Google Q4 Earnings Point To Changes in its Marketing Focus

Google is thinking small as it continues to grow. The search giant is focusing on mobile in 2010, according to CEO Eric Schmidt, who spoke during a conference call (full audio transcript) on the announcement of Google’s Q4 earnings.

Before he got into the nitty-gritty of this year’s outlook, Google announced that revenue was up 17 percent in Q4 2009 ($6.7 billion) and up $23.65 billion for all of 2009 (for a net income of $6.5 billion).

Where does Google go from here? Right in our pockets, it appears. The release of the Nexus Phone made a splash, but Google is concentrating on the red meat of advertising and search to really make its mark in 2010, especially on mobile devices.

In 2009, Google saw mobile search increase 5 fold. The advertising that goes along with mobile search is even more specialized for customers. According to Senior Vice President of Project Management for Google, Jonathan Rosenberg:

“The new formats, the targeting tools and the reporting we are giving to advertisers (are) making a difference. Click to call, letting advertisers target specific high-end devices or carriers (we are) seeing improved monetization across mobile.”

This goes along with the trend Google has shown in strengthening its geo-specific local search results and the goal of getting answers to search result question to the user quicker. The feature is especially appealing to marketers as more consumers are using their phones to research the pricing on a possible item before buying.

Beyond mobile, Google is banking on a boom in its revenue from display advertising, which goes beyond the AdWords/AdSense model to more enriched advertising content.

Said Schmidt: “We have said is that our next huge business is display. If I were to talk about absolute numbers that would be No. 1. But smaller ones (revenue growth opportunities are) growing faster. No. 1 there is mobile. We have a lot of evidence that people are moving towards data-friendly mobile devices quite quickly. 2010 will be a year of significant mobile revenue growth.”

Display advertising is growing market for Google as the integration of DoubleClick, which was acquired in 2007, has finally been completed. Coupled with DoubleClick’s vast inventory the type of  reporting Google Analytics is able to provide is very appealing to marketers. Especially when combined with interactive, call-to-action display ads (ie, click here to do this, go to our web site or become a part of our social network), there is a lot of area for expansion for Google. Google has already rolled out more ad templates to make it easier for small businesses to get into the game and is eager to have video powered display ads as well through YouTube which is the de facto leader in the space.

So it looks like the new ecosystem Google is building for 2010 and beyond will focus on display ads powering the revenue picture in a what that AdWords has done since Google’s beginning, along with a more local-oriented, geo-savvy search on mobile, with faster and better answers and targeted advertising that gets as specific as the device being used as the search.

It’s a plan that can fit in the palm of your hand, but one that Google is banking on for this year and the years ahead.

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