You will be charged twice for one impression if user clicks twice

Charged twice for one impression

[majestique]

So I noticed a few times that my CTR is 200% (2 clicks for 1 impression). So I talked to google about this, they said:
"When a user performs a search on one of your keywords, your ad is retrieved from one of our servers and displayed, recording an impression. If that impression generates a click, the click is recorded and that user is then directed to your destination page. However, some users will compare results from multiple ads on the same search. In these cases, clicking on the browser's back button will load the search results page from the user's local cache and our servers will not be able to detect that another impression has occurred. If the user clicks on your ad again, a second, unique click will be recorded without the additional impression."

I told them, why am I being charged twice when only data is only retrieved from Google once.

Then they give me one of those canned messages:

"Well, we do make sure that you only pay for legitimate clicks on your ads. We dedicate a number of resources to click protection strategies. To learn more, please review the Click Quality section of our online Help Center at [adwords.google.com...]

Then I said:
"i know google makes sure of that.. but in this case.. there's no new data being retrieved from google.. it's a history impression.. and i get charged.. if the user right clicks and opens the new window twice, i get charged.."

They said:
"If a user clicked on your AdWords ad twice, then you would be charged twice. So if they open a new window of the search page and click on your ad again, you would be charged. However, it's not likely that many users would do this to get to your website.
So it is possible that a user would legitimately click on your ad more than one time. As in the example above, the user may be comparison shopping or returning to your site for more information. These clicks represent legitimate users accessing your advertisement in expected ways."

Then I provided links:
[webmasterworld.com...]
[webmasterworld.com...]
" i'm not the only one who experiences this...
and the concern is there, obviously from the replies,
not many ppl are aware of this"

They said:(obviously she read the links and interpreted for me, gee, thanks)
"Thanks for the links. Also, in certain cases, impressions will not update as fast as the clicks. I would be happy to consult our technical specialists about this issue and follow up with you via email with more details."

So, we CAN get charged twice for 1 impression delivery, is it fair?

[Voxman]

Wow...that seems to go against what they would have us believe. I'm already finished with Yahoo. Only hangng on with Google because at least they still have decent (not great) ROI. Will try MSN next but to be honest...I'll be glad when PPC goes the way of the dodo bird and we are all on to the next best thing in adverstising. I already miss the old days of paying for an add and forgetting about it....not it takes hours from my day...and these boys cheat you. Guess we can all just go to our competitors ads and hit the back and forth button (I have one on my mouse :) and drive up his budget. Just kidding but shows the potential for fraud.

I bet you in the near future PPC companies will be investigated and class actions suits will spring up....and I will sign on as soon as I see one.

[wedouglas]

I think what youre seeing is a lag in stats. I've only seen 200-300% right when the campaign starts. We are talking 1-3 clicks here.

[wrgvt]

AdWords is pay per click, not pay per impression, so what's the beef? There are legitimate scenarios where this happens, and Google's provided you with some of those. I've done research on something, clicked an ad, clicked back, and either clicked more ads or search results. Since I didn't bookmark the first site whose ad I clicked, the only way to remember sometimes is to click the ad again. Of course, if the first site doesn't want me to click twice, I can place my order somewhere else.

[majestique]

I asked if it was fair.. some ppl don't think so.. some ppl do..

[Voxman]

wrgvt I for one do not think it's fair at all. They can tell if you have been there recently. Should be no more than one click charged per day.

Most surfers are tire kickers anyway... All this does is drive up our budget and their bottom line...

Eventually PPC will be a thing of the past and we'll all be onto the next best thing. I hope the next idea is not so labor intensive as this PPC has become. In the old days you would buy and add ... and leave it alone and just do an ROI conversation at the end... At first PPC was ok but with all the updates etc (especially Adwords) you have to monitor it every single day and watch it like a hawk. All this while ROI dwindles down (Like Yahoo) with questionable clicks and traffic.

[xor0]

Wait til you start getting (and being charged for) clicks with no impressions...

[Sweezely]

I'm not entirely sure that was true. Over the weekend we were sending in traffic (through some tracker) into a website that mysteriously went offline. What was happening was people were clicking on the ad, not reaching the site, so pressing back and clicking again.

But we certainly didn't see twice as many clicks in the stats. Google could easily filter out all the duplicate clicks if they wanted, it's just worth a little extra cash* for them.

*billions upon billions of dollars

[gregbo]

So, we CAN get charged twice for 1 impression delivery, is it fair?

It really doesn't matter whether I, or anyone else thinks it's fair. Do YOU think it's fair? If not, what are you going to do about it?

As long as you do business with anyone who literally charges you for every "legitimate" click, you will face this problem.

As for me, I'm with Voxman. CPC is a bad business model.