Google Touts $64 Billion in Economic Impact

Google has just released information touting the beneficial impact the search engine giant has had on the U.S. economy – a benefit to the tune of $64 billion in 2010. Coinciding with National Small Business Week, Google is positioning this figure in terms of the impact it has had on local communities and small businesses through its search and advertising tools.

This $64 billion figure marks an 18% increase from the data Google released last year. According to Google’s calculations, for every $1 a business spends on Google AdWords, they receive an average of $8 in profit through business that’s generated via Google Search and AdWords.

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Google “shows the math” on these calculations, based on a formula devised by its chief economist Hal Varian. This formula is based on two assumptions: that businesses make an average of $2 in revenue for every dollar they spend on AdWords and that businesses receive an average of 5 clicks on their search results for every 1 click on their ads.

Google has provided a map with a breakdown of activity by state with the dollar amount and the number of businesses, website publishers, and non-profits that were impacted. No surprise, California leads the way with $15.2 billion in economic activity for some 288,000 businesses.

The reminder from Google about the good it does for the economy follows news last week that it was being investigated for illegally displaying ads from rogue online pharmacies.

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