Google sells Performics
Posted by Louis Venter on 03 Apr 2008 at 08:10 pm | Tagged as: Hot off the Press, Search Engine News
It’s refreshing to see a company stick to their ethos and honour their mission statement.
Of course, Performics was never going to be a massive moneyspinner for the giant, but the signal sent out to the SEO industry of impartiality is to be commended.
More often than not, spin teams are wheeled out in these situations to justify sitting on both sides of a corporate fence, but G has taken the high road and sold it off.
There was a huge buzz in the industry when they first announced that they were going to acquire DoubleClick, and therefore Performics (the rants that ensued were justified to a degree), but that’s all a storm in a teacup now, and the industry can move on.
Tom Phillips, who is handling the acquisition, said in his Google blog: “It’s clear to us that we do not want to be in the search engine marketing business. Maintaining objectivity in both search and advertising is paramount to Google’s mission.”
Nice work Tom, now please find the Analytics data from yesterday, thanks:)
I completely agree.
Overall, it’s a positive, if not necessary, move for Google, again setting themselves apart.
This comes at a time where the ethics of search engine’s dabbling in SEO have come to the fore, most notably in Microsoft’s case with their product: Microsoft ISV Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Service
The difference is, in Google’s case, Performics came part and parcel of a bigger buy – the intension was never to get directly involved in SEO – whereas with MSN, the converse is true; it’s another one of their 1 size fits all products. Teaming up with Rand, they’re even supplying their partner’s access to exclusive data and SEOMoz articles (other than that, it reeks of insubstantiality).
Both have faced dissension on the matter . But ultimately, I think Google will win any lost favour, especially since the they gone full circle (bought, kept for a term and then sold). It’s the born-again mentality; people love it and Performics is the sacrificial lamb in the name in objectivity. Now that Google’s clean, let’s see what happens with MSN.