True to its word, Google has unloaded the search engine marketing arm of Performics, the business unit it nabbed as part of its much-discussed DoubleClick acquisition.

Eric Schmidt and crew just agreed to sell the Chicago-based Performics SEM biz to Publicis Groupe, a French advertising outfit. The deal is expected to close sometime in the third quarter.

After regulators approved its $3.1bn DoubleClick purchase, Google split Performics in half, separating its affiliate ad network from its search engine marketing biz. The Performics affiliate network soon became the Google Affiliate Network, and the Mountain Viewers vowed they would eventually sell the search marketing arm to a third-party.

You see, the search marketing arm makes its money by rigging Google search results. And in a rare moment of sanity, Google has decided that hanging on to such a business is a bad idea.

"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," Google opined back in April, after the DoubleClick deal went through. "We believe this will allow us to maintain objectivity and the search marketing business to continue to grow and innovate and serve its customers." ®

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