# How does Google make money? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 21, 2001, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-google-make-money/88753 "2001-10-21T22:52:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![galyean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f9ae1b/32.png) [@galyean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galyean)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2001, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-google-make-money/88753/1 "2001-10-21T22:52:05Z")
How does Google make money? There are no advertisements or banners? ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2001, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-google-make-money/88753/2 "2001-10-21T22:59:52Z")
They sell their services to other search engines and directories. Search for something on Yahoo, and click on the “Web Page Results” link. Note the Google logo. ---
**Author:** ![lucwarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@lucwarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lucwarm)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2001, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-google-make-money/88753/3 "2001-10-21T23:00:46Z")
Shhhhhh! Just kidding. Note that Google has “sponsored links” that appear on the right hand side of the results screen for many searches. For example, search for the phrase “life insurace” and see what appears. Also, my understanding is that Yahoo uses Google for certain searches - I imagine that Google is compensated by Yahoo in some manner for this. But the real question is whether Google is profitable or not. i.e. does the above revenue outweigh Google’s operating costs? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2001, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-google-make-money/88753/4 "2001-10-21T23:18:31Z")
Google makes money on their public site through their sponsored links, and also licenses their technology to other companies (who use it both for public websites, such as Yahoo, and for other purposes, such as searching through enormous, decades old databases.) ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2001, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-google-make-money/88753/5 "2001-10-22T01:43:53Z")
I’ve noticed that several university websites (Guelph, McMster, Waterloo, Wilfred Laurier) all have search functions powered by Google. There’s probably some money exchanged there, too. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Bad\_Astronomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@The\_Bad\_Astronomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Bad_Astronomer)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2001, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-google-make-money/88753/6 "2001-10-22T05:19:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mnemosyne \* > \*\*I’ve noticed that several university websites (Guelph, McMster, Waterloo, Wilfred Laurier) all have search functions powered by Google. \*\* Google now offers a free personal site search engine. We stuck it on our work website ([http://www-glast.sonoma.edu](http://www-glast.sonoma.edu), if anyone cares). I plan on putting it on my own site as soon as the domain name servers recognize the new computer on which it sits. Harumph. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2001, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-google-make-money/88753/7 "2001-10-22T08:28:49Z")
One word: volume. ---
**Author:** ![Ring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Ring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ring)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2001, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-google-make-money/88753/8 "2001-10-22T16:26:03Z")
Why did Google take over the usenet archiving from Deja? Certainly there’s no money in that. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2001, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-google-make-money/88753/9 "2001-10-22T16:47:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ring \* > \*\*Why did Google take over the usenet archiving from Deja? Certainly there’s no money in that. \*\* Sure there is. It would be trivial for them to impliment the same sponsored link system in their Usenet archives. It can also be a loss-leader by helping them to build a loyal user-base. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2001, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-google-make-money/88753/10 "2001-10-22T16:55:50Z")
Are you KIDDING??? You wanna know how Google makes its money? Check out **DuckDuckGoose’s** Visa bill each month. 😃 😃 😃 😃 😃 😃 Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![lucwarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@lucwarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lucwarm)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2001, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-google-make-money/88753/11 "2001-10-22T17:21:32Z")
[http://searchenginewatch.com/sereport/01/09-google.html](http://searchenginewatch.com/sereport/01/09-google.html) [http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/business/newsid\_1476000/1476805.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/business/newsid_1476000/1476805.stm)