Google Miss Stuns Wall Street

"I'm pleased with the revenue, and there is nothing dramatic here to make me change my view on the stock," he said. "Expenses were a little above the Street, and that's the issue impacting earnings."

A closer look at Google's results also suggests reasons for optimism.

The company's closely watched traffic acquisition costs actually declined sequentially to 30% of advertising revenue for the second quarter, as compared to 31% during the first quarter. Investors often fear inflation in those costs as they can eat into revenue.

Revenue growth on Google-owned sites was also much stronger than that of revenue from affiliate sites. Revenue on Google's own site is of a higher quality and less susceptible to click fraud, among other things.

Google-owned sites saw revenue of $2.49 billion in the second quarter, a 74% increase over the same period last year. Google partner sites generated revenue of $1.35 billion, a 36% increase over the same period a year ago.