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March 12, 2008

Google Now Selling SEO Services Via Performics

Duncan Riley

64 comments »

performics.jpgAs we reported yesterday, Google has now successfully acquired DoubleClick after receiving EU approval for the deal. While the focus has been rightly on display advertising, many have missed one part of the deal that will raise eyebrows: Google now owns SEO service Performics.

DoubleClick’s Performics offers search engine services that include “natural search solutions” such as “link building.” Some highlights from the Performics service

Our experts methodically optimize copy and content for each page to boost page rankings…

Addresses external ranking factors and new business opportunities

Now there is nothing wrong with what Performics offers; SEO and SEM are legitimate businesses. The catch is that Google is now offering paid services that promise improved search engine listings in Google itself, a 100% conflict of interest. Danny Sullivan at Search Engine Land calls for Google to divest itself of Performics, and it’s a call that should be supported.

  • Sphere It

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 12th, 2008 at 2:58 pm and is filed under Company & Product Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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Comments

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  1. Jeremy

    March 12th, 2008 at 3:02 pm

    When Eric Schmidt said that they’d be letting people go…I can only imagine the Performics heads would be first on the chopping block.

    Dynamic Trade (the first name for Performice before the rebrand) was based on search engine spam….I really doubt that Google is going to wants to keep that close to their vest.

  2. DC Search Engine Marketing

    March 12th, 2008 at 3:11 pm

    Wow, so Matt Cuts need to change the rules of the game

  3. Joel Strellner

    March 12th, 2008 at 3:19 pm

    Hey Google, if you want to give it to me, I’ll take it off of your hands. :-)

  4. Boring Market

    March 12th, 2008 at 3:20 pm

    Wait, what are the rules of the game again? I think this holding could edge on the side of unethical behavior only because for once Google has to decide between making a buck off its only service or giving everyone the same advantage.

  5. Steel

    March 12th, 2008 at 3:20 pm

    I simply cannot believe neither the U.S. or the EU did not make divesure as a condition for the deal to be approved. Can you say inside job?

  6. DC Search Engine Marketing

    March 12th, 2008 at 3:21 pm

    @Joel Strellner if you don’t mind i want 50%

  7. Bjorn Tipling

    March 12th, 2008 at 3:22 pm

    They’re touting the new relationship with Google on their homepage.

  8. zeMobilePhone

    March 12th, 2008 at 3:25 pm

    Yeah, check out the post about the acquisition of Doubleclick on mobile …..

    http://www.zemobilephone.com/?p=16

  9. Gregg

    March 12th, 2008 at 3:26 pm

    Google’s “don’t be evil” motto seems to have been good enough assurance for the EU.

  10. Bob J.

    March 12th, 2008 at 3:26 pm

    You talk about Performics as a SEO but what about the affiliate side? I think Google will keep affiliate and get rid of Search. Thoughts? The affiliate side would work for Google.

  11. Roy

    March 12th, 2008 at 3:27 pm

    uhhhh…. that seems pretty fishy to me too.

    I can’t imagine this will be good for the little guys. Big fish dominate link count and traffic, and now can BUY their way up the content ladder too?

    But I don’t want Amazon eating my lunch :(

  12. Paige Presley

    March 12th, 2008 at 3:28 pm

    Nice move of google, doing seo for own search engine lol.

  13. doug m

    March 12th, 2008 at 3:34 pm

    google needs to change their motto, more or less “internet domination” should be their new phrase

    they want you to use adsense, yet the alternative options to it out there pay better, but you can’t run them side by side unless they are so dissimilar that no one will click on either of them

  14. Luis Pereira

    March 12th, 2008 at 3:35 pm

    Why should Google ignore or abandon SEO when they can PROFIT from it. Don’t be evil people. ;-)

  15. LC

    March 12th, 2008 at 3:43 pm

    It is always refreshing to read a post that leaves you wanting more. With that said, could you help me understand why exactly this is such a huge conflict of interest?

  16. JosefVirek

    March 12th, 2008 at 3:45 pm

    Absolutely nuts. If they do this, this will be the beginning of the end of Google.

  17. JosefVirek

    March 12th, 2008 at 3:46 pm

    LC, because, esentially what this means is that you’re paying Google to be in the top spot of their search results…no matter how much you sugar coat it.

  18. Alex

    March 12th, 2008 at 3:47 pm

    @5 Steel

    Bingo.

    That’s the point. You have people making decisions on technology matters they have no clue about. It’s not like US Steel looking to buy another steel company in “Townville USA”. We’re talking about the next 100 years and these suits in Washington are clueless.

  19. JosefVirek

    March 12th, 2008 at 3:51 pm

    This is more evil than MS buying Yahoo for chrissakes!

  20. Pranav Chavda

    March 12th, 2008 at 3:53 pm

    There’s no real reason for performics to offer SEO services, they’re an affiliate network, just by promoting an affiliate program a company can have more SEO done for their brand than any one SEO company can ever do.

  21. The Googlopoly Has Come

    March 12th, 2008 at 3:54 pm

    Oh wow… that is SOOOO WRONG!!!

    @15 - Just think about it:

    1) Google
    2) SEO is all about getting your site’s links at the top of the search results
    3) You pay an SEO firm to help make this happen (they tweak your site to best perform in the Google, Yahoo, MSN algorithms)
    4) Matt Cutts and the Google team have historically been less than enthusiastic about SEO as a service

    5) Now Google owns a major SEO firm, which they intend to profit from — i.e. Google is now going to help you game Google to get top search rankings….and you will be paying Google for top rankings in Google’s own search engine!

    Can we say “blackhat” anyone!?!

  22. LC

    March 12th, 2008 at 3:54 pm

    Got it - thanks for the clarity. Couldn’t a company also just use free tools to determine what key words / search terms people associate with their brand and then begin plugging those like crazy into all their marketing efforts to increase their visibility? As an alternative to paying for what seems to be somewhat of an incestuous service……?

  23. The Googlopoly Has Come

    March 12th, 2008 at 4:04 pm

    @ LC
    Check out SEOmoz.org. Very helpful, and you’ll get a good idea of all that’s involved in SEO.

  24. Joel Strellner

    March 12th, 2008 at 4:05 pm

    @DC Search Engine Marketing

    Mmmm lets see. Double click bought Performics for $58 million, plus an earn-out of $7 million totaling $65 million. If we add inflation to bring that to current day dollar, that comes to 72.9 million.

    How about this, you give me 36.45 million and you can have half. It must be all in cash, and all upfront. ;-)

    Deal?

  25. Dallas J Clark

    March 12th, 2008 at 4:37 pm

    At least you would trust Performics to know what they’re talking about now.

  26. Andrew Meyer

    March 12th, 2008 at 7:02 pm

    Why divest? Just make the service free.

  27. The Googlopoly Has Come

    March 12th, 2008 at 8:02 pm

    @26 - I suppose that’d be the only way to make it fair, if they’re determined to keep it.

  28. Honest Web Host

    March 12th, 2008 at 8:12 pm

    I find this Google move preposterous, taking advantage of its dominance in the search engine market. Such tactic could hurt Google in the long run. Maybe, one day people will turn to Yahoo and Live for honest search results that are not influenced by Performics.

  29. Steel

    March 12th, 2008 at 8:21 pm

    @18 Alex

    You are quite correct, the Washington suites without a doubt have no clue. They have forgotten what a real monopoly is and make decisions based on political correctness rather than good business sense. Google is a monopoly
    just like Microsoft. End of story.

  30. David

    March 12th, 2008 at 9:27 pm

    Performics isn’t just SEO — it’s also a very well developed and well used CPA network.

  31. Robert Kingston

    March 13th, 2008 at 1:22 am

    I doubt Google would manipulate its own search results - that’s just rediculous and it works against everything they work for. Their long-term commitment to stakeholders makes this an unlikely venture

    I’d be more inclined to believe they’ll use Performics’ client data and analyse the processes that they used to manipulate search results and how Google can protect themselves for the future from SEOers… IF anything.

  32. Markus

    March 13th, 2008 at 1:55 am

    Robert said:

    “I doubt Google would manipulate its own search results - that’s just rediculous and it works against everything they work for. Their long-term commitment to stakeholders makes this an unlikely venture”

    a) It depends on what you mean by ‘manipulate’ and b) They already do it to varying degrees.

    “I’d be more inclined to believe they’ll use Performics’ client data and analyse the processes that they used to manipulate search results and how Google can protect themselves for the future from SEOers… IF anything.”

    Umm yeah, so that’s what you call a conflict of interest. Selling an SEO service to someone and then turning around and using that customer’s data to fight SEOers is pure evil.

    No matter how you cut it, it’s wrong.

  33. kijakarn

    March 13th, 2008 at 7:35 am

    When the judge come to play the game! umm.

  34. Kilamanjaro

    March 13th, 2008 at 8:13 am

    Google is a private company not a government agency. Let them do what they want. Free market economics and globalisation rule the world and you can’t stop us!

  35. Bill

    March 13th, 2008 at 8:29 am

    Don’t be evil, OR “Don’t be caught doing evil”

  36. The Googlopoly Has Come

    March 13th, 2008 at 9:03 am

    “Google is a private company not a government agency. Let them do what they want. Free market economics and globalisation rule the world and you can’t stop us!”

    I’m going to read that as sarcasm.

  37. Run-a-lot

    March 13th, 2008 at 9:57 am

    Where do we protest this so that it really could be stopped?

  38. Goober

    March 13th, 2008 at 10:14 am

    Guys..
    1.) This is no different that MSFT owning Avenue A
    2.) How is Google owning a “3rd-party” ad server any different? It’s not.

    In both these cases, there is a conflict of interest and in both cases, agencies and marketers know this and don’t care.

  39. ppires

    March 13th, 2008 at 10:46 am

    hey guy’s they will use they SEO company to get better result in yahoo and live and get more traffic :)

  40. Mark

    March 13th, 2008 at 8:36 pm

    interesting… does not mean you cant do SEO yourself still but sure is a conflict…

  41. James

    March 13th, 2008 at 8:37 pm

    You guys are being ridiculous…. Google is not evil and them owning Performics is not evil.

    a) Wouldn’t it be smart for Google to buy Doubleclick and take good look at what everyone does within all the business Units before “dumping anyone” as you all are suggesting. Remember, nobody from Doubleclick or Google could talk to each other about the deal for the past year. Google is being smart and non-evil by holding onto Performics .

    b) Doubleclick Performics is mostly affiliate and paid search. They are clearly one of the leaders in the field. Why wouldn’t Google want to tap into some of the best Adwords / Search / Affiliate folks in the industry to help bring advertisers and publishers together. Heck, if I bought something for 3 billion bucks, I would want to make sure I”m getting as much value out of it as possible.

    c) SEO, imo, is about making sites easier for the engines to understand and crawl. I worked at a major ecommerce site a few years back and the site had so many issues that Google could hardly crawl it. Google just wants to catalog information effectively. Google is not going to give away it’s algorithm to a a group of folks and have them go out and promise the #1 listing. You all are being ridiculous if you think that. They would find a smart way to use these folks.

    If something is truly evil, Google would squash it. I’ve heard great things about Performics on both the search and affiliate side. I’m excited to see how Google uses them. Now, if MSFT bought them, it might be a different story. ;)

  42. Miracle Blade

    March 13th, 2008 at 9:21 pm

    I think it’s a tad unethical offering SEO services for their own search engine.

  43. SEO Canada

    March 13th, 2008 at 11:01 pm

    I’ll wager they shave off doubleclick’s staff / departments that overlap with their own, or don’t fit their business model. And an SEO Services Company will go first if nothing else to appease the masses, but as SEOs we won’t go any where else as its what the clients want to rank on.

  44. Ciprian

    March 14th, 2008 at 3:31 am

    Maybe performics will focus on SEO/SEM Services for Yahoo and Microsoft Live ;))

  45. Daniel Chege

    March 14th, 2008 at 1:29 pm

    Google has amazing engineers and that is a great move on their part but I hope this new services will be affordable to everyone.

    - Daniel Chege

    Poppaproductions@gmail.com
    Poppa Productions Web Designs.

  46. Sasha T.

    March 14th, 2008 at 3:24 pm

    I really don’t see anything wrong with this situation as long as Google keeps their algorithm hidden from unwanted eyes which include their own companies.

    Sasha

  47. Mark

    March 14th, 2008 at 3:58 pm

    I agree with the comments that have said that Google has a monopoly. I think they had a monopoly even before this acquisition. Ask any webmaster who they worry about, Yahoo or MSN or Google? Almost all of them will tell you all they care about is Google. I also think Google has set a dangerous precedent by punishing sites for selling links. The argument could be made that Google is punishing sites for using an alternative to AdSense.

  48. kapil

    March 17th, 2008 at 5:37 am

    i think this is big step by google.

  49. Seemant

    March 17th, 2008 at 5:40 am

    I think this is not good. Now Google is not going right way, May be this is decrees his popularity …!!!
    This is side way ” Black Hat “

  50. Rakhi

    March 18th, 2008 at 3:56 am

    Great!!!
    Double Click Performics and Google together is a big accomplishment and this will help Google vanquish display advertising and provide more accurate and guaranteed paid SEO services.

    It has provided a roadmap for affiliate publishers, advertisers, marketers and also a new way to outsource SEO services. I am really thankful to Google for acquiring DoubleClick as this will help us to monetize and maximize our investment.

    I have one point bewildering me that natural search solution provided by google will it assure top listing or just try to provide top listing??? Does this has anything to do query marketing and content management???

  51. Good Luck

    March 18th, 2008 at 11:50 am

    “provide more accurate and guaranteed paid SEO services”

    And that is exactly the problem.

    It’s a TOTALLY unfair situation, and a conflict of interest.
    Google will become like search engines from 10 years ago — where the top rankings are BOUGHT, not earned.

    The users suffer.
    All who cannot afford Google’s SEO service will suffer.
    Eventually, Google’s shareholders will suffer, as people finally catch on, and go to a different search engine which will provide a better experience… etc.

  52. Pravish

    March 20th, 2008 at 12:13 am

    Hi ppl,

    There i won’t be surprised by the move as i was expecting this.
    Well its not a fair game.
    Will SEO guyz lose there jobs forever?
    Wat’s the future of SEO / SEM?

    I wont’ be surprised again when i think that Google would take the whole WEB Industry say ( Web designing, SEO, Software) all under Google as they see the bottom line - Success at any cost - Money - Money and more money

    They captured USERS and next target is the ENTIRE WORLD :)

    G for Google
    G for GOD,,,,,,,,,,,,,, OMG!!!!!!!!

  53. Daniel Hernandez

    March 28th, 2008 at 9:13 pm

    It’s time to understand, that Google has gone too far.

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