In the last few months I have heard epic tales of the Google Sandbox. I’ve had clients tell me it’s an urban legend and others say their site is “permanently sandboxed and they have no hope of crawling up the search results because of it.” In fact, the Google Sandbox has created such a buzz among both the web community and website owners alike, that I feel compelled to set the record straight.
the Google Sandbox?
The Google Sandbox is a filter placed on new websites. The result is a site does not receive good rankings for its most important keywords and keyword phrases. Even with good content, abundant incoming links and strong Google PageRank, a site is still adversely affected by the Sandbox effect. The Sandbox acts as a de facto probation for sites, possibly to discourage spam sites from rising quickly, getting banned, and repeating the process.
The Google Sandbox is a place where Google houses new websites. Sandboxed sites can be considered to be on a “probationary period.” While in the sandbox, sites are demoted in the search results from where they would be expected to be found. Essentially, sandboxed sites are not credited full value for their incoming links and content.
SANDBOX EFFECT: New sites rankings were seen as poor despite good Google PageRanks, strong incoming link totals, and overall good optimization practices being employed.
Why does Google have a Sandbox?
The reason Google created the Sandbox new site filter, was to stop spam related sites from adding numerous purchased links, and ranking highly for their keywords from their launch date. Since Google apparently considers a high number of links pointing to a site from the beginning to be rather suspicious, the links are not considered to be natural. Another possibility is spam sites would use various tactics to rise to the top of the search results, and gain heavy sales prior to being banned for being in violation of Google’s Terms of Service; and then repeating the process continually. As a result, new sites are put into a form of probation, usually referred to as the Google Sandbox. What types of sites are Sandboxed?
New websites seeking rankings for highly competitive keyword phrases are primarily impacted by the Sandbox. All sites are likely given a term in the Sandbox, but those websites seeking rankings in highly competitive searches, are probably in for a much longer Sandbox stay.
Which sites have not been Sandboxed?
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Domains purchased and websites launched prior to the March 2004 implementation of the Google Sandbox avoided the Sandbox effect altogether.
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Websites targeting non-competitive keywords and phrases are often left out of the Sandbox as there is little point in applying the filter to them. Sometimes these sites are sandboxed temporarily but sites with less competitive search terms have been found to have much shorter stays in the Sandbox.
How long is a site in the Sandbox?
Sandbox probationary periods vary from one to six months but the most typical term is between three and four months. Less competitive searches will be given the much shorter stay, while more competitive keywords will spend six months or more in the Sandbox.
Essentially, the more competitive the keyword, the longer the site spends in the Sandbox. The effect of the Sandbox filter will gradually decrease over time, and will lose most of its dampening effect in about three months.
How to tell if you’ve been Sandboxed
Evidence of Sandbox activity usually is spotted by having good Google PageRank and incoming links, and strong search results in some secondary search phrases, but the site nowhere to be found for the most important searches. In such cases, it is likely the site has been placed in the Sandbox.
One of the most important characteristics, and indeed one of the marks of being in the Sandbox, is the continuation of strong placements for less important keywords. The Sandbox filter is designed to concern itself with the more competitive keywords as they are more likely to have spam sites, purchased and other links Google deems unnatural, and probably more manipulation attempts being made. That is far less likely in unimportant and non-competitive keywords, so they are generally left alone and out of the Sandbox filter.
How to tell the difference between the Sandbox and a Google penalty
If a site were suffering from a Google penalty, the site would not appear in the Google search engine results pages (SERPs) for even the less important searches. The site would also show no PageRank or even a grey bar on the Google Toolbar.
Buying Google AdWords or Google Adsense will not prevent Sandboxing
Joining programs like Google Adwords and Google Adsense will have no effect on your site’s duration in the Sandbox. Those paid programs could provide much needed traffic while your site remains in the depths of the Sandbox, however. Participation in the various Google advertising programs will not keep your site out of Sandbox, or shorten your stay, despite what some myths would have you believe.
Can you avoid or minimize the effect of the Sandbox?
Not really. You have to serve your time gracefully. Depending on the competitiveness of your most important keywords, that time can vary from one to six months. What you can do is make good use of your time by continuing to improve your site, and be prepared to make a rapid rise once the Sandbox probation ends.
What should I do while my site is in the Sandbox?
While your site is in the Sandbox, it’s an ideal time to add fresh keyword rich content and new incoming links to your site. Adding incoming links will ensure that your site avoids any possible new link dampening filter that might be in effect. By the time your site is out of the Sandbox, your links will be well aged, and ready to pass along their full value of PageRank and link popularity, as the site rises from the depths of the Sandbox.
Your website’s stay in the Sandbox is an ideal time to add more theme and keyword relevant content. Concentrate on adding more keyword rich pages, and don’t forget both on page and off page factors. On the page, make sure your title tags match the most important keywords for that page. Add a site map and be sure that all of your pages link properly to one another with appropriate link anchor text containing the keywords for that page. Off page link anchor text should be set up to include keywords for the receiving page as well. Don’t waste any of your available site improvement time while in the Sandbox. When the filter is lifted, your improved site will rise rapidly to its proper place at the top of the search rankings.
How can I avoid being placed in the Sandbox in the first place?
The Sandbox can be avoided to a degree by purchasing a domain in advance and placing a splash screen up on you destination server. RSS Pieces always places splash screens up during development of new sites/blogs and often tells clients to spend this period of time tailoring their content and reading our SEO documentation so they are prepared for the Sandbox effect and ready for their post Sandbox rankings and traffic. While the site will endure low rankings while in the Sandbox, remember, this is temporary and good SEO will kick start those post Sandbox rankings.
What to do during your Sandbox stay:
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Be sure to add as many incoming links as possible to get past the new links filter.
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Keep adding content to your site.
Mary McKnight
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I'm happy I avoided all of that. We get great page rankings and show up on the top 3 of a lot of Google searches...
Scott