HOW GOOGLE EARNS MONEY
8.5 Billion Searches Are Made on Google Every Day
That’s almost like every person on Earth searching something on Google once a day which is incredible.
And when you think about it, it’s amazing that Google lets you search for free.
Even more surprising is that most of Google’s tools are also free.
For example:
• Searching on Google is free
• Using Google Maps is free
• Watching videos on YouTube is free
• Using Gmail is free
• Using Google AI is free
Even though Google gives so many things for free, it is still worth $2.19 trillion.
Google’s Marketing Strategy: You may have noticed that some brand names become so common that people use them for the product itself.
For example:
• Photocopy machines are often called Xerox machines
• White glue is called:
• Elmer’s in the USA/Canada
• UHU in Germany/Europe
• Pritt in Europe
• Bandages are often called Band-Aid
This happens when a company becomes a leader in its field.
In the same way, when people want to search something online, they say:
"Google it."
How Google Started: Google Search began in 1999 as a college project by Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
Their goal was to collect all the world’s information and make it easy for everyone to access.
At first, Google was just a simple website a basic search engine.
The name (Google) comes from the word Googol which is a number that has 1 followed by 100 zeros.
For example:
• 1 followed by 2 zeros = 100 called a hundred
• 1 followed by 3 zeros = 1,000 called a thousand
• 1 followed by 100 zeros = Googol used to show a huge amount of information
Major Achievements of Google:
• 2000: Google started AdWords companies could pay to advertise
• 2004: Gmail was launched
• 2005: Google Maps came out
• 2006: Google bought YouTube
• 2008: Google introduced Android and its own web browser
Later, Google also started making smartphones and laptops. Today, it’s working on Artificial Intelligence (AI) as well. That is appreciated work of Google.
Challenges Google Faced:
Even though Google looks very successful, it hasn’t always won.
Some failures include:
• Google Plus — tried to compete with Facebook but didn’t work
• Google Hangouts — a chat app, closed in 2022
In fact, over 200 Google products and services have been shut down. You can find the list on Wikipedia.
How Google Makes Money:
Google earns most of its money through search ads.
Even after paying rent, staff salaries, marketing, and taxes Google still makes a profit of about $60 billion.
Why Are Google Services Free?
This free services called (Freemism) that's a point of marketing strategy.
Google collects data from people who use free tools like Gmail and Google Drive.
It uses this data to earn money.
This model is powerful because it gives people a chance to use services for free.
You try a product and only pay if you want extra features.
However, most people never pay. For example, about 95% of YouTube users don’t pay for premium services.
Here’s the second reason: data collection.
Google collects your data anonymously such as:
• What you search for
• Which videos you watch
• What emails you send
That’s why, when you search for a healthy recipe, you might later see ads for diet plans or nutritionists.
Or if you search for hotels in Dubai, you’ll see ads about Dubai tourism.
Google’s Machine Learning System:
Google builds a profile of you based on:
• Your age group
• Whether you're male or female
• Where you live
• What you search for
• What you like
This helps advertisers target people more accurately.
For example, if you run a small business selling sunglasses and want to show ads to 18–25 year-old girls in Los Angeles, Google helps you do that.
If that person searches for “sunglasses” or watches a sunglasses video on YouTube Google knows they are your target customer and shows your ad.
How Google Ads Work:
This is a simple explanation of how it works, but here’s a bit more:
Advertisers compete with each other by bidding on ad space.
They choose how much they’re willing to pay. The higher the bid and the better the ad quality, the more likely their ad will appear first.
There are different types of ads:
• Search Ads: Ads on top of Google search results
• Banner Ads: Shown on websites through Google’s display network
• Video Ads: Shown on YouTube before, during, or after videos
Some video ads can be skipped, while others can’t.
In total, Google earned $237 billion from ads.
In 2022, Google’s total revenue was $280 billion — meaning most of it came from advertising.
The Shift After COVID-19:
During the pandemic, more people were online, and ad views increased.
Companies spent more money on ads, so Google’s income jumped.
But Google isn’t the only one using this business model.
• Meta (Facebook and Instagram) made $131 billion from ads in 2023.
• Amazon also earns from ads.
For the last 20 years, this model helped these companies grow.
But now, there are problems.
Problems with the Ad-Based Model:
Privacy Concerns
People are getting worried about how much these companies know about them Where they live, what they eat, health problems, relationships, etc.
In 2023, Google was fined $93 million in the U.S.
Why? Because it kept tracking users’ locations even after they turned off location history.
As people become more careful, they share less online.
Less data = worse ad targeting = less money for Google.
Declining Search Quality:
Earlier, Google showed 1 or 2 ads.
Now, the top results are often full of ads. This makes search less helpful.
Imagine a competitor that gives you what you want without ads like ChatGPT.
If you ask ChatGPT something, it gives a clean, ad-free answer.
But Google shows lots of links and ads. It’s hard to know which ones are trustworthy.
The Future of Google:
AI tools like ChatGPT and DeepSeek could become a big threat to Google’s ad-based business.
Google seems to know this. That’s why it’s working on its own AI called Gemini to compete.
Will Google still be the face of the internet in the next 20 years? Or will another company take over?
We’ll have to wait and see.
But one thing is clear this competition between companies is good for us as users.
Writer & Researcher7
Abu Sufyan Pasha
0 Comments