Syncing Google Contacts with Mail address book

Just a question or two for clarification. I have now synced the mail address book to Google contacts. Two questions:

1. Is this an ongoing two-way sync so that changes on the iMac will be reflected in the Google contacts and vice-versa, or is it just a one-time since??

2. How does iCloud figure into all of this? Should the iCloud sync be turned OFF if I am using syncing to the Google calendar? I am not clear exactly what the role of iCloud is, in this case.

Clarification appreciated!!

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