UPDATE 2-IAC sees search revenue growth in 2011

* Q4 EPS $0.90 vs loss/shr $7.94 yr ago

* Q4 rev up 27 pct to $451.4 mln

* Buys OkCupid for $50 mln in cash

By Supantha Mukherjee and Saqib Iqbal Ahmed

BANGALORE, Feb 2 (Reuters) - IAC/InterActiveCorp (IACI.O) said it expects the strong momentum in its search business to continue in 2011.

Toolbars, which drive a majority of the company's quarterly search revenue, are browser add-ons that help users to search directly without visiting any website.

"With toolbars being a good majority of the search business, you do have to be careful about the sustainability and overall revenue levels, given that the toolbars user is a short-lived customer," Benchmark Co analyst Clayton Moran said.

Revenue from toolbars is relatively less recurring as the average time that a toolbar user is a customer is less than a year.

The company, which owns popular search site Ask.com and Dictionary.com, posted a 29 percent jump in fourth-quarter search revenue helped by growth in revenue per query and queries from toolbars.

"For the first time in two years, the company has been able to grow their search business in line with the Google growth rate which is pretty remarkable," RBC Capital Markets analyst Ross Sandler told Reuters.

Last month, Internet search giant Google Inc (GOOG.O) posted strong fourth-quarter results, driven by strength at its core search business. [ID:nN20114431]

Analyst Sandler, however, said investing more in websites like Ask.com or Dictionary.com in the form of acquisitions may not be good for the company in the long run as it would pitch IAC against Google and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O).

The company said it expects its unit Match, which runs Match.com and Singlesnet websites, to generate further growth.

"This business is far from mature, the opportunity is still substantial, and when we execute well, as we have been, we will grow at very attractive rates," Chief Financial Officer Thomas McInerney said in a conference call.

New York-based IAC's shares, which have gained about 40 percent in the last one year, were trading up 18 cents at $28.73 on Wednesday on Nasdaq. (Reporting by Saqib Iqbal Ahmed in Bangalore; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair, Vyas Mohan)