/standard/project/standard/add_ip_address_label.php?project_id=265270&ip_address=69.211.116.99&return_url=%2Fproject%2Fstandard%2Fpageload.php%3F project_id%3D265270%26account_id%3D257666%26login_ id%3D5%26code%3D4489fb66fab08a0ce6cc8d06d133a3b2&PHPSESSID=d942324f8f750d9892cd1c2593050c4f)
www.kallenweb.com/ (http://www.kallenweb.com/)
www.google.com/search?q=BUSINESS Website designer&hl=en&start=30&sa=N (http://www.google.com/search?q=BUSINESS Website designer&hl=en&start=30&sa=N)

May 2507:16:49 AMMSIE 7.0Windows XP1024x768United Statesadsl-69-211-116-99.dsl.chcgil.ameritech.net (69.211.116.99) [Label IP Address] (http://my7.statcounter.com/project/standard/project/standard/add_ip_address_label.php?project_id=265270&ip_address=69.211.116.99&return_url=%2Fproject%2Fstandard%2Fpageload.php%3F project_id%3D265270%26account_id%3D257666%26login_ id%3D5%26code%3D4489fb66fab08a0ce6cc8d06d133a3b2&PHPSESSID=d942324f8f750d9892cd1c2593050c4f)
www.kallenweb.com/Web-Design-Portfolio.htm (http://www.kallenweb.com/Web-Design-Portfolio.htm)
www.kallenweb.com/ (http://www.kallenweb.com/)

May 2507:16:45 AMMSIE 7.0Windows XP1024x768United Statesadsl-69-211-116-99.dsl.chcgil.ameritech.net (69.211.116.99) [Label IP Address] (http://my7.statcounter.com/project/standard/project/standard/add_ip_address_label.php?project_id=265270&ip_address=69.211.116.99&return_url=%2Fproject%2Fstandard%2Fpageload.php%3F project_id%3D265270%26account_id%3D257666%26login_ id%3D5%26code%3D4489fb66fab08a0ce6cc8d06d133a3b2&PHPSESSID=d942324f8f750d9892cd1c2593050c4f)
www.kallenweb.com/ (http://www.kallenweb.com/)
www.google.com/search?q=BUSINESS Website designer&hl=en&start=30&sa=N (http://www.google.com/search?q=BUSINESS Website designer&hl=en&start=30&sa=N)

Notice the first and last pageload are both the search engine.

However, I'm sure only the first one should be listed.

It is not horrible of course, but it messes up all the statistics, so you can see that the search BUSINESS website designer shows two hits when really it is only one, here:
14No referring link
2www.google.com/search?q=Web design Kalamazoo&hl=en&start=0&sa=N (http://www.google.com/search?q=Web design Kalamazoo&hl=en&start=0&sa=N)
2tw200forum.com/forums/9075/ShowPost.aspx (http://tw200forum.com/forums/9075/ShowPost.aspx)
2search.live.com/results.aspx?srch=105&q=website design for small business&first=11&FORM=PERE (http://search.live.com/results.aspx?srch=105&q=website design for small business&first=11&FORM=PERE)
2www.google.com/search?q=BUSINESS Website designer&hl=en&start=30&sa=N (http://www.google.com/search?q=BUSINESS Website designer&hl=en&start=30&sa=N)
2www.rendergreen.com/dad/TW200/TW-200_Fuel_Filter.htm (http://www.rendergreen.com/dad/TW200/TW-200_Fuel_Filter.htm)
2search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=small business web design&FORM=MSNHBT (http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=small business web design&FORM=MSNHBT)

Every time someone comes from a search engine, the first and last pageload show them coming from the search engine. Can this be corrected, please?

[Sharron]

Notice the first and last pageload are both the search engine.



Take note that the time is different. Could be they ran the google search twice and clicked on google search result for your site twice.
May 2507:17:33

May 2507:16:45

[webado]

Every time someone comes from a search engine, the first and last pageload show them coming from the search engine. Can this be corrected, please?

Well, there's nothing to correct on the Statcounter end. It's how the visitors come.

Statcounter logs every hit and for every hit it records the page visited and the referrer, it doesn't invent any.

[auctionhugh]

First let me say I totally love statcounter, am very appreciative of the service you offer, and am not trying to complain.

However.

I know it seems like perhaps they are clicking it twice, but I do not believe this is what is actually happening.

Look over my logs. Why would nearly every person visiting my site from a search engine have this exact same pattern:

Click on the search engine link to my site.
Click around to the various pages in my site.
finally as the last click....
Click on the search engine link to my site again.

I am a systems analyst and have an intuitive sense when things are goofy, and this, I think it is safe to say, has a goofy pattern. I would appreciate your investigating it a little further.

Thank you.

[webado]

Sorry, there's nothing goofy or odd.

You can see there are different times for each hit. That's what they are doing. Statcounter cannot invent anyhting.

[rotarysteve]

Wait one, I have an explanation for this, they are using the backbutton on their browser. Let me get the explanation out of my PM.

[rotarysteve]

Since the person looking through your pages is using the backbutton, it goes backwards through the URL history of their browser, and that "re-load" of the page, uses the original refer that the page had when they first visited it.

[Car Guy]

Since the person looking through your pages is using the backbutton, it goes backwards through the URL history of their browser, and that "re-load" of the page, uses the original refer that the page had when they first visited it.

Finally I get it. I was a little confused myself. This explains it. I especially was concerned because I saw my Adwords URL again, and thought; I'm getting charged again! :shock:

Thanks

[webado]

Or they can be doing a search and several pages from the website are listed.
The click the first one, which opens in a tab or a new page. Maybe click to a second page while on the site. Then in the original tab they have the search results, so go through that tab and click another one of those results.

Then first hit and the third one have the same Google url and query string.

[auctionhugh]

Then first hit and the third one have the same Google url and query string.

In my case, the first and last hit always have the exact same google url, query string, and landing page on my site.

I could believe the "using the back button" theory as more likely.

If it was using the back button though, it should not be reporting another hit, as going back to the search engine is not a hit to my page.

I sincerely believe that something is being inaccurately reported here, and other users are confirming they are seeing it too.

You know, it might not make a big difference to many of the statcounter users, especially the paid subscribers who can track thousands of hits. In my case though, we get around, I dunno, 40-60 hits a day, and having a bunch of extra "false" or "echo" pageloads reported cuts down on any meaningful analysis and makes the 100 loads tracked roll over more quickly than need be.

Again, I love statcounter, even if this little thing is screwed up I'm very appreciative of the service you are giving me for free. But I do think this issue needs some serious analysis and perhaps some adjustment of the statcounter algorithm to ignore, not count, and not report these "echo" pageloads at the end.

[rotarysteve]

I could believe the "using the back button" theory as more likely.


I'm sure there are other possibilities like Chris mentioned, but I tested it from one of the computers I have use of. I turned off my blocking cookie and I navigated my way into my site starting from a google search page, then I backed my way out and was able to see clearly that on my way back out of the site, it used the referrer from my browser history.

Give it a try......

[auctionhugh]

I opened a support ticket on this. After some back and forth conversation and the behaviour and misstatement of search engine hits being confirmed, I was told the following:

Browser back button is a client side activity and cannot be controlled programatically. I have escalated this to our developers for their review and will update you as soon as I hear from them.

Thanks!

Tarak
StatCounter Team

Which is good. It makes sense that a developer would have to figure out a solution to the double reporting of came from when visitors use the back button. I'm sure this can be resolved if it can be prioritized by the excellent statcounter team.

[webado]

Except I personally don't see how that can be determined.

[auctionhugh]

I'm sure it will be a challenge. I don't know how it all works behind the scenes, but I'm sure there must be some way to signal that you are going forward to a page from a search engine, rather than back to a page from another page in the site. I will have to leave the algorithms to the developers though!

Except I personally don't see how that can be determined.

[webado]

Only javascript can figure out what a user is doing in their browser.

And it's something you can only provide yourself on your webpage - with event triggers. Something in the head that would capture the user's action (assuming it's not being blocked by other things).

If you detect the user's been navigating usign a back button, then maybe you can decide not to include the Statcounter code.


Having this done from the Statcounter end would likely be impossible, plus it appears to go against what Statcounter code is: a hit tracker. When a page is loaded in the browser, no matter how, as long as it has the code on it, it's a pageload, a hit to that page.

I may be wrong, mind you... wouldn't be the first time ;)

[auctionhugh]

Likewise I'm not claiming I know what I'm talking about. :-D

But it does seem that statcounter is regularly and consistently incorrectly reporting hits from search engines that are not actually taking place, so I appreciate the "powers that be" prioritizing a resolution, if it can be resolved.