Google growing its ad revenue Company squeezing out more revenue by increasing amount, frequency of advertising on its numerous products, even its image search and finance properties

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Google users are seeing more ads across the Web giant's vast empire.

With the economy weakening, the Mountain View company has turned on a spigot of sales pitches in areas once devoid of them. On other properties, it has increased their number and frequency.

The changes highlight how Google is trying to squeeze more money from its business at a time when many investors are worried about the company's performance. Although the revenue gained is relatively small, according to analysts, it nonetheless helps offset some of the slowing growth that comes with being a more mature company in difficult times.

"Now isn't the time to be turning away business," said Todd Greenwald, an analyst with Signal Hill Capital Group.

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Google recently started placing ads on its image search and finance properties, both of which were previously free of marketing messages. Tests on the news area are under way.

As it increases ad coverage, Google has also lifted restrictions on the kinds of ads that can appear. Over the past few months, beer, wine and hard alcohol ads have been allowed in the United States, along with gambling ads in the United Kingdom.

Until late last year, Google didn't seem to be in a hurry. Many of its products had operated for years without any attempt to make money from them, exasperating some investors who thought that the company should do more to increase its already sizable profits.

Image search, for instance, was introduced in 2001 but didn't get ads until late 2008. Finance, unveiled in 2006, received its infusion around the same time.

As with its namesake properties, Google also has given video site YouTube a more commercial focus. Under pressure to make money for their parent, managers there have added a flurry of new advertising including sponsored videos, e-commerce and ads that appear within videos.

Google had long relied on its main search engine and its array of partner Web sites to rake in the majority of its revenue from small text-based advertising. Given the success, turning on advertising in other areas hasn't been as critical as it may have been for other companies.

Granted, other Google properties such as e-mail, product search and groups also feature ads. But they aren't major financial contributors.

Patrick Pichette, Google's chief financial officer, insisted that the ratcheting up of advertising is unrelated to the economy and is instead just part of a normal pattern. Advertising is always a possibility after a product proves itself.

"Our teams build great products, and when they work out, we figure out how to make money," Pichette said.

In any case, Pichette said that Google makes sure ads aren't a distraction and don't interfere with the user experience.

Online advertising is the cornerstone of Google's highly profitable business. But the business is feeling the pinch of the depressed economy.

Last week, Google reported annual profits of $6.63 billion on $21.8 billion in revenue, indisputably sizable, but nonetheless reflecting slower growth from previous years. Although resistant to the economic slowdown, the company hasn't been immune.

While Google ramps up advertising, it is simultaneously cutting costs. Known for much of its 10-year history as a big spender, the company is now trying to be thrifty by laying off 100 recruiters, among other cost-saving moves.

To maximize profits, Google often tweaks which ads appear and where using a complex formula that also factors in ad prices and the likelihood of them enticing a user's click. It's a delicate balancing act that the company has, for the most part, used with great dexterity.

These days, consumers are seeing more ads on Google's main search engine. Implemented gradually during 2008, most users probably haven't noticed.

An average of 4.39 ads appeared on Google's results pages in December, up 71 percent from six months earlier, according to AdGooroo, a search analysis firm. Yahoo showed 3.14 ads in December while Microsoft had 2.97.

Pichette said that Google's algorithms had been eliminating too many ads that were relevant. He said his teams dug into the reason to find out why and then fixed it.

But because Google gets paid only when a user clicks on an ad, showing more doesn't guarantee that it will make more money. Nevertheless, the company reported that clicks on ads by users increased 18 percent in the fourth quarter.

In another subtle change, Google's users are more likely to have ads included next to their search results. In December, 49.1 percent of Google searches returned at least one ad, according to comScore Inc., up from 43.1 percent in October.

Greenwald, the analyst, said that other areas within Google are ripe for more ads, citing its maps product, which already features some. Then he mentioned Google's home page, long a commercial-free zone except for promoting Google products, but then quickly dismissed the idea, saying, "I don't think they'll do that."

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