Google Paid Clicks

Google just posted their Q4 2011 earnings resulting in a massive quarter but not meeting expectations of investors. In fact, Google’s stock is down over 9% in after hours trading.

That being said, part of those earning results showed that paid clicks on Google’s network is up 34% year over year but cost per click (CPC) is down 8% year over year. In other words, more people are clicking on ads, but those clicks are costing advertisers less money per click.

The paid clicks also increased from Q3 to Q4 by 17%, while CPC dropped 8% from Q3 to Q4.

• Paid Clicks – Aggregate paid clicks, which include clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of our Network members, increased approximately 34% over the fourth quarter of 2010 and increased approximately 17% over the third quarter of 2011.
• Cost-Per-Click – Average cost-per-click, which includes clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of our Network members, decreased approximately 8% over the fourth quarter of 2010 and decreased approximately 8% over the third quarter of 2011.