Google, seo

Google Owns SEO Company

December 8, 2007

I was somewhat surprised at what I read when I came across a post by Scott Buresh on Search Engine Guide. The title is A Slippery Slope: Google Owns a Search Engine Optimization Company.

“What does this mean for those hiring other companies and looking for great search engine placement? We will just have to wait and see.”
Scott Buresh

Scott’s article elaborates on the fact that when Google purchased DoubleClick earlier this year, as part of that package they also got the SEO company Performics, who was a wholly owned subsidiary of DoubleClick.

I had certainly heard of Google’s acquisition of DoubleClick and the similar purchases made by MSN (they bought Aquantive) and Yahoo! (they bought Right Media and BlueLithium).

Google’s ownership of an SEO company has been discussed on other sites as well. And many of those discussions point out that it is a somewhat odd (some say unethical) partnership, which is the point that Scott was making in his article. It seems questionable to me on two fronts:

  1. It seems that Google could be accused of playing favorites to Performics and that could give them a definite advantage over other SEO companies. After all, if you wanted to have the best chance of a successful SEO campaign, wouldn’t you hire the SEO company owned by the most popular Search Engine? Even if Google comes out and states that they are in no way helping Performics with any “insider” information, just the fact that Performics is owned by Google would seem to give them some serious clout in comparison to other SEO companies.
  2. Everyone is interested in ranking on Google because it is the Internet’s most used Search Engine (check out the Flash graphic in the sidebar at the right to see their current market share). However, Google is interested in selling PPC advertising to companies who want to achieve high rankings. They want companies to setup Adwords accounts and then pay to be listed in “Sponsored Links” section of the SERPs. So when a company ranks well in the free organic results, Google does not get paid. Until now, it would appear.

Earlier this year, Scott wrote an article on Medium Blue’s web site which gave more perspective on the blurring line between Google’s PPC listings and the organic listings.

designer

CCT

Are You Ready?

When you are ready to get more specific information about your project, click here and fill out our handy online form for a free web design quote.

Get My Free Quote

you need a website?
we can help

    order a project

    arrow

    Recent Posts

    In Web Design

    Responsive Website Design Services in Morehead City NC

    Google, seo

    Domain Name Services Scam - Kind of

    Dec 8, 2007

    I was somewhat surprised at what I read when I came across a post by Scott Buresh on Search Engine Guide. The title is A Slippery Slope: Google Owns a...

    Captivating Website Design - Morehead City NC

    Google, seo

    Web Design Basics

    Dec 8, 2007

    I was somewhat surprised at what I read when I came across a post by Scott Buresh on Search Engine Guide. The title is A Slippery Slope: Google Owns a...

    Dynamic Web Design in Morehead City NC

    Google, seo

    Three Common Web Design Mistakes

    Dec 8, 2007

    I was somewhat surprised at what I read when I came across a post by Scott Buresh on Search Engine Guide. The title is A Slippery Slope: Google Owns a...

    arrow

    Go to our blog