High Bar Hits Google

The company also is looking for ways to muscle into the graphical advertising business, another arena rife for growth given the popularity of the Web sites it operates. Google also had a bullish outlook for its expansion into the mobile sector, though the company said that an aggressive adoption in the year ahead would likely precede revenue rolling in during 2008.

Google reported that the adoption of Checkout is going better than the company expected. Symbols in Google's search results that a merchant is covered in Checkout not only drive more users to its site but have been shown to increase sales, Brin said. Merchants are "beginning to think about Google as a sales channel versus a marketing expense," Brin said.

On Wednesday, the Mountain View, Calif., Internet search giant announced that it made $1.03 billion, or $3.29 a share, for the quarter ended Dec. 31. That's up from the year-ago $372 million, or $1.22 a share. Excluding certain items, latest-quarter adjusted earnings were $3.18 a share.

Net revenue was $2.23 billion.

Traffic acquisition costs, the portion of revenues shared with Google's partners, were steady at 31% of gross revenue in both the fourth quarter and the third quarter.

Google-owned sites generated 62% of total revenue and posted a gross revenue increase of 80% from a year ago. Google's partner sites generated 37% of total revenue and showed 50% growth from a year ago.