Google primarily makes money through advertising, which accounts for about three-quarters of its total revenue. The main ways Google generates advertising revenue include:
- Google Search Ads: Businesses pay to have their ads shown alongside relevant search results on Google.com. Advertisers bid for top placement, and Google earns money when users see or click these ads. This is the largest source of Google's ad revenue
- YouTube Ads: Google earns significant revenue from ads shown on YouTube videos, contributing over 10% of total revenue
- Google Network Ads: These are ads displayed on partner websites and apps outside of Google's own platforms. Google shares a portion of this revenue with the partner sites
Beyond advertising, Google also earns money from:
- Google Cloud: Providing cloud infrastructure, data analytics, and collaboration tools to enterprise customers. This segment is growing rapidly and has become profitable, accounting for about 10-13% of revenue
- Subscriptions, Platforms, and Devices: Revenue from app sales, in-app purchases, hardware (like Pixel phones), and subscription services such as YouTube Premium and YouTube TV
- Other Bets: Smaller ventures like autonomous driving (Waymo) and healthcare services, which currently generate a small portion of revenue but often operate at a loss
In summary, Google's business model centers on selling advertising space across its own platforms and partner sites, supported by growing revenues from cloud services and consumer products