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Can Strong Search and Cloud Growth Drive GOOGL's Q3 Earnings?
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Key Takeaways
GOOGL's Q3 earnings are expected to gain from Search and Cloud growth, fueled by AI adoption and demand.
Google Search revenues are projected to rise 15% to $65 billion, aided by AI-powered engagement.
Google Cloud revenues are expected to surge 92.3% to $29.16 billion, driven by AI infrastructure demand.
Alphabet’s (GOOGL - Free Report) third-quarter 2026 results, scheduled to be released on Oct. 28, are expected to have benefited from solid momentum in Search and Cloud businesses. The momentum in Search is expected to have driven advertising revenues in the to-be-reported quarter. The Cloud business is riding on strong demand for AI infrastructure and an expanding clientele.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Google’s advertising revenues is currently pegged at $83.523 billion, suggesting 12.6% growth from the figure reported in the year-ago quarter. The consensus mark for Google Cloud revenues is currently pegged at $29.16 billion, indicating 92.3% growth from the figure reported in the year-ago quarter.
Alphabet has an impressive earnings surprise history. GOOGL’s earnings outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate in all the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 86.65%.
Click here to know how Alphabet’s overall third-quarter 2026 results are likely to be.
GOOGL’s AI Push Aids Search & Cloud Businesses
GOOGL’s Search business is benefiting from AI infusion. Alphabet is leading the search domain with 89.94% market share, followed by Microsoft’s (MSFT - Free Report) Bing, with 5.29% share, Yahoo!’s 1.36%, Yandex’s 1.3%, DuckDuckGo’s 0.74% and Baidu’s 0.44%, per the latest data from StatCounter.
Google Search & Other revenues are likely to have benefited from growing user engagement with AI-powered search experiences, including AI Overviews and AI Mode. The integration of these capabilities into a seamless search experience is expected to have increased query volumes and created additional advertising opportunities. AI Mode surpassed 1 billion monthly active users in the second quarter, with management highlighting incremental growth in overall search queries.
Improving advertising relevance through Gemini-powered query understanding, AI Max and Performance Max are expected to have supported monetization. AI Max had already attracted 500,000 advertisers, while AI-powered campaigns generated an average of 15% more conversions or conversion value on Search at a similar return on advertising spend. Continued demand from retail and financial services advertisers, which were major contributors to second-quarter growth, is likely to have supported Search revenues in the to-be-reported quarter. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Search and other revenues is currently pegged at $65 billion, suggesting 15% growth over the figure reported in the year-ago quarter.
Meanwhile, Google Cloud is expected to have remained a major growth engine in the to-be-reported quarter. Google Cloud has solidified its position as the third-largest provider in the highly competitive cloud infrastructure market against the likes of Microsoft Azure and Amazon’s (AMZN - Free Report) Amazon Web Services. According to Synergy Research Group data, Google Cloud, along with Microsoft, is gaining market share, while Amazon continues to lead with a 28% market share in the second quarter of 2026. Alphabet and Microsoft had 15% and 20% market share, respectively.
Google Cloud is expected to have benefited from robust enterprise demand for AI infrastructure, accelerated adoption of Gemini Enterprise and growing consumption of Google Cloud Platform services. Demand for Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), NVIDIA GPUs and AI inference capabilities is likely to have supported infrastructure revenues, while increasing adoption of BigQuery, cybersecurity solutions and Google Workspace is expected to have strengthened cloud applications and platform revenues. Cloud's expanding enterprise customer base and rising consumption among existing customers are additional positives.
Shopify (SHOP - Free Report) is a stock worth considering in the Zacks Internet Services industry, which Alphabet also belongs to. Shopify currently sports a Zacks Rank #1. SHOP is scheduled to report third-quarter 2026 results on Nov. 3.
View the Zacks #1 Rank List
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Can Strong Search and Cloud Growth Drive GOOGL's Q3 Earnings?
Key Takeaways
Alphabet’s (GOOGL - Free Report) third-quarter 2026 results, scheduled to be released on Oct. 28, are expected to have benefited from solid momentum in Search and Cloud businesses. The momentum in Search is expected to have driven advertising revenues in the to-be-reported quarter. The Cloud business is riding on strong demand for AI infrastructure and an expanding clientele.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Google’s advertising revenues is currently pegged at $83.523 billion, suggesting 12.6% growth from the figure reported in the year-ago quarter. The consensus mark for Google Cloud revenues is currently pegged at $29.16 billion, indicating 92.3% growth from the figure reported in the year-ago quarter.
Alphabet has an impressive earnings surprise history. GOOGL’s earnings outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate in all the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 86.65%.
Alphabet Inc. Revenue (TTM)
Alphabet Inc. revenue-ttm | Alphabet Inc. Quote
Click here to know how Alphabet’s overall third-quarter 2026 results are likely to be.
GOOGL’s AI Push Aids Search & Cloud Businesses
GOOGL’s Search business is benefiting from AI infusion. Alphabet is leading the search domain with 89.94% market share, followed by Microsoft’s (MSFT - Free Report) Bing, with 5.29% share, Yahoo!’s 1.36%, Yandex’s 1.3%, DuckDuckGo’s 0.74% and Baidu’s 0.44%, per the latest data from StatCounter.
Google Search & Other revenues are likely to have benefited from growing user engagement with AI-powered search experiences, including AI Overviews and AI Mode. The integration of these capabilities into a seamless search experience is expected to have increased query volumes and created additional advertising opportunities. AI Mode surpassed 1 billion monthly active users in the second quarter, with management highlighting incremental growth in overall search queries.
Improving advertising relevance through Gemini-powered query understanding, AI Max and Performance Max are expected to have supported monetization. AI Max had already attracted 500,000 advertisers, while AI-powered campaigns generated an average of 15% more conversions or conversion value on Search at a similar return on advertising spend. Continued demand from retail and financial services advertisers, which were major contributors to second-quarter growth, is likely to have supported Search revenues in the to-be-reported quarter. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Search and other revenues is currently pegged at $65 billion, suggesting 15% growth over the figure reported in the year-ago quarter.
Meanwhile, Google Cloud is expected to have remained a major growth engine in the to-be-reported quarter. Google Cloud has solidified its position as the third-largest provider in the highly competitive cloud infrastructure market against the likes of Microsoft Azure and Amazon’s (AMZN - Free Report) Amazon Web Services. According to Synergy Research Group data, Google Cloud, along with Microsoft, is gaining market share, while Amazon continues to lead with a 28% market share in the second quarter of 2026. Alphabet and Microsoft had 15% and 20% market share, respectively.
Google Cloud is expected to have benefited from robust enterprise demand for AI infrastructure, accelerated adoption of Gemini Enterprise and growing consumption of Google Cloud Platform services. Demand for Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), NVIDIA GPUs and AI inference capabilities is likely to have supported infrastructure revenues, while increasing adoption of BigQuery, cybersecurity solutions and Google Workspace is expected to have strengthened cloud applications and platform revenues. Cloud's expanding enterprise customer base and rising consumption among existing customers are additional positives.
Zacks Rank & Upcoming Earnings
Alphabet currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Shopify (SHOP - Free Report) is a stock worth considering in the Zacks Internet Services industry, which Alphabet also belongs to. Shopify currently sports a Zacks Rank #1. SHOP is scheduled to report third-quarter 2026 results on Nov. 3.