Danny Sullivan wrote an open letter to Google mid last month essentially asking for Google to not go into the search engine marketing business. I certainly feel it was a good letter and a well deserved letter.
Quite quickly too, in fact.
Google announced on this past Wednesday that they will be splitting off their Performics division.
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 and core to the trust we ask from our users. For this reason, we plan to sell the Performics search marketing business to a third party.
Is this the right move for Google? You bet. In every way possible, this is the right move. Google has made the right decision simply because trying to compete with yourself in this arena is the wrong move. There would be too many potential “insider” secrets would could help draw undue business to their Performics division.
Further reading into their announcement, we can see that Google certainly will retain the affiliate marketing portion of the company though. “We plan to integrate the affiliate marketing business into existing Google operations, providing enhanced value and reach for our affiliate advertisers, and additional tools and monetization opportunities for our publishers.”
Google has a strong interest in advertising and competition, but it does not have an interest in competing against itself.
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