(MarketingVOX) Google's first-quarter profits trounced analysts' estimates, increasing more than 60 percent to $592.3 million, or $1.95 a share, from $369.2 million, or $1.29 per share, a year earlier, reports Bloomberg. Revenues were up 79 percent, to $2.25 billion. Profit, excluding stock-based compensation costs, was $2.29 a share; analysts, on average, had predicted $1.97. They were anticipating that high-flying Google would release an upbeat report after Yahoo, second in search, earlier this week reported online advertising sales that beat analysts' estimates.

Google executives said international sales grew during the quarter, accounting for 42 percent of total sales, up from 38 percent in the year-earlier period, in part because of the opening of sales offices in Sweden, Norway and Denmark as well as strong U.K. performance in the travel and finance verticals, writes ClickZ.

Though the majority of Google's revenue is derived from AdWords advertising sales, Google's branded, CPM-based products have also made progress, according to SVP of Product Management Jonathan Rosenberg, but he hinted, according to ClickZ, that they don't yet command prices that rival those of keyword-driven buys.

During the quarter, Google launched a calendar and a finance portal, added chat features to Gmail and released a web page creator. It also opened R&D centers in Moscow, Shanghai and Denmark, among other places, and was selected to provide Wi-Fi internet access to San Francisco.