Advertising and promotional spending by search engine giant Google has doubled in each of the last two years, and topped $2billion (£1.29billion) in 2011.
The figure, which takes into account its recent acquisition of Motorola, represents 4.1 per cent of Google's total revenue, which itself is up sharply from 2.6 per cent in 2010, according to American advertising business journal, Advertising Age.
Advertising Age quoted Google's interim forecasts for its business issued at the end of 2011, in which it said: “We expect that sales and marketing expenses will increase … in 2012 and future periods as we expand our business globally.”
But the numbers are far outstripped by the amount Google earns from selling ads; in 2011 the company took in $38billion (£24.45billion)
