What is the Sandbox?
Before we get too far into an explanation
as to what Google's sandbox is, it
must be noted that not everyone even
agrees that the sandbox exists. The
sandbox is actually nothing more than
a theory developed to explain what
many different SEO experts have witnessed
with their listings. Whether or not
the sandbox really exists is actually
irrelevant when we know that the effects
of the sandbox exist.
Google's sandbox is a relatively
new filter that appeared to be put
in place back in March of 2004. This
happened after the widely publicized
updates of Austin and Florida, and
the implementation of what is known
as the Austin update. If you are not
sure what those are, there is no need
to worry as those updates are now
for the most part in the past. The
sandbox filter seems to affect nearly
all new websites placing them on an
initial "probation" status.
The effect of this is that new websites
may get into Google's SERP's (search
engine results pages) relatively quickly
and may even perform well for a couple
of weeks. When the filter is applied
to the new website it is referred
to as being put in the "sandbox".
The new website will still show in
the result pages, but it will not
rank well regardless of how much original,
well optimized content and regardless
of how many quality inbound links
the site may have. The filter restrains
new websites from having immediate
success in the search engine result
pages.
The sandbox filter seems to affect
almost all new websites, with very
few exceptions. It is important to
note that the filter is not a punishment
for anything the webmaster did with
their new website. The filter is merely
an initiation period for new websites.
The sandbox filter also affects more
competitive keyword driven sites more
than sites that key in on less competitive
keywords. If your website focuses
on very competitive keywords, you
are likely to remain in the sandbox
for a longer period of time than if
you focus on keywords that are relatively
non-competitive keywords.
Why Does the Sandbox Exist?
There is a lot of debate as to whether
the sandbox filter is a good thing
for Google to implement or not. Obviously
webmasters who are trying to get their
sites well positioned in Google do
not like the sandbox filter as it
prevents them from receiving the huge
levels of traffic that a top listing
in Google can bring. The filter was
not implemented at random, however,
and there is some good reasoning for
the filter existing.
As the SEO community figured out
the basic elements of Google's ranking
algorithm, inbound links, original
content rich with keywords, and the
proper use of anchor text, search
engine spammers began to take advantage
of these elements. Search engine spammers
would setup websites that were in
clear violation of Google's policies
with the knowledge that eventually
their website would be banned from
the listings. This, however, did not
matter. If a search engine spammer
could get their website to rank well
in Google for even one month, the
profits they could make from that
one month would justify the cost of
building the site in the first place.
All they needed to do in the future
was to rebuild their spam websites
with different domains and slightly
different content. The idea for spammers
was a simple one. Capitalize off of
Google's traffic for as long as they
can (before they get banned), then
do it all over again with a new website.
The method was extremely effective
and easy to implement.
What made this all the more easy
to accomplish was Google's extremely
fast indexing. While other search
engines would take several months
to index a new website, Google could
index a website in as little as one
month (they are now indexing sites
within a few days). Search engine
spammers were living large off of
Google's generosity.
To solve this problem, Google determined
that it would compromise. They would
still index websites quickly, attempting
to get as much new, fresh content
out to the general public as possible,
but they would not trust new websites
implicitly as they had in the past.
All new websites that were launched
would be put on probation. As time
passed, and as the sites continued
to pass any spam filters they ran,
the website will not be held back
from performing well in the rankings.
Eventually, after quite a bit of time
had passed, a site would be allowed
to "leave" the sandbox and
join the rest of the established websites.
How Does This Affect My Website?
If you have a new website, there
is a good chance that you will be
placed in the sandbox. This should
be expected, but it should not change
the way you build your website or
market it. You should use the sandbox
filter to your advantage.
Google still ranks websites in much
the same way that they had in the
past. Websites are judged on the quality
of their inbound links and the quality
of their content. Google will continue
to change how they evaluate inbound
links and content, but the basic elements
of their rankings will remain the
same.
While your website is in the sandbox,
you should use this time to build
your traffic using regular traffic
building methods such as writing articles,
building a strong community of visitors,
and partnering with websites that
offer some synergy to your visitors.
During your time on probation, you
have an excellent opportunity to build
all the elements that cause websites
to perform well in the search engines.
When you finally do leave the sandbox,
your website should be very well positioned
within Google.
Is My Website in the Sandbox?
When webmasters learn about the sandbox
filter, their first question is always
whether or not their website has been
placed in it. Determining whether
or not you are in the sandbox is a
relatively easy task to do. First,
being placed in the sandbox is different
than having your website banned.
If you do a search for your domain
in Google and they return zero results
for your website (and you had been
previously listed in Google), there
is a chance that you have been banned.
One of the best ways to determine
if you have been banned is to look
at your log files to see if Google
is visiting your website. Banned websites
typically do not see Google visit
their websites, regardless of who
is linking to them.
If you have not been banned, but
do not rank well with Google, you
should look at the quality of your
content and the quality of your inbound
links. You should also see if you
rank well for non- competitive keywords.
Remember how the filter affects competitive
keywords more than less competitive
keywords? Well, you can use this to
determine if you have been sandboxed.
Finally, if you rank well in all the
other major search engines, but do
not show up at all in Google's rankings,
you have probably been sandboxed.
Is There A Way to Get Out of the
Sandbox?
The quick answer to this is yes,
there is a way out of the sandbox,
but you will not like the answer.
The answer is to simply wait. The
sandbox filter is not a permanent
filter and is only intended to reduce
search engine spam. It is not intended
to hold people back from succeeding.
So eventually, if you continue to
build your site as it should be built,
you will leave the sandbox and join
the other established websites.
Again, if your website has been placed
in the sandbox you should use this
time to your advantage. It is a great
opportunity to build your traffic
sources outside of the search engines.
If you have a website that does well
in the search engines, you may be
tempted to ignore other proven methods
of traffic building such as building
a community, or building strong inbound
links through partnerships. However,
if you establish traffic sources outside
of search engines, when you finally
leave the sandbox, you will see a
welcome increase in your traffic levels.
Conclusion
Google has been going to great lengths
to cut out on search engine spam.
Some have faulted them on the lengths
that they are going to claiming that
it is effecting legitimate sites as
well as the spam websites. While this
is probably the case, as an owner
of a website you need to place yourself
in the position of Google and ask
yourself what they are really looking
for in a website. Google is looking
for websites that offer quality content.
Google still relies on the natural
voting system that was first used
to establish pagerank. They may change
the way that they qualify content
or inbound links, but the basic elements
of a quality website will always remain
the same.
No website owner in their right mind
will "like" Google's sandbox.
However, a smart website owner will
use the sandbox as an opportunity
to build a website that Google simply
cannot refuse.
About the Author:
Mark Daoust is the owner of Site-Reference.com,
articles that focus on Internet Marketing,
Website Development, and Search Engines.
This article was originally published
at http://www.site-reference.com/Search-Engines/5147/index.html
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