Open Letter to Google: Do the Right Thing, Divest Yourself of Performics

At long last, Google owns DoubleClick. In doing so, the company has done something else that many people would have never believed possible. Become an SEO. That’s right–Google’s in the SEO business now, selling services through DoubleClick’s Performics to people who want to rank well on–um–Google. Conflict of interest? You bet. And worse from an image perspective, the purchase puts Google in the paid inclusion business, something it dissed as evil back in 2004, when it went public. Don’t get me wrong, I have absolutely no problem with Performics as a company and have good friends that work there. But Google shouldn’t own it. The Google announcement yesterday should have said that Performics was being quickly spun off. Larry, Sergey, Eric, Google! Please do the right thing and make this a priority.

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