4 ms·

I have heard that Microsoft's hardware cost to serve 1000 searches is > $1 while Google's equivalent cost is around $0.07. If true, this is definitely a compet

by nugget 13y ago

I have heard that Microsoft's hardware cost to serve 1000 searches is > $1 while Google's equivalent cost is around $0.07. If true, this is definitely a competitive advantage.

jpatokal 13y ago
Both figures seem unlikely, given that Google served ~2 trillion searches last year and did not spend $151 billion doing it. (The entire company spent on the order of $20 billion in 2013, and that's for everything.) http://www.statisticbrain.com/google-searches/ http://www.statisticbrain.com/google-searches/ https://investor.google.com/earnings/2013/Q4_google_earnings.html https://investor.google.com/earnings/2013/Q4_google_earnings...
- lpolovets 13y ago
  The grandparent mentioned $.07 per 1000 searches, not per search. I think that brings the figure down to something pretty reasonable. ($151 million.)
  - dopamean 13y ago
    $140 million on search? I haven't a clue if that is high or low. Seems low if the company's total expenses were $20 billion.
    - mden 13y ago
      The distinction here is that's for hardware cost only. I imagine salary costs are much higher.
      - dopamean 13y ago
        Ah I knew I was missing something there. Thanks.
- btilly 13y ago
  Where did you get your $151 billion figure from? 2 trillion searches at 0.07 cents per thousand is 2 * 10^12 / 10^3 * 0.07 = $140,000,000.
  - hrasyid 13y ago
    I think that's 2,161,530,000,000 searches * $0.07/search (he mistook it for $0.07 per search) On the other hand, your post mistakenly reads 0.07 cents per thousand, though you did the calculation correctly.
    - jpatokal 13y ago
      Math is hard, let's go shopping for data centers!
    - btilly 13y ago
      Given the phrase cost to serve 1000 searches are you sure I was mistaken?
      - mdwrigh2 13y ago
        He's saying that it is 0.07 dollars per 100 searches instead of 0.07 cents (which would be 0.0007 dollars).
- IvyMike 13y ago
  Estimates of "# of searches Google serves" are always fascinating to me. I don't see statisticbrain.com publishing a source for their estimate, although maybe I'm just missing something. AFAIK, Google doesn't really publish a precise number. They often say things like "Over a billion searches a day". But then they keep that published estimate the same for years during which growth is obviously happening. At some point, they'll publish a step function upgrade to the estimate. Of the top of my head 2 trillion searches sounds reasonable but I think there is a lot of fudge factor in that guess.
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by nugget 13y ago

I have heard that Microsoft's hardware cost to serve 1000 searches is > $1 while Google's equivalent cost is around $0.07. If true, this is definitely a competitive advantage.

jpatokal 13y ago

Both figures seem unlikely, given that Google served ~2 trillion searches last year and did not spend $151 billion doing it. (The entire company spent on the order of $20 billion in 2013, and that's for everything.) http://www.statisticbrain.com/google-searches/ http://www.statisticbrain.com/google-searches/ https://investor.google.com/earnings/2013/Q4_google_earnings.html https://investor.google.com/earnings/2013/Q4_google_earnings...

lpolovets 13y ago
The grandparent mentioned $.07 per 1000 searches, not per search. I think that brings the figure down to something pretty reasonable. ($151 million.)
- dopamean 13y ago
  $140 million on search? I haven't a clue if that is high or low. Seems low if the company's total expenses were $20 billion.
  - mden 13y ago
    The distinction here is that's for hardware cost only. I imagine salary costs are much higher.
    - dopamean 13y ago
      Ah I knew I was missing something there. Thanks.
btilly 13y ago
Where did you get your $151 billion figure from? 2 trillion searches at 0.07 cents per thousand is 2 * 10^12 / 10^3 * 0.07 = $140,000,000.
- hrasyid 13y ago
  I think that's 2,161,530,000,000 searches * $0.07/search (he mistook it for $0.07 per search) On the other hand, your post mistakenly reads 0.07 cents per thousand, though you did the calculation correctly.
  - jpatokal 13y ago
    Math is hard, let's go shopping for data centers!
  - btilly 13y ago
    Given the phrase cost to serve 1000 searches are you sure I was mistaken?
    - mdwrigh2 13y ago
      He's saying that it is 0.07 dollars per 100 searches instead of 0.07 cents (which would be 0.0007 dollars).
IvyMike 13y ago
Estimates of "# of searches Google serves" are always fascinating to me. I don't see statisticbrain.com publishing a source for their estimate, although maybe I'm just missing something. AFAIK, Google doesn't really publish a precise number. They often say things like "Over a billion searches a day". But then they keep that published estimate the same for years during which growth is obviously happening. At some point, they'll publish a step function upgrade to the estimate. Of the top of my head 2 trillion searches sounds reasonable but I think there is a lot of fudge factor in that guess.

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