Google has suggested that the advertising market is on the track of recovery, after it reported its fourth quarter profits of nearly $2bn for the last three months of what it called a "rollercoaster year".

Google claimed it earned $1.97 billion, or $6.13 a share, in the final three months of 2009, vs. $382 million, or $1.21 a share, in the final three months of 2008. Fourth-quarter revenue totalled $6.7 billion, a 17% increase.

The search giant's strong results for the quarter and year steadily grabbed away the attention from its headline-grabbing warning last week to take an exit from China due to the recent dispute over censorship and cyberspying.

Despite the fact that the firm’s profit surpassed the expectations of Wall Street analysts however, there was disappointment that revenue growth was not higher - an example, perhaps, of Google suffering from the weight of expectation.

Currently, Google's stock price squeezed $26.88, to $556.10, a 4.6% decline, in after-hours trading.

Google had initiated with massive hard works last year to promote its Google Apps suite of online clerical tools, YouTube and its Android mobile phone operating system. But the vast majority of its sales and profit continue to come from search advertising.