Google growth continues

Search engine giant Google has announced another impressive quarter of growth, at the same time as rivals MSN and Yahoo struggled with their advertising placement platforms.

Total revenue was $2.45bn (£1.3bn), a rise of 77 per cent, while net income rose 110 per cent to $721m (£388m) thanks in part to a lower tax bill.

Revenue from its own site grew faster than advertising revenue from its network sites – those that have adverts placed on them by Google AdSense.

Google’s web site contributed $1.43bn (£769m) in revenue, up 94 per cent, while the network sites generated $997m (£536m), a rise of 58 per cent.

Licensing and other revenue contributed $27m (£14.5m), also up 58 per cent.

‘Google grew at an impressive pace during a seasonally slower quarter,’ said chief executive Eric Schmidt. ‘Our strong performance results from our clear focus on increasing the quality of user experience, particularly in search and ads.’

Ovum analyst David Bradshaw says a good advertising placement model is crucial, as customers can measure the results from online adverts more effectively than any other leads.

‘This is clearly what Google has done, though obviously it helps considerably that it is the market gorilla, and therefore the default place for advertisers to put their ads,’ he said.

Bradshaw says the results indicate there is no let-up in the rise of online advertising.

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