In 2011, Insiders at eBay were convinced their Google search ads were increasing website traffic. After all, the data showed that the more money spent on these ads, the more people clicked on the link to the eBay website. In reality, the ads weren’t causing more people to click on the link – they were simply guiding a growing number of people who were already looking for it. eBay eventually switched off the advertising and found a negligible impact on traffic.