Google does make money from ads, but that is not their primary business. Yes they have AdWords and they bought DoubleClick around 2007. They also have YouTube that took them forever to figure out how to monetize. They bought Urchin (Google Analytics) specifically to monetize AdWords.
Google’s primary business is search. They monetize search in a couple different ways. The primary revenue model for search is micro auctions to determine ranking of product placement on search results.
I don’t have numbers but I suspect Google ads get far more eyeballs than do their search results. The distinction though is margin not quantity. Ads aren’t worth very much. Google ads generate a higher margin than Facebook ads but still tiny, like maybe fractions of a penny. When I was at Travelocity a million years ago I remember hotels bidding up to $18 per click for placement on searches related to Las Vegas. Not only is that click-through worth a fortune it is also relevant and thus far more likely to be clicked.
EDIT
Death by a thousand paper cuts.
Somebody provided a source below, they clearly did not read, which explains all of this:
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/18/how-does-google-make-money-a...
> Search is Google’s most lucrative unit. In 2020, the company generated $104 billion in “search and other” revenues, making up 71% of Google’s ad revenue and 57% of Alphabet’s total revenue.
This section of the article further details how the auctions differ from online advertisement products.
I don't have the source but Google's chief economist has been very clear about how the micro auctions work and generate revenue separately from display ads.
Google’s primary business is search. They monetize search in a couple different ways. The primary revenue model for search is micro auctions to determine ranking of product placement on search results.
I don’t have numbers but I suspect Google ads get far more eyeballs than do their search results. The distinction though is margin not quantity. Ads aren’t worth very much. Google ads generate a higher margin than Facebook ads but still tiny, like maybe fractions of a penny. When I was at Travelocity a million years ago I remember hotels bidding up to $18 per click for placement on searches related to Las Vegas. Not only is that click-through worth a fortune it is also relevant and thus far more likely to be clicked.
EDIT
Death by a thousand paper cuts.
Somebody provided a source below, they clearly did not read, which explains all of this:
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/18/how-does-google-make-money-a...
> Search is Google’s most lucrative unit. In 2020, the company generated $104 billion in “search and other” revenues, making up 71% of Google’s ad revenue and 57% of Alphabet’s total revenue.
This section of the article further details how the auctions differ from online advertisement products.
I don't have the source but Google's chief economist has been very clear about how the micro auctions work and generate revenue separately from display ads.