Google Keeps Up Revenue Momentum in Q2

King of the Web Google announced its Q2 2007 earnings today, reporting revenues of $3.87billion, a 58 percent jump over Q2 ’06.

In the second quarter of 2007 ending June 30, Google-owned sites generated $2.49 billion, 74 percent higher than the $1.43 billion gathered the same quarter of ’06. Its AdSense network sites garnered $1.35 billion in Q2, a 36 percent leap over second quarter 2006.

Paid clicks revenues saw a boost, too, rising about 47 percent since the same period last year. Paid clicks represent the aggregate number of clicks related to ads served on Google sites and AdSense partner sites.

According to George Reyes, Google’s SVP and CFO, AdSense revenues were lower than may have been anticipated as a result of Google’s decision to eliminate some affiliate sites that “were not meeting our quality thresholds.”

Co-founder and President of Technology, Sergey Brin, touted the popularity of the firm’s recently-expanded pay-per-action offering, noting, “We’ve been having lots of advertisers move to this model.” He also affirmed that more refined ad targeting, along with other factors, have resulted in higher CPC rates.

“Advertisers are seeing really good returns, and therefore they do bid higher,” he said.

Nearly half — 48 percent — of the company’s total revenues in Q2 ’07 were derived from outside the U.S.; international revenues were at 42 percent in Q2 of last year. Google also reported Traffic Acquisition Costs (TAC) came in at 30 percent of advertising revenues. The company noted there may be added pressure on TAC rates going forward as it makes adjustments to its AdSense network.

Yesterday it was widely reported the U.S. Congress plans to investigate Google’s proposed acquisition of ad management firm DoubleClick, though hearings probably won’t come until autumn. Lawmakers evidently are concerned about privacy implications of the $3.1 billion deal. Google’s most recent acquisition was of e-mail security and compliance firm Postini, announced last week.