CHAPEL HILL -- Google may be best known as the world's No. 1 search engine, but on Tuesday the company was trying to attract attention to its impact on small businesses.

In an event at the Johnny T-shirt store in Chapel Hill, Google executives said that in 2009, Google helped drive $780 million in economic activity to North Carolina's small businesses. It was one of 10 similar events held today in states throughout the country.

"We think this estimate is actually fairly conservative," said Penry Price, Google's vice president for global agency and industry development. "It does not include Google Maps and things like that that we are not yet able to measure."

Google calculated its figures by measuring the economic impact of three programs: Google AdWords, which allows companies to buy ads that appear on the side of the Google search page when someone completes a search; Google AdSense, a program in which Google provides ads for Web sites and splits the profits with the Web site developers or publishers; and Google Grants, which provides free advertising space for nonprofits.

In all, Google said, its overall economic impact in all 50 states for 2009 was $54 billion.