Sales and Marketing expenses of Alphabet (Google) 2013 -2019.

Amounts in millions.

Year	Sales and marketing expenses (Millions)
2019	$18,464
2018	$ 16,333
2017	$ 12,893
2016	$ 10,485
2015	$ 9,047
2014	$ 8,131
2013	$ 6,554

In fiscal 2019, Alphabet, the parent company of Google spent $18,464 million on sales and marketing compared to $16,333 million in the previous fiscal year.

The sales and marketing expenses of Google include the following mainly:

• Advertising and promotional expenditures related to Alphabet products and services; and
• Compensation expenses (including SBC) and facilities-related costs for employees engaged in sales and marketing, sales support, and certain customer service functions.
Google’s sales and marketing expenses increased $2,131 million from 2018 to 2019. The increase was primarily due to an increase in compensation expenses (including SBC) and facilities-related costs of $1,371 million, largely resulting
from a 15% increase in headcount. In addition, there was an increase in advertising and promotional expenses of $402 million in 2019 compared to the previous fiscal.

Google’s sales and marketing expenses grew by $3,440 million from 2017 to 2018 mainly due to an increase in compensation and facilities-related costs for employees in sales and marketing as well as sales support and certain customer service functions. There was a 12% increase in headcount resulting in a growth of $1,418 million in sales and marketing expenses. Advertising and promotional expenses also increased adding $1,233 million to the sales and marketing expenses of Alphabet in 2018. Overall, sales and marketing expenses increased by 11.9% in 2018 compared to the previous year.