Google’s new “prefetch” feature leads to misleading server stats

May 24, 2005 |

Web site owners and analytics companies have been warned to update their tracking systems rapidly in response to Google's new 'prefetch' feature, which allows users of Mozilla-based Web browsers to obtain search results more quickly.

Web site owners and analytics companies have been warned to update their tracking systems rapidly in response to Google’s new ‘prefetch’ feature, which allows users of Mozilla-based Web browsers to obtain search results more quickly.

If they don’t, they could face financial consequences from skewed site statistics.

The search engine announced last week that it will now pre-load the top natural search results into the cache of Mozilla-based browsers like Firefox and Netscape. This can mean that users end up with cookies and Web pages in their cache from sites they haven’t clicked on.

According to Matthew Tod, CEO of Web agency Logan Tod, this could create “phantom visits” that could lead to inaccurate traffic reporting on brand Web sites and media owners.

“There’s an unintended side effect to Google’s prefetch that has some serious financial consequences,” he said. “Clearly an automated request for a page the user doesn’t necessarily see is not a genuine visit.”

As most Web site statistics systems don’t filter prefetch requests, standard reports will include them as normal user and page requests.

Tod added that setting cookies automatically could also mean over-payment to affiliates. “An affiliate could set a cookie because they come top in a search, even though the user clicks on the third link down.”

Ed Cowell, technical director at search marketing agency Neutralize, said that site owners could be deceived into thinking their Web sites have become more popular.

“Web site statistics systems will have to be updated to accommodate this,” he said. “However, Mozilla has made the issue of removing prefetch requests from statistics systems tricky as it hasn’t standardized the identifier they provide.”

Source: E-Commerce Times