Google’s Sandbox Explained

Entrepreneur May 2nd, 2007 No comments

What is the Sandbox?
The theory of Google’s Sandbox has been floating around for quite sometime now. It’s never been complete confirmed, but most webmasters and SEOs alike think it exists in some form or another. The basic idea behind it is that Google imposes a penalty on new sites or those engaging in “illegal” linking practices. The penalty is that the site will not rank for any of its main competitive keywords. While you are in the Sandbox no matter what changes you make to SEO enhance your site you will not rank for your main keywords.

Why does it exist?
There are two main reasons for the sandbox’s existence. First it forces brand news sites to prove themselves. If you toss up a brand new site with a few pages of content and then optimize the hell out of it, does the site deserve to be #1 in the search results? Maybe. But will that site be online and still providing new and useful content a month or two from now? Maybe not. Proving that the site will still be there in 6-8 months is a big part of getting out of the sandbox.

The second reason the sandbox exists is as a penalty system for bad sites. If an established website all of the sudden gains hundreds of new incoming links, then there is a good possibility that the site is headed for the sandbox. The sudden influx of incoming links hints to Google that the site is probably engaging in some sort of link trading scheme or paid linking practice.

My site is index, how can I be in the Sandbox?
The thing to understand about the sandbox is that it doesn’t prevent your website from being indexed by Google nor does it prevent your website from turning up in any type of search results. The sandbox only prevents your site from coming up for your sites main competitive keywords.

How long will I have to play in the sand?
The general accepted period for a new sites stay in the sandbox ranges from 6 to 9 months. This will usually depend on how competitive your keyword is. The more competitive the keyword the longer you will be in the sandbox.

Can I get out quicker?
Everyone wants to start ranking for their main keywords right away, but as far as I’ve read and learned, there is no proven bypass for the sandbox. It’s something you have to deal with and plan for. Patience is the key here. Focus on content and link building while in the sandbox and when you emerge, you should be in good shape.

However, while you are waiting you can do a few other things to build traffic. First, remember there are other search engines and you can still get traffic from those. Your second option is Google’s Adwords. Google’s pay per click service will allow you to advertise your site on the result pages for those competitive keyword searches.

Go forth and enjoy the sand.

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