The company said Q1 net income was $2.3bn (£1.41bn), compared with $1.96bn (£1.20bn) 12 months earlier, with Google-owned sites generating 69% of its total revenues.

Google’s partner sites, through its AdSense programme, generated revenues of $2.43bn (£1.49bn), equating to 28% of total revenues.

The search giant’s UK revenues hit $969m (£593.7m), representing 11% of total revenues.

Paid clicks increased by approximately 18% over the period, up 4% on Q4 2010, while average cost per click increased 8% year on year.

Patrick Pichette, Googe’s CFO, said, “These results demonstrate the value of search and search ads to our users and customers, as well as the extraordinary potential of areas like display and mobile, which is where we continue to invest.”

However, Google’s stock price fell 5% as investors were wary of its operating expenses hitting $2.84bn (£1.74bn) in the three months to March 2011, compared with $1.84bn (£1.13bn) in Q1 2010.