Awstats Puzzler

[webnut]

I'm scratching my head over this one.

 

We advertise on Google Adwords (pay per click). In an effort to see what kind of traffic we get from this advertising campaign (i.e., to check up on what Google says the traffic is), we direct all Google Adword "click thru's" to a certain page we call "google_intro.htm." Important note: There are NO internal links to this page.

 

Now for the puzzle. According to Awstats, for October, this page had the following visits:

 

Viewed = 269

Entry = 222

 

Given the fact that there are no internal links to this page, how can the number of times the page was viewed exceed the number of times it was the entry page?

 

I would rule out a visitor clicking the "back" button to reach it again. There's no reason to re-visit it, since it's basically a manual re-direct page... "click here to continue". Maybe I'm wrong. But are there any other circumstances that would explain the discrepancy?

 

 

Thanks

[TCH-Thomas]

First of all, welcome to your extended family

 

I dont know the answer to this but Im moving it for better exposure and organization.

[Virtual Imager]

I wouldn't rule out the back button... many people will click it to get back to their search results so if they get from Google to your redirect page and then to your index page, they would go back through your redirect to get back to Google. I do it all the time...

[TCH-Bruce]

Welcome to the family.

 

And they could be hitting the reload page button if the page doesn't actually contain the content they were looking for.

[TCH-Rob]

I wouldn't rule out the back button... many people will click it to get back to their search results so if they get from Google to your redirect page and then to your index page, they would go back through your redirect to get back to Google. I do it all the time...

I do this all the time and then get irked cause I didnt hit back fast enough to get past the redirect and end up loading that page about six times before I get it.

[TCH-Don]

Welcome to the Family

 

and your new home!

I see lots of people use the back button

even when there is a clear menu.

 

We really are like family here.

So if you need anything,

just ask your new family!

We love to help

[webnut]

Thanks to all for replying and so quickly! And thanks for the hearty welcome, too.

 

I've decided to do an experiment on an isolated website so I can simulate visitor behavior and see how Awstats reports it. The consensus seems to be that it might be visitors clicking back & refresh, and I hope this is correct.

 

If this is the case it might explain the other unexpected --- and disturbing --- statistic I'm trying to figure out, namely the number of times this page was the exit page. Logically, this page shouldn't be an exit page, but it was 79 times. My initial suspicion (paranoia) is that one of my competitors might be deliberately driving up my Adword cost by repeatedly clicking the Adword button, getting to the proper page, and then bailing. But if it's from people clicking back or refresh (or opening in a new window from the page in question and then closing it later), then I can understand it.

 

I'll post my results here in case anyone's interested. But it will be several days because it will take several steps and Awstats only reports once a day.

 

later!