Quote:
Originally Posted by paulsalter
A lot is in ads
If you do a search for Amazon, the first 2 results will be for amazon.co.uk
the first result however is an ad directing you to amazon, use this link and google get paid
many people click the top result when searching (just from experience watching them) and this is usually the ad related link
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They also make money off banner and sidebar ads placed on other websites based on relevance. (They share revenue with *those* sites, of course.) It all works off the same system: the same algorithms that parse queries and queue up relevant links also queue up relevant ads to all websites subscribed to their ad placement service.
A lot of websites also use Google search to provide site search features. eCommerce sites too but many of those prefer Amazon's A9 because it is more product and retail focus so it does a better job of offering up relevant products.
There isn't much money in search per-se; the money is in serving ads to eyeballs.