2026-10-14
100 Products That Changed the World · #21: Google Ads (AdWords)
Launched in October 2000 and reinvented in 2002 with Quality Score and generalized second-price auctions. Google did not invent pay-per-click, but pure highest-bidder auctions were turning search engines into spam-filled junkyards. By multiplying bid by click-through rate, AdWords let relevant ads beat deep pockets — creating the greatest cash machine in corporate history and funding the free internet. Ranked
