Google Inc.’s paid clicks during the second quarter ended June 30 increased 42% compared with the same period last year, the search giant reported today. Paid clicks also increased 1% in the second quarter compared with the first quarter of 2012.
The average cost per click, meanwhile, decreased approximately 16% in the second quarter compared with 2012’s Q2. The average cost per click increased 1% from the first quarter of 2012.
Google’s revenue increased 21.4% in the second quarter compared to the same period last year, to $10.96 billion from $9.03 billion. Revenue from outside the United States totaled $5.96 billion in the second quarter, or about 54% of the Google’s total second-quarter revenue—the same proportion as in both the first quarter of 2012 and the second quarter of 2011.
“Google standalone had a strong quarter with 21% year-on-year revenue growth, and we launched a bunch of exciting new products at I/O—in particular the Nexus 7 tablet, which has received rave reviews,” said Larry Page, CEO of Google. “This quarter is also special because Motorola is now part of the Google family, and we’re excited about the potential to build great devices for users.” I/O, or input/output, is the name of Google’s annual software developers conference, which was held last month in San Francisco.
Google in May completed its acquisition of mobile device hardware maker Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. Motorola Mobility’s revenue accounted for about 10% of Google’s second quarter sales, or $1.25 billion. Operating losses for Motorola in Q2 stood at $233 million.
Google-owned sites, such as the Google.com search engine and YouTube, contributed 69%, or $7.54 billion of revenue, up 21% from $6.23 billion for the same period a year ago.
Google today also reported a 20% increase in Google network revenue to $2.98 billion, up from $2.48 billion a year ago.
Google’s traffic acquisition costs, or TAC—that is, the portion of revenue Google shares with sites that drive traffic to Google.com—increased to $2.60 billion in the second quarter, up 23% year over year from $2.11 billion. TAC as a percentage of advertising revenue was 25% in the second quarter of 2012, up from 24% a year earlier.
Favorite