When Ad Spend and Reporting Are in Dispute
Digital marketing and pay-per-click (PPC) disputes typically center on three questions: how a budget was actually spent, how results were reported, and whether a campaign was run the way it was promised. Bill Hartzer provides expert witness services that evaluate PPC systems, analytics configurations, and campaign management decisions in these matters, drawing on decades of hands-on experience managing paid search and analytics for real client accounts.
Types of Digital Marketing Disputes
Digital marketing disputes often involve large amounts of raw account and analytics data that neither side has fully reviewed before litigation begins. Working through that data methodically — rather than relying on the summarized dashboards either party has already prepared — is usually where the real answers are found, and it is where an expert with hands-on account management experience adds the most value.
Google Ads Mismanagement
Allegations that campaigns were configured or managed in a way that fell below industry standards.
Click Fraud
Invalid, automated, or competitor-driven clicks that inflated ad spend without genuine buyer interest.
Analytics & Attribution Disputes
Whether reported traffic and conversions accurately reflect what actually happened.
Agency-Client Contract Disputes
Scope, deliverable, and performance-reporting disagreements between advertisers and their marketing vendors.
Social & Affiliate Marketing Issues
Paid social campaigns and affiliate or lead-generation programs where fraud or misrepresentation is alleged.
E-Commerce & Marketplace Disputes
Traffic and advertising disputes tied to Amazon, Shopify, and other online marketplaces.
Evidence Commonly Reviewed
Account-level platforms such as Google Ads and Meta Ads Manager retain detailed change histories, and those histories are often the single most valuable piece of evidence in a digital marketing dispute, because they show exactly who changed what and when, rather than relying on anyone's after-the-fact recollection of how a campaign was managed.
- PPC account settings, campaign structure, and change history
- Keywords, audiences, locations, and bidding strategy configuration
- Conversion tracking configuration and event setup (Google Ads, Google Analytics, GA4, Google Tag Manager)
- Analytics logs, attribution models, and exported performance reports
- Server logs and platform-reported click and impression data
Bill's analysis focuses on what the accounts and data actually show, whether the configuration aligns with industry norms, and how those decisions likely affected the outcomes being disputed. Where reported results and the underlying account data diverge, that gap is often the most important finding in the case.