Google: Online advertising bouncing backing from recession

The range of search engines

Despite taking a hit during the recession, online advertising appears to be making a comeback with Google posting record quarterly profits and ad sales.

Defining industry expert expectations, Google said that its net income in the third quarter was $1.64 billion, up 27 percent from $1.29 billion a year earlier. Total revenue for the quarter was an astonishing $4.38 billion, almost 330 percent more than analysts predicted.

Google chief executive Eric Schmidt said speaking to the BBC, "While there is a lot of uncertainty about the pace of economic recovery, we believe the worst of the recession is behind us and now feel confident about investing heavily in our future."

As Google is one of the largest and most successful web companies in the world, it is considered a barometer for the general condition of online business. As the web's largest advertising network and an 'hub' of the net, its figures are carefully monitored by those in the industry. As such, over the last quarter the number of paid click on advertisements on Google and its partner sites rose four percent from the previous quarter and 14 percent from the same period last year indicating that the worst of the recession may indeed be over.

As such, the US company saw foreign revenues totalling $3.14 billion, representing 53 percent of total revenues in the third quarter, the same proportion as the second quarter. Other online search companies such as Yahoo! are attempting to see their margins increase likewise with vast new advertising campaigns, that they hope will mirror Google's success.

Google aren't expecting to rest on their laurels however. Mr Schmidt said that the company would continue to invest in its core business and in innovation. It wanted to get to "the perfect search engine" and advertisers would like to spend more with Google if the company's product allows them to do that, he stated.

He also added that the group was "open for business in making strategic acquisitions, both large and small" indicating that mergers and acquisitions, that have boosted many companies during the recession, may not be completely off the table just yet.

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