Pity Yahoo. The internet portal's strong results have simply allowed it to start growing into its valuation. Google is on steroids by comparison. Its net revenues rose 108 per cent year-on-year in the third quarter. Yahoo's rose 42 per cent. Google's shares have more than doubled in a year. Yahoo's have gone nowhere.

Mass adoption of search as a new, measurable advertising medium is sucking dollars from traditional media. Even the biggest companies are experimenting with search-based advertising. Google is riding the same trend internationally, with very limited investment required. Meanwhile, consumers are searching more as they spend more time online. In spite of its dominance, Google is still increasing its share of those searches and is better than rivals at earning from each one.