• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, January 23, 2017

Mobile searches continue to rise, yet so does Google’s share of U.S. desktop search queries.

RBC Capital Markets estimates that Google desktop searches rose 10 basis points (bps) in October and November 2016, compared with the year-ago period -- which is the first increase that the analyst firm has noted since the second quarter of 2014, according to a research note published Monday. Google will release fourth-quarter and year-end earnings Thursday.

RBC Capital Analysts Mark Mahaney and Dylan Haber base the fourth-quarter and year-end estimates for Alphabet's net revenue on a 13% quarter-over-quarter increase in U.S. gross revenue and a 5% quarter-over-quarter increase in international sales. 

The analysts expect Alphabet to report $24.4 billion for Google's core gross revenue for the quarter, with a net revenue of $19.6 billion, with 14% year-over-year growth driven by increasing strength in mobile search, programmatic, and YouTube.

"We believe that Google’s share of mobile searches in its key markets is actually higher than its share of desktop searches," Mahaney and Haber wrote.

Look for $207 million from Other Bets revenue, according to RBC analysts, and non-GAAP operating loss of $1,472 million -- up from the $1,104 million loss in the fourth quarter in 2015.

Not only is Google's search business growing, but RBC Capital estimates that Google generates about $5 billion in display advertising last year, making it the largest display advertising company on the Net.

"And we estimate that Google’s key YouTube asset will generate approximately $10B in revenue in 2016, positioning Google extremely well for the strong growth in Video Advertising," Mahaney and Haber wrote.