Hi I have a question which I can't seem to find an answer for so I thought someone here might be able to give me some info. In AdWords TOS it specifies that the browser back button must be functional on you landing page which makes total sense from a usibility POV. What I am trying to work out is, if someone clicks on an ad then hits the back button and goes back to the SERP, does this register as an additional impression for your ad in AdWords. From my own investigations I think that it does, however I am not 100% sure and could really do with knowing the answer / having some more information on it. Any help / info would be greatly recieved!
If they click your ad then go back to search it should only be one impression. It would be one unique impression and 2 impressions if they count it that way.
This came up here recently in a slightly different context http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=466309 look at the email ryanr1 posted from google Secondly, because browsers cache the search results and ads on the search results page, Google only registers one ad impression per search. However, your reports will show multiple clicks if a Google user clicks on your ad more than once in a cached browser session.
It was also discussed in a recent interview: Forbes.com: Click Forensics reports that click fraud is increasing--you disagree. Why? Shuman Ghosemajumder: The big problem with third-party auditors is that they continue to count "fictitious clicks," clicks that Google doesn't count as clicks at all, in click fraud estimates. Here's one major example: Users click on a Google ad on Google.com or an Adsense site. When they land on the advertiser's site, they click on products, hitting the "back" button to go back to the landing page. Many browsers reload the landing page each time. We don't count those as clicks, but third-party auditors actually register each click on the "back" button as another click on an ad, which grossly overestimates the number of ad clicks.
My experience with the back button is that when I click it, my browser seems to load the cached page that I was looking at, rather than re-getting the page from the Web server. But I suppose it would depend on how you set your browser up.
Many browsers reload the landing page each time. We don't count those as clicks, but third-party auditors actually register each click on the "back" button as another click on an ad, which grossly overestimates the number of ad clicks.