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]
www.kallenweb.com/
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]
www.kallenweb.com/Web-Design-Portfolio.htm
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]
www.kallenweb.com/
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
2tw200forum.com/forums/9075/ShowPost.aspx
2search.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
2www.rendergreen.com/dad/TW200/TW-200_Fuel_Filter.htm
2search.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]

Originally Posted by auctionhugh

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]

Originally Posted by auctionhugh

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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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!

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]

Originally Posted by chrisooc

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.