Google has multiple ways of generating revenue beyond private investment or selling shares of its stock. Google uses several methods to partner with merchants and advertisers: Google Pay, Google Ads, Google AdSense and Google Analytics are some.

Google Pay (formerly Google Wallet and, before that, Google Checkout) is a service designed to make purchases easier for both the consumer and the retailer. On the consumer end, users create a free Google Pay account, entering credit or debit card numbers, which Google stores in a secure database.

When the user visits a retailer with Google Pay, either online or in a brick-and-mortar store, he or she can use Pay and Google facilitates the transaction using a “virtual account number” — what Google describes as an “alias” for your real card number.

Google doesn’t charge a fee to the business or the consumer. With Google Pay in a real-world store, consumers can use their smartphones to pay, leaving their credit cards at home.

• How Google Make Money
• How Google Make Money From Search
• How Much Does Google Make Per Search
• How Does Google Make Money From Gmail
• How Much Does a Google Account Cost
• How to Secure Your Google Account
• 10 Great Google Search Alternatives

How Google Make Money

The main way Google generates its revenue is through a pair of advertising services called Ads and AdSense. With Ads, advertisers submit ads to Google that include a list of keywords relating to a product, service or business.

When a Google user searches the Web using one or more of those keywords, the ad appears on the SERP in a sidebar. The advertiser pays Google every time a user clicks on the ad and is directed toward the advertiser’s site.

AdSense is similar, except that instead of displaying ads on a Google SERP, a webmaster can choose to integrate ads onto a site. Google’s spiders crawl the site and analyze the content. Then, Google selects ads that contain keywords relevant to the webmaster’s site.

Read Also: How You Can Make Money Online With Google Adwords

Webmasters can customize the type and location of the ads that Google provides. Every time someone clicks on an ad on the site, the site receives a portion of the ad revenue (and Google gets the rest). Google Analytics is a powerful tool that tracks traffic to websites, enabling them to better understand who their users are and what they’re after on their sites.

With both Ads and AdSense, Google’s strategy is to provide advertisers with ad placements that are directly targeted to the Google users who are most likely to buy their products or services and to give users information that is most relevant to what they’re looking for (which may include goods and services to purchase) [source: Google].

That relationship between users and advertisers is at the heart of the business of Google … though Google’s Nayak is quick to point out that users, still, come first.

“We believe If users get what they want, get what they’re looking for … then they’re going to keep coming back to look for more things,” Nayak says, “and we send more traffic to the Web and we keep the Web ecosystem healthy.

How Google Make Money From Search

Everything you search in Google, type in mail, store in your phone and every conversation you make is recorded by Google.

So what? What are they going to do with that?

So Google knows who your friends are, what’s your favorite color, where you are going tonight, which people betrayed you and many more.

So with that it picks up the interest. Say you are interested in traveling then Google sells about you to travels company and the travels sends you places list with discounts for you..

Always remember this: when someone offers you a product free then it’s obvious you are the product.

Thus we made the Google rich by giving all our info for free.

Google is a search company that primarily makes its money from advertising.

In 2015, Google made about $75 billion in revenue.

• $67 billion is from search and search-related revenue
  • Adwords & Search advertising
  • Adsense Network
• Remaining $8 billion is from “other sources” by selling
  • Chromecast
  • Chromebook
  • Google Cloud Platform
  • Google Glass
  • Android
  • Others

All in all, you can see that Google is funded by cash generated from their search and advertising space to drive innovation and exploring new business models.

So far, it hasn’t quite work out yet, but I am sure in time to come we will see new products coming into the market that they can significantly derive revenue from.

How Much Does Google Make Per Search

To say “Google doesn’t make money from its search engine” is misleading. Although Google doesn’t charge users to perform a web search, it is how it makes the majority of its money.

Every time a user performs a search, the search results include sponsored ad, part of the Google AdWords platform. Advertisers bid on the keywords that will trigger display of their ads. Advertisers can display their ads over Google sites or Google Network websites.

Ads begin with the top results on the Google search page and also includes ads embedded on webpages that users go on to visit after searching on Google, based on the things that user previously googled.

Google receives money from the advertisers whenever a user clicks on those ads, whether or not they actually go on to purchase a product or service from the advertiser (which is no different to most forms of advertising).

Although Google has diversified massively since its inception as just a search engine, Alphabet still generates almost 90% of its revenue through Google advertising (around US$95b in 2017) with its search engine being the biggest contributor.

As a rough estimate, the average cost per click in 2017 was $2.69 and users clicked on the advertising link around 2% of the time on the search network (Click Through Rate). So to get the average revenue per ad seen, multiply $2.69 by 2% to get $0.0538 per ad on average. Of course the platform does not work on averages. A click may be worth anywhere from a few cents to over $150 for highly lucrative search terms such as loans and legal firm searches.

From a “search” perspective, each month Google processes over 160+ billion Google searches. Google earns around $8b per month in advertising revenue, that’s around $0.05 per search on average.

How Does Google Make Money From Gmail

Gmail have over 1 Billion monthly active users . It’s has been around 13 years when Google started Gmail on April 1st, 2004. Gmail was unreliable those days and Google itself was not expecting millions of users to register on it so they haven’t even made any office for Gmail.

Skeptics didn’t even leave the Google mails, questioned its privacy and considered it cannot be trusted over the private user information.

Moreover, the release was suspected to be an April fool’s joke as PigeonRank was but anyhow it turned out to be one of the most widely used website across the globe and started earning money with a great speed. But have you ever imagined how Gmail makes money?

Google mail extensions include Google+, Google Drive, YouTube, Google Calendar, Google Buzz and Google Hangouts. Just to make sure the daily clearance of junk and refine the data maintaining the privacy, Google need billions and you make sure to never disappoint it.

Yes, the users of Google are the biggest revenue making product of its. The more ‘Googling’ you do, the more money the organization makes. About 96% of its earning comes from AdSense and AdWords, which means earning out Google’s part is all about advertisement and advertisement only.

This is the same concept that goes with Google mails. Gmail makes money from Adsense only, getting paid for each advertisement it sets. Gmail’s advertisements are charged into ways which are “Per 1000 Impression” basis and on “Per Click” basis.

There are various sections of advertisements such as insurance, product, finance, mortgages and so on which pays a lot to get advertised. Completely supported by its advertisement, a Google mail generates huge revenue as we have discussed above.

The accurate amount isn’t shared with the users and won’t be there anytime soon. By web developers, Gmail is said to be a prominent use of Ajax and has the capacity to send and receive data of 25 MB approximately in the highest possible speed. Speaking of the achievements here, Google mail application was the first one to reach 1 billion downloads on Google play store.

Merging the three i.e. Google mail, Google Drive and Google+ there is 15 GB free space provided to the users to keep their photos, videos, and emails safe which is extendable if brought.

The features of the web-based free electronic mail sending and receiving facility includes Gmail Tests where you can test and review the new features which would be added in the coming updates.

Hangouts enabled video calling and even faster chatting using the chatbox and the Google+ enabled the users a type of social networking to connect and share the personal data with friend and foes. The Gmail search that most of us have already used makes it way easier for the users to search the instantly required chat or document.

There are various achievements that the Google mail has made just to attract more and more of users to connect the site, assuring quality services making billions out of each mail that opens.

How Much Does a Google Account Cost

G Suite is Google’s range of cloud-based office productivity tools. It initially only included Gmail, Docs, and Sheets, but in recent years, Google have also added tools like Google Drive and Hangouts (among many others).

Typically, G Suite was seen as the cheaper option for business productivity tools, especially in relation to its biggest rival, Microsoft Office 365 (read a detailed review of the Office 365 suite here).

This has made it popular with millions of small-to-medium businesses worldwide. Higher-level plans offering advanced archiving, security and administrative features have also made it an attractive choice for larger enterprises.

But a recent price rise (the first in G Suite’s history) has left many potential new customers wondering: is G Suite still an affordable option? What exactly do you get in return, and is the new pricing justified?

Find out as we take you through everything you need to know about the new G Suite pricing, to help you make a decision.

G Suite offers three main plans: Basic, which costs $6/user/month and comes with 30GB of Google Drive storage; Business, which costs $12/user/month and provides unlimited storage and extra security and admin controls; and Enterprise, with unlimited storage and advanced controls, which costs $25/user/month.

This represents an increase of $1/user/month from the original pricing for the Basic plan, and $2/user/month on the Business plan.

This might be manageable if you’re a smaller business with just a handful of users.

But it could sting a little if you’re a mid-large sized business, running your entire team’s email, storage and productivity tools out of G Suite.

Still, you might find it’s worth it, if what you’re getting for that price meets your business’s requirements. So let’s take a look at what tools and features you get access to on each G Suite plan.

What’s Included in Each G Suite Plan

Each plan will give you access to your own email account and all the G Suite productivity and collaboration tools. The main differences lie in storage allowance, security features, and the level of administrative control you have over the products.

Which Google Account is Good For You

G Suite Basic

This plan would be a good option if:

• You’re a freelancer, solopreneur or small business owner who manages a small team (i.e. less than 5 employees)
• You want an email address on your own domain
• You want to run your office tools out of Google (e.g. as opposed to Microsoft Office)
• You don’t work with large file formats and don’t need a huge amount of space to store files and emails
• You don’t need archiving for your emails and chat messages, or advanced admin and security controls

However, if you have a bigger team and/or don’t think the 30GB of personal storage will cut it, then it’s worth considering one of the higher plans.

G Suite Business

The $6/user/month price difference between G Suite Basic and Business means that the Business plan may not be a realistic option for some businesses. However, we’d recommend this plan if:

• You manage a medium-to-large sized team
• You want access to all the features of G Suite Basic, but also want email and message archiving (Google Vault)
• You don’t want to worry about running out of storage space for your files (provided you have 5+ users – otherwise, you’ll have the 1TB storage limit)
• Easily syncing and sharing files across teams/the company is important to you
• You plan to use Google Hangouts for video conferencing and would have less than 50 participants on any call
• You don’t need advanced admin and security controls (e.g. data loss prevention, security key management)

Of course, if you need even greater control and more advanced security features, then Enterprise would be the way to go.

G Suite Enterprise

Again, there’s a huge price jump between the Business and Enterprise plans – from $12/user/month to $25/user/month.

This is ideal for businesses and enterprises that need the features offered by G Suite Business, but also:

• Have larger teams, and therefore require greater admin and security controls over their G Suite apps
• Need advanced security features such as device management rules, security key management and data loss prevention
• Aside from having access to email archiving via Google Vault, need to be able to integrate with third-party archiving tools like Barracuda or Mailstore
• Plan to use Google Hangouts for video conferencing or live streaming, and would have up to 100 participants on any call

The good thing is that you can purchase different plans for different users within your business. For example, if you only want Enterprise for some of your users, you don’t have to commit your entire team to it. This could help you reduce your monthly cost significantly.

There are also special plans available for schools (G Suite for Education and G Suite Enterprise for Education), and nonprofits (G Suite for Nonprofits, which is free of charge).

Plans can be billed monthly or annually. Discounts may also apply to annual plans, but generally only if you sign up through a Google representative (for example, on the Business plan, discounts aren’t available if you sign up online).

How to Secure Your Google Account

Open Your Google Account

Navigate to Gmail and click on your profile picture at the top right of the page, which will open the Google menu. From there, select Manage your Google Account. When you signed up to Gmail, Google also created a single account for you to access all of their services. This is known as your Google Account.

Each service has it’s own settings and options, but critical information like your password, two-factor authentication, and other personal details are managed through your Google account. On the left menu, select Security.

Resolve Security Issues

As part of an effort to help secure your account, Google offers security recommendations. If there are outstanding issues, these will be listed at the top of your account’s Security page. Even if there are no suggestions, click Secure account at the bottom of the Security issues found section.

This will take you to an overview of your Google account’s security status. The site uses a traffic light system to alert you to areas that need attention. If all six sections are green, then you can move onto other areas. Otherwise, follow the guidance listed by each section to improve your Gmail security.

Update Password And Two-Factor Authentication

Back at your Google account’s Security page, there is an overview titled Signing in to Google. Here you can see when your password was last changed, and whether you have enabled two-factor authentication. It is good practice to change your password for a stronger one, especially if you reuse passwords.

Two-factor authentication (2FA) adds a step to the login process. After entering your username and password, you’ll be asked to enter a temporary code. This is used to ensure that it is you signing in, and not just someone with your credentials. It is definitely worth securing all your accounts with 2FA.

Google offers a few options for this service; an authenticator app (like Google Authenticator or Authy) or an SMS code. If you use an Android device, you may also be able to set up an authentication notification on your phone, too.

Assess Recent Security Activities

After you’ve completed Google’s security checkup, made sure you’re using a secure password, and enabled two-factor authentication, you can review past security events on your account. On the main Security settings page, scroll until you reach the Recent security activity section.

This area shows any login or access events in the past 28 days. Each item shows the device or app and date of the event. If you open a single event, there is more detail like the IP address, estimated location, and browser.

Although this is a read-only section, so you can’t edit or change any settings here, it should alert you to whether any suspicious activity has occurred on your account. Google even has a prompt on this page, noting that if you see anything that looks suspicious, you should follow guidance to secure your account.

Review Your Device

If you’ve checked over your recent security activity and found nothing suspicious, you can advance to reviewing devices with access to your Google account. Under the Your devices header, select Manage devices. This opens a list of every device currently signed in to your Gmail account.

You can choose to sign out unused or older devices. They appear in a separate collection labeled Where you’ve signed out. Identifying each may be a little challenging; if the activity came from a Windows PC, for example, the log would only show the device name as Windows, rather than something unique.

If you’re unsure, err on the side of caution and sign it out. The worst that’ll happen is you’ll need to log in again on that device.

Manage Third-Party Apps

After signing out from devices, you should review the Third-party apps with account access from the Security settings page. This list details every app that you’ve given access to your Google or Gmail account. As with other areas of your account, the list is an overview, and you can select each item to expand the detail.

You may recognize the app, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you should leave it untouched. Viewing the item allows you to see the data that the app has permission to access. This is an important step, especially as in 2018, Google admitted that third-party apps can read your Gmail messages

If it’s an email app, it’ll likely have access to your Gmail account and be able to send emails on your behalf. However, you may not have given it explicit permission to access all of your Google Drive content, for example.

Likewise, if you no longer use one of the apps in the list, you should remove it from your account. If you don’t recognize an item on the list and don’t believe you ever gave it access to your account, there is an option to flag it to Google by selecting the Report this app link.

10 Great Google Search Alternatives

Google may be the most popular choice in search engines, but here are 17 alternative search engines you can – and should – try.

Google has transcended from being just another search engine. It has become ubiquitous, often used as a transitive verb. If you have any doubts, just Google it!

With its ever-evolving algorithms, a dominant online advertising platform, and personalized user experience, Google has amassed a global market share of 87%.

No one serves up better search results than Google. At least that’s the common perception, but is that always the case?

Google’s easy-to-use interface and personalized user experience comes at a cost.

It’s no secret the search engine giant catalogs the browsing habits of its users and shares that information with advertisers and other interested parties.

If you are unwilling to trade privacy for convenience or have specific search needs, there are a number of Google alternatives that offer a better search experience.

Bing

As of January 2020, Microsoft sites handled a quarter of all search queries in the United States.

One could argue that Bing actually outperforms Google in certain respects.

For starters, Bing has a rewards program that allows one to accumulate points while searching. These points are redeemable at the Microsoft and Windows stores, which is a nice perk.

Read Also: What You Should Know About Making Money With Google Adsense

In my view, the Bing image search GUI is superior to its rival’s and much more intuitive. Bing carries that same clean user experience to video, making it the go-to source for video search without a YouTube bias.

Yandex

Yandex is used by more than 45% of Russian Internet users. It is also used in Belarus, Kazakhstan, Turkey, and Ukraine.

Yandex is an overall easy-to-use search engine. As an added bonus, it offers a suite of some pretty cool tools

CC Search

CC Search should be your first stop on the hunt for nearly any type of copyright-free content.

This search engine is perfect if you need music for a video, an image for a blog post, or anything else without worrying about an angry artist coming after you for ripping off their work.

The way CC Search works is simple – it draws in results from platforms such as Soundcloud, Wikimedia, and Flickr and displays results labeled as Creative Commons material.

Swisscows

Swisscows is a unique option on this list, billing itself as a family-friendly semantic search engine.

They also pride themselves in respecting users’ privacy, never collecting, storing or tracking data.

It uses artificial intelligence to determine the context of a user’s query. Over time, Swisscows promises to answer your questions with surprising accuracy.

DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo doesn’t collect or store any of your personal information.

That means you can run your searches in peace without having to worry about the boogeyman watching you through your computer screen.

DuckDuckGo is the perfect choice for those who wish to keep their browsing habits and personal information private.

StartPage

StartPage serves up answers from Google, making it the perfect choice for those who prefer Google’s search results, but aren’t keen on having their search history tracked and stored.

It also includes a URL generator, a proxy service, and HTTPS support. The URL generator is especially useful because it eliminates the need to collect cookies.

Instead, it remembers your settings in a way that promotes privacy.

Search Encrypt

Search Encrypt is a private search engine that uses local encryption to ensure your searches remain private.

It uses a combination of encryption methods that include Secure Sockets Layer encryption and AES-256 encryption.

When you input a query, Search Encrypt will pull the results from its network of search partners and deliver the requested information.

One of the best parts of Search Encrypt is that your search terms will eventually expire, so your information will remain private even if someone has local access to your computer.

Gibiru

According to their website, “Gibiru is the preferred Search Engine for Patriots.”

They claim their search results are sourced from a modified Google algorithm, so users are able to query the information they seek without worrying about Google’s tracking activities.

Because Gibiru doesn’t install tracking cookies on your computer they purport to be faster than “NSA Search Engines.”

giveWater

GiveWater is a self-described “social impact search engine” which aims to have a positive impact on the world by empowering users to solve the issue of poor quality water and ineffective sanitation across the developing world.

It was founded after the company’s CEO met the founder of Charity: Water, Scott Harrison and was inspired to try to make a difference through his own work.

Ekoru

Ekoru is taking on the ever-present threat of climate change by donating 60% of its monthly revenue to one of several partner charities, ranging from those focusing on reforestation and climate action to those who are dedicated to animal welfare and conservation.

They also aim to select a different charitable cause every month.

Interestingly, Ekoru puts its money where its mouth is, using renewable energy sources for its data centers and taking a stand for civil rights by not storing any user or search-related data on their servers.

In 2019 Google was up 18% year over year and up 20% on a constant currency basis, according to information released by Ruth Porat, the chief financial officer of Alphabet and Google.

While other business segments contribute billions to Google’s income each year, Google makes most of its money through online advertising. Despite the company’s investments in other ventures, the tech giant’s presence in the online advertising space does not appear to be changing anytime soon, nor does its strong revenue growth.