Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords) and Microsoft Advertising remain the two largest pay-per-click (PPC) advertising platforms, where advertisers pay for each click on an ad that appears alongside search results. Because money changes hands on every click, small changes in how these platforms report data, handle support or match keywords can have a direct cost for advertisers.
This hub collects my coverage of paid search from the early pay-per-click search engines through the current Google Ads platform. It includes keyword tool changes, redirects and tracking issues, support problems, the long-running question of whether ads influence organic rankings, and industry news on PPC tools and agencies. Several of these topics have also come up in my expert witness work, where the details of conversion tracking, click quality and campaign settings often decide what actually happened to an advertiser’s budget.
Where to Start
- Google’s $100M AdWords Lawsuit Nears Payout—Here’s What You Need to Know (2025)
- Do Google Ads Influence Their Organic Search Engine Results? (2019)
- Google AdWords Keyword Tool Gone: Here Are Some Alternatives (2013)
- Google Redirects AdWords Traffic to Ads with 302 Redirect (2018)
- Beware of Google Ads Email Phishing Attempts (2021)
- Top Ten Pay Per Click Search Engines (2007)
More Coverage, Newest First
- Paid Search Gets a Second Act: fullthrottle.ai Turns Search and Social Clicks Into Household Audiences (2026)
- Google Ads Just Moved Into Webflow (2026)
- Invoca Launches New Attribution Tech to Prove Your Google Ads Are Actually Working (2025)
- Criteo and Microsoft Advertising Join Forces to Revolutionize Retail Media (2024)
- Facemoji Keyboard Teams Up with Microsoft Advertising to Transform User Experience (2024)
- Andrew Muller on Testing Google Ads Using Facebook Ads (2021)
- Mike Rhodes from Web Savvy On Google Ads (2021)
- Google Ads Phone Support Not Accepting Phone Calls (2020)
- Google AdSense Extortion: Pay or Google Will Disable AdSense (2020)
- Google AdSense Sunsetting iOS and Android Apps (2019)
- Google Ads Nightmare: Google Spends $225,000 Despite a $500 Per Day Budget (2019)
- Example of a Google Ads Exploit (2019)
- Google Ads Training Mistake Cost $1.6m in One Hour (2018)
- Google Wins Zuili vs. Google, LLC Appeal Related to Click Fraud Patents (2018)
- Throwback: FindWhat Pay Per Click Search Engine (2016)
- Using Google AdSense Hurts Mobile User Experience, Violates Google’s Own Guidelines (2016)
- Facebook’s Competitor to Google AdSense: Facebook Audience Network (2016)
- Google AdWords Bug Costs Company $1000s (2014)
- Website Rejected From Google AdSense Program? No Problem! (2014)
- Google AdWords Ad or Extended Knowledge Graph Card Showing Up in Google Search Results (2014)
- Is The New Google AdWords Ad Format Too Sneaky? (2013)
- SEO Agency Launches Google AdWords Campaign Targeting Blueglass (2013)
- Cherokee Letter Domain Names for Sale – Owner Recommends Their Use in AdWords Campaigns (2013)
- PPC Specialist Job Opening: Dallas Texas (2013)
- Search Engine Marketing PPC Job Opening in Dallas Texas (2012)
- PPC Pay Per Click Marketing Specialist Job Opening – Dallas Texas (2012)
- Logic361 Launches Automated Bid and Ad Recommendations Software for Google Adwords and Yahoo Search Marketing (2009)
- Google and Hearst-Argyle Television Strike Google AdWords Deal (2007)
- Funniest Pay Per Click Keyword Mistake Revealed (2007)
- Google AdSense Powers the Flixya Social Network by Paying Members (2007)
- Salesforce.com and Google Announce Salesforce Group Edition featuring Google AdWords (2007)
- E-Commerce Web Sites Continue to Dominate PPC Advertising (2007)
- Google AdWords Partners with MySpace (2007)
- Pay Per Click (2007)