High Bar Hits Google

For a company with Google's shine, winning games by the same number of points just doesn't seem to impress.

But there were several signs that Google continues to fine-tune its staple targeted search business -- where it seems to extend its lead in market share over rivals each day -- while at the same time staying poised to launch into new money-making arenas.

The precision with which Google targets ads continued to rise over the quarter, Google CEO Eric Scmidt said on a conference call for investors. This allows the company to keep profits streaming in, even as it reduces the number of ads it places on a page and removing ads from less commercially-oriented searches.

Google also continues to advance its method of assessing the usefulness of the Web page an ad sends users to, thereby making sure that not only ads -- but what also what follows them -- is more relevant to users.

By making Web searchers continuously easier and more intuitive for users, Google is in the position to further cement its lead in that expanding market. "Our ad systems continue not just to make money, but to focus on ad quality," Google's co-founder and president of technology Sergey Brin said. "We continue to enhance ad matching and eliminating ads from less commercial queries."