Articles in The 'Performics' Tag

Google Takes on Affiliate Marketing

by MoreVisibility

When Google officially bought DoubleClick on March 11, 2008, one could have seen this coming. In fact, many did; but were unsure what form it would take. Along with DoubleClick came their Affiliate network known as Performics; which is one of the oldest networks, started back in 1998.

In actuality, Google already owned one of the largest affiliate networks; Google Adsense. The only difference was that it operates on a cost-per-click basis. Traditionally, Affiliate Marketing is conducted on a cost-per-action or cost-per-lead basis.

Many people were unsure how Google would proceed with Performics. On June 30^th, 2008, Google and DoubleClick made it official, releasing this statement:

“We are pleased to introduce Google Affiliate Network. Effective Monday, June 30, 2008, DoubleClick Performics Affiliate will operate as Google Affiliate Network. The integration with Google’s brand is a reflection on efforts to quickly assimilate our business and teams, as well as reinforce Google’s commitment to the Affiliate channel. Together with our new colleagues at Google we are creating new opportunities for monetization, expansion and innovation in Affiliate Marketing.”

So there it is. The Google Affiliate network has been born. Personally, I think this can be good for Affiliate Marketing as an industry. Along with Google comes credibility and recognition which can help to attract new advertisers and publishers to this channel. Performics has a history of attracting some big names and that shouldn’t change. With the potential influx of new merchants, there will be more choices for publishers. Advertisers will have to take their program t the next level to keep the affiliates they have and to attract new ones.

With that being said, you can probably expect the other affiliate networks to step up their game as well. One thing that this shows is that Affiliate Marketing is here to stay. So in order for other networks to compete and maintain their market share, expect improvements and innovation. Going up against the big G can be tough. Just ask MSN, Yahoo and the likes.

The changes to date have been minimal. The reps at Performics now have @google.com email extensions and the interface was given a face lift to reflect Google’s look and feel. Currently the platform will still be hosted on Connect Commerce, but will eventually be migrated to a google.com product url. Once that happens, you should be able to incorporate the Google Affiliate network into your current Google account.

In conclusion, this is an exciting time in the Affiliate Marketing industry. I think the majority are hoping that this brings new technologies, increased competition, improved service and more selection. Only time will tell…

Google Sells Performics

by MoreVisibility

When Google announced their plans in 2007 to buy DoubleClick, which included the purchase of Performics, several people within the industry considered it to be a conflict of interest. Performics is a division of DoubleClick that offers SEO, SEM, affiliate marketing, etc. With Google purchasing DoubleClick and acquiring Performics through the deal, it was sketchy how “fair” it would be to have an SEO/SEM agency be a part of the world’s most popular search engine.

One of the main concerns in the SEO area was that Performics might get special treatment and access to inside information about Google’s search-engine algorithms, something that all companies would love better understand. Performics’ SEO services also put Google in the business of taking money from clients in exchange for helping them rank better in search-engine results, which is something Google has said they will never do. On the other side of the spectrum, there was concern that Google would push the Performics SEM services at discounted prices. There was some concern that they would even be free. This would of course be unfair to other companies and agencies that are paying a premium CPC to participate within the sponsored listings on Google. Last, Performics also provides paid inclusion services into search engines that offer this type of practice. Paid Inclusion is when a company pays a search engine to include its website within its Natural listings. Google has always been highly critical of paid inclusion services, and does not offer them.

At the time of the acquisition, an article on Searchrank.com quoted Google stating that, “Performics is part of DoubleClick, and we are acquiring it as part of the transaction. We have no plans to dispose of it at this time”.

It seems that Google has changed course. On April 2, 2008, Google announced that they are splitting Performics into two separate companies: affiliate marketing and search marketing. More importantly, they are selling the search marketing business to a third party. On their official GoogleBlog, Google stated that, “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. We believe this will allow us to maintain objectivity and the search marketing business to continue to grow and innovate and serve its customers. While we have not yet identified a buyer, we’ve received preliminary interest from a number of our current partners. Search Marketing will continue to run as a separate entity until the division is sold.” I am fairly confident that it will not take very long to sell the search marketing business to a third party. However, it remains to be seen who that will be. I am anxious to find out.

It seems that Google has stepped up and maintained their reputation as the search engine that everyone loves, respects, and wants to be a part of. I am not surprised that Google is selling Performics. It needed to happen in order to cease the controversy that made its way throughout the online marketing industry.