Auction

How they do it: Google uses an auction process with every search query. The outcome of the auction will be which and in the order ads will show on a a page. Next to factors of how suitable the ad is to the keyword search and the quality of the ad, the bid for this keyword, set by the marketer, will determine the positioning of the ad.

Digitization

How they do it: One specific area, in which Google is pushing its digitization efforts is books. The service Google books allows to search the full text of books and magazines Google has scanned and converted to text using optical character recognition.

E-commerce

How they do it: Google sells all its products in its online store. This comprises product categories such as phones, home & entertainment, laptops, VR, and accesoires.

Guaranteed Availability

How they do it: Google’s value proposition of search engine advertising is available 24/7 from anywhere in the world. Opposed to traditional advertising, Google’s advertising solutions allow customers to target their customers independent of their location and time, hence has the ability to reach a customer 24/7 as well.

Hidden Revenue

How they do it: Google’s search engine is free to use for all customers. However Google monetizes its search users through providing companies targeted advertising which allows them to target exactly the customers that are looking for a certain product or service and also enables the customers to better find what they are looking for.

Leverage Customer Data

How they do it: Google’s search engine is free to use for all customers. However Google monetizes its user’s data and search queries through providing companies the possibility for targeted advertising which allows them to target exactly the customers that are looking for a certain product or service and also enables the customers to better find what they are looking for.

License

How they do it: Google licenses its IP through various products to 3rd parties which wish to use a certain technology or build a business based upon it. For this purpsoe, Google runs a web portal where 3rd parties can apply for the use or acquisition of a patent.

Lock-in

How they do it: Through their Google Playstore, the company offers both content and apps for its customers. However, these can only be used on the respective environments and not be transferred to other environments. Hence, once the customer is used to the service and has purchased a lot of content or apps, the switching costs are very high.

Long Tail

How they do it: By making their search engine universal and allow customers to look for anything in the internet, Google has become the leading search engine provider. It’s value proposition is to give customers exactly the search results they are looking for, no matter how small the niche. This leading market position supports itself as with a large enough customer group, the probability that someone has searched for a certain thing before increases.

Open Source

How they do it: Google has set up a separate portal for open source projects. This allows 3rd parties to use and further develop Google technologies. One important feature is the community, which allows discussion around the open source projects and collaboration on their development. Projects range from apps for their smartphone operating system Android to various web tools and computer science technology.

Pay Per Use

How they do it: Google’s search engine advertising product allows customers to set a budget for a certain period which is then used to show ads. However, the customers only pay upon actual searches and displays of their ads, leading to a result-based payment model.

Revenue Sharing

How they do it: Google’s AdSense product enables publishers to serve automatic text, image, video or interactive media ads on its website. These are targeted specifically to the website’s audience (e.g. location and demografic). Content publishers can earn revenue on a per-click or per-impression basis.

Self-service

How they do it: Most of Google’s products can be set-up fully independently of any Google employees, allowing the company to scale their products regardless of their personnel. The company also provides a lot of content and a peer-to-peer community to support each other in the use of Google products.

Solution Provider

How they do it: In the area of online advertising on websites, Google offers content creators a full range of solutions. This includes website analytics which provides data, that then can be used to optimize its search engine advertising as well as display advertising on the website itself. The customer can therefore monetize its website fully using Google products.

Two-sided Market

How they do it: Google’s search engine operates as a two-sided market, connecting websites and users who search for websites. Google does not provide any content but utilizes data to make sure that users with a specific search query find the website which can best answer their need / search. It also utilizes the data to allow website owners to target the user’s they want to attract on their websites.

Whitelabel

How they do it: Google offers a customizable version of its search engine for customers to put on their website or blog. This allows websites to utilize Google’s search algorithms on their content and provide its visitors a fast way to search through the content of specific websites. The website owner can select what pages the engine displays and prioritize its order.