Internet search engine giant Google saw its third-quarter revenue nearly double from a year ago and profit rise in what usually is a slow Web surfing period.

The Internet bellwether on Thursday posted a net income of US$381.2 million, or US$1.32 a share, on record revenue of US$1.58 billion, up 96 percent from a year earlier on strong global advertising.

A year ago, the company posted earnings of 19 cents a share and revenue of US$805.9 million, Google said.

Excluding US$530 million in traffic acquisition costs, the portion of revenue shared with partners, Google posted revenue of US$1.05 billion.

Google's earnings would have been US$1.51 per share if not for charges related to employee stock options and research and development. That handily beat analyst expectations, on average, of US$1.36 per share and revenue of US$944.4 million, excluding traffic acquisition costs.

Nearly all of Google's revenue comes from advertisements that appear on search result pages and on partner sites. The Mountain View, California-based company accounts for about 45 percent of all US Internet searches, compared with 23 percent for Yahoo and 12 percent for Microsoft's MSN, according to Nielsen/NetRatings.

Google has beaten analyst estimates in the three quarters since going public last year. Meanwhile, its share price has skyrocketed, rising nearly 60 percent since the beginning of the year and reaching a high of US$321.28 on October 4.

The company raised more than US$4 billion in a September stock sale, bringing its cash total to about US$7 billion.

On Tuesday, Google's chief rival, Yahoo, posted higher third-quarter profit and revenue from a year ago and beat analyst expectations.