“I’m feeling Lucky” Button Costs $110 Million for Google

Have you ever tried that "I’m feeling Lucky" button on Google? It doesn’t do any voodoo, but it just skips the search result page and takes you directly to the first result. You could save few microseconds this way, but Google loses a chance to show search ads.

Are you feeling lucky?

So how much does Google lose by not showing ads on search result page? Google executive, Marissa Mayer, has confirmed that 1 percent of all searches done on Google are via "I’m feeling Lucky" button. According to estimates from Rapt’s Tom Chavez, Google annually loses $110 million in ad revenue this way.

Not too much for a company like Google, but still it’s a lot of money right? Marissa Mayer says "It’s possible to become too dry, too corporate, too much about making money. I think what’s delightful about ‘I’m Feeling Lucky’ is that it reminds you there are real people here".

This leaves me wondering how much AdBlock Plus is costing Google in ad revenues?

[Via: Labnol -> Valleywag]

This post was published by on November 21, 2007

About the Author: Thilak Rao works as a Social Media Expert. He is one of the first professional bloggers from India, and he loves to write, travel and click photos. Follow him on Twitter @thilak

  • http://marcvz.net/blog Marc

    Definitely more than that.

    I wonder if Google’s calculation is based on ad views only or view AND clicks.

  • http://www.selbourne.com Selbourne Designing

    I dont see them loosing money here. It could just be considered as an un tapped resource or source to be discontinued during lean times :)

  • http://indyankk.blogspot.com Innovations & Interesting Ramblings

    See, when people see google monetizing everything, then they loose the “awe” that currently people have on google…

    There should be some sort of business optimization while making revenues.when you become as big as google, it is very vital to show an humane face and not be just a money earning machine…this face would attract more users to google and the loss in revenue,if any, through such lost opportunities,as you mentioned,would be better compensated…

  • http://www.chromoz.com p@r@noid

    Nice Info…thanks :)