1892969 - Restored SERPs do not record SERP telemetry

Status: NEW

(Firefox :: Search, defect, P3)

Description

[Adrian Florinescu [:aflorinescu]]

Found in

• 126.0b4

Affected versions

• 127.0a1 (2024-04-22)
• 126.0b4
• 125.0.2

Tested platforms

• Affected platforms: Ubuntu 23.04, Windows 10, Mac 11.*

Preconditions

• SERP categorization enabled (browser.search.serpEventTelemetryCategorization.enabled)
• SERP telemetry v1 enabled (either by having rollout enabled or manually enabling by running snippet in browser console: Services.fog.setMetricsFeatureConfig( JSON.stringify({ "urlbar.abandonment": true, "urlbar.engagement": true, "urlbar.impression": true, }) );)
• browser.search.log true

Steps to reproduce

1. Perform some searches.
2. Close the SERPs (for categorization event), followed by restoring the SERPS tabs.
3. SERPs are open (for v1) or reopened by restore after categorization is being recorded.
4. Enable session restore.
5. Restart browser.
6. Click on any links inside any SERP.
7. Close any SERP

Expected result

• SERP telemetry v1 / SERP categorization is recorded

Actual result

• SERP telemetry is not recorded for restored tabs - TypeError: item is undefined

Regression range

• N/A

Additional notes

• This affects both SERP categorization and SERP telemetry v1 - steps are catching both.

Comment 1

[James Teow [:jteow]]

This will require some investigation to determine why we're experiencing an error.

Comment 2

[Dave Zeber [:dzeber]]

What would be the expected behaviour for restored tabs? It sounds like Step 6 should generate engagement events. Should restoring a tab generate a new impression?

Also, suppose you open a SERP but don't click on anything, then quit the browser with it still open. Does that count as an abandonment, or is the SERP considered "still open" and potentially to be restored on next startup?

Comment 3

[James Teow [:jteow]]

What would be the expected behaviour for restored tabs? It sounds like Step 6 should generate engagement events. Should restoring a tab generate a new impression?

Right now, the expected behaviour based on existing functionality would be to generate a new impression even though the page was closed. This is largely because we don't persist telemetry data we extract from a page in memory when the browser is closed. This was probably a scenario we didn't consider when we planning/implementing SERP Telemetry v1.

Also, suppose you open a SERP but don't click on anything, then quit the browser with it still open. Does that count as an abandonment, or is the SERP considered "still open" and potentially to be restored on next startup?

Yes currently the behaviour would cause the it to considered an abandonment.