So much optimism, so little time. Hope against hope that Google could rise to the occasion, but this is what happens when you don't offer guidance: analysts fly blind, expectations become "the best you can" versus a true, educated analysis, and investors are caught in the jetwash.

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[GOOG  Loading...      ()   ] shares are getting crushed after the company failed to live up to those analyst expectations: the company reporting $4.63 versus the $4.74 that the Street was looking for.

That on better-than-expected revenue, excluding Traffic Acquisition Costs, of $3.90 billion. So the question Google will have to answer: even though it only, ONLY hired another 448 employees, are costs still out of whack preventing this company from earning what the experts think it should?

Looking a little deeper, the company's web site gross revenue failed to meet expectations: $3.53 billion versus the range of $3.54 billion to $3.57 billion. Networks site revenue was in line at $1.66 billion.

And international revenue increased to 52 percent from last quarter's 51 percent. That's good news at a time when domestic economic concerns dog so many companies, except those that are generating a majority of their business from overseas customers.

This was disappointing. No question about it. But with the conference call ongoing, and CEO Eric Schmidt trying to mollify analysts, investors have to be wondering what happens next. For short-term traders, it's gonna be ugly. For those investors looking longer term, come on, this is Google. This earnings miss, like the others, will quickly become a distant memory.

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