I'm beginning to get the feeling that I've been spending too
much time online. Just the other day I was leafing through the
TV listings only to find myself analysing the keyword density of
the film reviews.

I have noticed other strange things going on as well.

Next door to where I live is a church which has a row of small
square windows on one side of the building. Every time I see
those windows I think they are thumbnail images which I can
click to open up larger images.

What on earth is wrong with me?

When I'm driving down the road and I see company adverts on the
side of vans and trucks I think to myself: "Well that's not very
well optimised for search engine rankings!"

Have I gone mad? Or could there be another explanation?

Every profession has what is commonly referred to as an
occupational hazard. Tennis players get tennis elbow, writers
get writer's cramp and politicians get liar's teeth.

For web designers and SEO professionals the problem seems to be
one of not being able to tell the difference between the
Internet and the Outernet (formerly known as the 'real world').

A visit to my local optician confirmed that I had indeed gone
Google-eyed. I was advised to seek help and enrol on a 12-step
SEO rehabilitation program. Of course initially I denied that I
had a problem and tried to claim that I just needed a few more
incoming links and all would be fine.

But when the hallway from your bedroom to your bathroom becomes
a hypertext link, you know you've got problems. And when you
return home one day to find the door to your apartment is locked
and a message pops up in your head asking you to enter your
username and password, you know it's time to stand up and say:
"My name is Rob, I'm an SEO addict and I've been online for too
long."

So what are the symptoms of going Google-eyed?

There are a number of tell-tale signs, one of which is an
obsession with the length of your little green bar. I am of
course referring to your Google Page Rank.

Luckily treatment is available for this condition and it
involves a large dose or perspective and reality. So let's get
this ailment cleared up straight away: Having a high Google Page
Rank does not necessarily mean your site will show up in the top
ten search results for your chosen keywords. Page Rank is like
your ego: it's great if you want to show off to your mates but
it has little value beyond that.

If people can find your site and those people become customers
or clients, then it really doesn't matter how big your Page Rank
is and you can stop making those secret nocturnal visits to
websites offering you backstreet Page Rank enlargement services!

Now that we've cleared that up, let's continue with our
treatment.

The second set of symptoms of Google-Eyedness has to do with a
phenomenon that I have already discussed, namely, that of
confusing the inner and outer worlds.

If you spend so much time online that your food cupboards have
become as bare as a newborn baby's behind and when you
eventually do venture out for groceries you find yourself
wondering why your local supermarket doesn't have a search
engine so you can find what you want and leave...

TURN OFF YOUR COMPUTER and repeat the following mantra:

There is more to life than Google. There is more to life than
Google. There is more to life than Google.

You can have self-esteem without Google Page Rank and if your
website is not in Google's top ten, it's not the end of the
world!

You see there seems to be this misconception that Google is
all-powerful. We all know how much of the market share it
controls and we all know how much difference it can make to the
income of an online business. But Google is only as important as
you think it is and only as powerful as we allow it to be.

It's easy to fall into the trap of believing that you need a
higher Page Rank or a higher position in Google's search results
when what you may be in need of is a better sales conversion
rate. I know people who obsess about Page Rank and getting their
website into Google's top ten and yet when I look at their
webstats I find that they are getting loads of visitors to their
site - but they're not turning those visitors into paying
customers.

If your store looks dull and uninspiring and your products are
poorly displayed you won't make more money by moving the store
to a better location or by herding more people in through the
door: you need to address the issue at hand and not get
distracted into believing that the problem has anything to do
with Google.

So why am I saying all this and why haven't I written one of
those 'Top Ten SEO Tips' articles instead? (I know you love
reading them just as much as I do.)

Because, as much as we may think it important to gain the
approval of Google, if we place too much importance on this and
become Google-eyed, we run the risk of losing sight of all the
other opportunities available to us on the Internet and of
becoming blind to the all the other online marketing strategies
at our disposal.

Explaining what those opportunities and strategies are will have
to wait for another day. For now I have to continue my
rehabilitation by taking a holiday.

The only decision I need to make now is whether to head for the
sea and take a vacation in one of those alluring href="http://www.cancuntips.com" target="_blank">Cancun
hotels or whether to chill out completely and opt for a
holiday in an target="_blank">Ice Hotel.

Maybe I'll ask Google. Then again, maybe I won't.



About the author:
Rob Butler runs Wiltshire
Web Design company matrix23 which specialises in web design,
e-commerce and search engine
optimisation.