Internet search engine Google said its ability to cash in on web advertising had helped its profits almost triple.

The company made a net profit of $1.03bn (£524.4m) in the last three months of 2006 – compared to $372.2m a year ago.

It said the result, on sales of $3.2bn, was helped by high internet traffic in the holiday shopping season.

Google said its partnerships – such as the purchase of video sharing website YouTube – were “going extremely well”.

Targeted

The firm said it paid out $976 million to websites which featured Google advertising.

This was a figure which was likely to continue growing, it added.

President of Technology at Google, Sergey Brin, said the firm had increased the number of adverts which were produced when searches were made for commercial goods.

The number of adverts on less commercial searches had been cut back, he added.

Adverts were becoming increasingly targeted to what was being searched for, he said.

Google paid $1.65bn for YouTube in October – with analysts saying it looked likely to see a benefit from the purchase.

The move should give it a key spot in the emerging online video market, and help it become a leading provider of web-based video advertising space.

In November, shares in the Google breached the $500 mark and are now trading at around $490.

Google shares have been boosted by strong growth, and expectations that the firm will continue to capitalise on the online advertising market.

It has also benefited from problems at its closest rival, Yahoo.

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