# Who pays for Google?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-pays-for-google/92974>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 12, 2001, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-pays-for-google/92974 "2001-11-12T21:07:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2001, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-pays-for-google/92974/1 "2001-11-12T21:07:31Z")

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I’ve often wondered about all the stuff that is available for free on the internet. At first I assumed advertising, however I never noticed any on the SDMB or Google. With regard to the SDMB, it appears that support funding is required after all. So now my question is **Who pays for Google?** I’d hate to lose that service too.

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**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2001, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-pays-for-google/92974/2 "2001-11-12T21:32:44Z")

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google does seem to be ad supported.

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**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2001, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-pays-for-google/92974/3 "2001-11-12T21:35:10Z")

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[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=94388](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=94388)

the straight dope knows everything, no ?

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**Author:** ![JFMichael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/aeb1de/32.png) [@JFMichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JFMichael)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2001, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-pays-for-google/92974/4 "2001-11-12T22:41:21Z")

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I think you will find the penny per page theory of paying web sites interesting. Read more at [http://www.howstuffworks.com/penny-per-page.htm](http://www.howstuffworks.com/penny-per-page.htm)

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**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2001, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-pays-for-google/92974/5 "2001-11-13T00:22:00Z")

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xash it has right. Kinda weird but you use the search box on Straight Dope to find google  
topics.

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**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2001, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-pays-for-google/92974/6 "2001-11-13T03:33:07Z")

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Since this topic has been discussed so recently, I’ll close this thread and direct any further coment to the earlier thread, linked to above.

bibliophage  
moderator GQ