Google Says It Generated $54 Billion Of U.S. Economic Activity In 2009

[engine]

Google Says It Generated $54 Billion Of U.S. Economic Activity In 2009 [googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com]

People think of Google first and foremost as a search engine, but it’s also an engine of economic growth. In our report, we’re announcing that in 2009 we generated a total of $54 billion of economic activity for American businesses, website publishers and non-profits. Over the years people have asked us whether we could quantify our economic impact on a state level, and we’re pleased to do that for the first time with this report, which you can download at google.com/economicimpact.

[google.com...]

Well, what do you think? That's great to read about the news in this reachout initiative.

[Hugene]

There is no doubt at all about the tremendous impact of G on the economy. All marketing is crucial to generating consumerism and feeding the economy, except that whereas you passively consume a TV ad or open the Yellow Pages, on G you click and land directly at the store where you can make the purchase, be it through SERPs or contextual ads.

But lets not forget that if G doesn't do it, someone else will. Will it be as well done and will it generate as many sales, that's more of a debate.

[zett]

No wonder this is on their googlepublicpolicy board probably in an attempt to get some positive PR after their Streetview disaster in Europe.

But that statement is grossly misleading. Maybe they channeled that business activity through their search engine, but they certainly did not "generate" it. I am with Hugene and think that if they had not done this, somebody else would have.

Also, one should think about how they destroyed or tried to destroy entire sectors, e.g. navigation, web analytics, books, video, etc. etc.

[np2003]

How did they get this info? That's right, they can see everyone's conversion reports...

[loner]

They converted 74 billion into 54 billion by wiping out other industries.

[ppc_newbie]

np2003: How did they get this info? That's right, they can see everyone's conversion reports...

Has Google been peeking in the GA stats?

Which is why people should use their own analytics tracking.

[Bentler]

It's interesting that DC and Washington State had the highest per-capita revenue.

[goodroi]

"...Therefore, we conservatively estimate that for every $1 a business spends on AdWords, they receive an average of $8 in profit through Google Search and AdWords..."

I know that is based on independent research papers but that just doesnt sound right to me.

[rise2it]

They didn't 'generate' anything - it's just a matter of money being moved around.

[graeme_p]

Somebody else would have done it, but that applies to all numbers like this.

@zett, if they can sustainably do stuff for free/ad supported that others charged for, that is a good thing.

@rise2it: are you saying that all service businesses are worthless?

On the whole, its interesting, just interpret "generated" a bit sceptically. Its more honest that similar numbers you see from other organisations (RIAA, BSA for example).