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According to a report in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Google's shares surged more than 17 per cent in after-hours trading after it reported the profit result, compared with the 17 per cent profit growth in the 2007 fourth quarter. Furthermore, the WSJ reported that its international operations generated 51 per cent of Google's revenue in the first quarter, compared with 48 per cent in the fourth quarter in 07.

The company reported that clicks on its online ads showed increases of 20 per cent in the first quarter from a year earlier, compared with 30 per cent in the fourth quarter, however on average, advertisers are paying more for each click.

And according to the WSJ, Google's solid financial performance comes as Yahoo is testing using Google ads alongside a small percentage of its Web search results.