But one thing bothers me about what I read on most forums and blogs. People are obsessed with Google. There are forums where they refer to Google as just "g" because they seem to be afraid someone at Google might read their post and not like it.

This Google obsession borders on lunacy. Webmasters seem to be convinced that without a good ranking in Google and without Google's seal of approval, page rank, they cannot be successful on the web.

Let's think about that for a moment. If Google folded tomorrow, not likely, but if they did, suddenly they just weren't there. http://Google.com did not resolve, page cannot be displayed, what would you do?

Would it be like the stock market crash of the 30's? Would webmasters be jumping off buildings? Would everyone just stop doing business on the web because Google was gone? Would the forums be full of grieving webmasters with nowhere to turn? Would they erect a statue of Matt Cutts and hold memorial services for the CEOs of Google? Would you light a candle for Google?

The point I'm trying to make is that business was being done on the web before Google became a search portal, before adwords and adnonsense, before Matt Cutts had a blog, and before Google hired an artist full-time to keep making cute little Google logos. Before there was a Google toolbar, page rank, Google images, Google stores, and Google pay, we made money on the Internet.

Yet, people write articles, blogs, and forums posts that start with things like, "If you do business on the web, you have to pay attention to Google", like that was a fact etched in stone.

If you are someone who builds a lot of websites, try an experiment. Ignore Google for just that one website. Focus on other search traffic and other ways to get business done. All without using anything Google. Just try it once. I'll bet if you really try, you will still have success with your website, without visiting Matt Cutts' blog even once. Just make it a game, see if you can make money on the web without Google.

Or do you have the Google habit so bad that you actually believe the web could not actually function without Google? It's like Al Gore saying he invented the Internet. We know he didn't. Neither did Google.