• by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, December 19, 2006

The strong online retail showing this holiday season should spell good news for Google, according to a new report from Merrill Lynch.

The brokerage house reported this week that Google search queries appear to be increasing between 30% and 50%, surpassing page view growth on Yahoo and other major Web companies. At least some of the growth appears spurred by the surge of holiday shoppers, who turn to search engines when seeking gifts.

"Google would be the primary beneficiary of more ecommerce activity beginning with search, without margin pressure from competitive pricing that is affecting competitor business," stated research analyst Justin Post in the report.

Nielsen//NetRatings reported that sites on its holiday index drew 20% more visits for the week ending Dec. 10 than last year. ComScore, meanwhile, said that total online retail spending climbed to $19.48 billion for the period Nov. 1 through Dec. 15--a 25% increase from last year.

Overall, Merrill Lynch pegs Google's fourth quarter revenue at $2.19 billion, which it says is above consensus estimates of $2.18 billion.

Meanwhile, Google's plan to start selling radio ads, formally announced earlier this month, has reportedly hit a snag. MarketWatch reported that RBC Capital Markets analyst Jordan Rohan thinks Google doesn't have enough inventory. But Google's trying to remedy that situation; The New York Times reported this week that Google is in talks to buy inventory from CBS Radio.