Shares in Google's parent Alphabet fell in after hours trading after the company missed analysts' estimates.

The company posted an increase in quarterly revenues despite a tumultuous three months for the company that saw political scandals, the cover-up of a major security flaw in its social network Google+ and the absence of its co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin - who have withdrawn from the public eye this year.

Revenues were up 21pc versus the third quarter of 2017, to $33.7bn (£26.3bn) and profits increased 36pc to $9.2bn. The increase was largely led by mobile search, chief financial officer Ruth Porat said.

Traffic acquisition costs - the fees Google pays to have its services appear on rivals' products like iPhones - ate into revenues. Advertising revenues, which Google makes most of its money from, increased by $5bn to $29bn.

However, eMarketer analyst Monica Peart said a slowdown in search engine growth was "was likely related to the ramp-up in competition from Amazon, as consumers increasingly turn to the e-commerce giant from their product searches."

While search remains central to the internet giant Alphabet's "other bets", which cover Google's self driving cars, internet balloon and smart contact lens companies appeared to be paying off with revenues increasing by $29m to $146m.