Ryan Pitylak

Austin-based online marketing company ProfitFuel Inc. has been bought by a New York company for an undisclosed amount.

Online advertising firm Yodle Inc. completed the transaction to acquire ProfitFuel with plans to grow and fully integrate the local office with the larger company by the end of the year. ProfitFuel CEO David Rubin will join Yodle as senior vice president of sales, company officials said.

ProfitFuel, which was founded in 2002, employs 220 workers. Yodle, which was founded in 2005, employed 450 workers before the deal. The company was picked for Inc.’s 500 fastest growing companies in 2008. Click here to read that story.

ProfitFuel, which claims more than 11,000 clients, provides search engine optimization services to small U.S. businesses. Earlier this month, the company was recognized by the Austin Business Journal as one of the city’s best places to work.

PRLog (Press Release) – Feb 01, 2011 – AUSTIN, Texas — ProfitFuel, a leading provider of local search engine placement services for small businesses nationwide, today announced that Jeremy Kuhnke, former Founder and Chief Operating Officer of BigLocal, has joined the company as Vice President of Marketing. Kuhnke brings his background in engineering and internet marketing strategy to ProfitFuel.

“We couldn’t have found a better fit for ProfitFuel, both in culture and strategic vision”, said Ryan Pitylak, former VP of Marketing at ProfitFuel. Pitylak announced last month that he was resigning to pursue new venture opportunities. Pitylak passed the torch to Kuhnke after building a high performance team that developed the industry leading Outrank.com product that currently helps over 9,000 businesses gain front page placement on major search engines.

“We are disappointed to see Ryan go but we know he will find continued success. We are extremely thankful for the leadership and devotion he has put into ProfitFuel,” said Jared Slosberg, President of the company. “His innovation and focus have driven sales growth for our customers and, in turn, that has been cause for growth and hiring within our company itself,” Slosberg continued. “We were aware of what Jeremy had created at BigLocal and once we started talking with him, the deal was sealed for us — it is an honor to have Jeremy join our team.”

At BigLocal, Kuhnke built a scalable solution to help small to medium-sized businesses achieve positive online presence. “I’m excited about being in Austin and becoming part of ProfitFuel,” said Kuhnke. “Both ProfitFuel and BigLocal have paved the way for the small business owner to find success. I feel like I’m picking up a few steps ahead of where I left off at BigLocal about a year or so ago. I feel very at home; when I walked through the doors at ProfitFuel, I felt the excitement – the energy is contagious!”

Outrank.com and ProfitFuel continue to hire and expand to meet the needs of their growing client base. To learn more about career opportunities and openings, visit: http://www.profitfuel.com/jobs/.