Google Classifieds?

Google has quietly been talking with classifieds providers about getting feeds of their listings — presumably for a new search service. That’s according to a report from Classified Intelligence. The newsletter says Google has approached CareerBuilder.com and Adicio, whose software is behind the classified offerings of the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and the Boston Globe.

Aggregating classifieds isn’t the newest idea. Google has widely been expected to enter the market, and players like Oodle and Indeed already have. What was fascinating to me about the Classified Intelligence piece is what Adicio sales and marketing VP Terry Baker said:

“In anticipation of a vertical job search on Google, we’ve been working for some time now with our clients to put them in a position to deliver to employers more of a pay-for-performance model.”

After all, in the new aggregated world, paying for distribution of your classified ad doesn’t make sense, but paying for performance might. It makes complete sense.