Google says it generated $80bn for American businesses in 2011

PanARMENIAN.Net - Google said Monday, Oct 1, that it generated $80 billion for American businesses, website publishers and nonprofits in 2011, up 25 percent from 2010, CNET reports.

In a report published to its Economic Impact page, the company estimated the benefits to its advertisers and partners using three measurements: revenue received from AdWords on Google.com search results in 2011; dollars paid to AdSense partners; and in-kind donations made to nonprofits through its Google Grants program.

The company breaks down the impact for each state using nifty HTML5 animations accompanied by fun facts - California received $20 billion in activity for some 320,00 businesses, Google said, or enough to buy every Californian a search board.

Google said the $80 billion estimate is conservative. It omits the cost savings for consumers who find what they're looking for more easily than before, for example. It also does not include the impact of Google employees' own spending, or the impact of Google products like Maps and YouTube.

The report marked the third time Google has released an estimate of its economic activity.