GOOGLE chief executive officer Eric Schmidt has doubled the anticipated pace of acquisitions this

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year and expects to maintain that rate after some internal projects have failed to spur growth.

“The opportunities are there,” Schmidt said in an interview from the company’s Mountain View, California, headquarters this week.

“We can afford it. We’re in a mode of investment for the long term.” Google, the search engine with almost two-thirds of the US market, is making acquisitions every couple of weeks — more than the once-a-month pace Schmidt projected when it began buying companies again last year after the recession. Its latest deal was last week’s purchase of Slide, which makes games for social networks.

The company is snapping up startups in social networking, mobile technology and graphical advertising — areas where its homegrown efforts needed outside help. Google still gets more than 90 per cent of revenue from its traditional advertising business, and it’s stopped work on projects such as the Wave collaboration site because they didn’t bring in enough users. The

company also has struggled to keep pace with the growth of Facebook.

"They're trying to keep up with a rapid rate of innovation in the online world," said Clay Moran, an analyst at Benchmark.

Increased antitrust scrutiny adds a hurdle to acquiring more companies.

That won't deter Google from seeking out deals, Schmidt said. The company's purchase of AdMob, which made it the largest US seller of mobile advertising, won clearance from the Federal Trade Commission in May after months of review. Last month, Schmidt said he expects a "significant review" for Google's planned purchase of searchdata provider ITA Software. “We will do the right thing for end users, and we will fight the other issues second,” he said. “We will go after it. We will try to convince everybody that we’re right.” Google has announced or completed at least 18 acquisitions this year, following the purchase of about five companies last year. In most cases, Google didn’t disclose terms.

Using cash to buy startups is better than letting it sit on the balance sheet, earning a low interest rate, said Andy Miedler, an analyst with Edward Jones.

Google had more than $30 billion in cash and marketable securities at the end of the last quarter.

“For quite a while, growth is mainly going to be

driven by search," said Miedler, who advises buying the stock and doesn't own it.

"We need to see the next leg of growth."

Google's internal research, which cost $2.84 billion last year, has a mixed record of creating growth opportunities. In social networking, Facebook has eclipsed Google's efforts.

Google's Orkut network had 54.6 million users worldwide in June, up 5 per cent from a year earlier, according to ComScore. Facebook had about 10 times that amount and grew more than 60 per cent during the same period. Google's Buzz, a social service tied to Gmail that debuted in February, hasn't threatened Facebook's dominance either.