An SEJ Reader send in the following question :
What’s a Google Sandbox? How long can it last for a brand new site? Is there any way to avoid it? Is it niche specific?
Well, let’s first start with the theories behind the term “Google Sandbox”. It appears webmasters understand it as two a bit different phenomena:
- “Google Sandbox” is supposed to mean a period of time before a newly launched website is properly indexed and ranked. They say, Google deliberately holds back indexing new sites before they “earn its trust”.
- “Google Sandbox” can also mean a sudden drop of SERPs that happens about 3 months after a site was launched.
Now let’s see how I am likely to explain both the phenomena:
- A newly launched site is difficult to find instantly. Even if some “deliberate non-indexing” does take place, it never takes too long. If the site code is clean, if it has clear internal architecture and good unique content, and if it linked from one or two good sites, it will be indexed within no more than a couple of weeks (with me it usually takes no more than a few days). It naturally won’t be ranked at the top from the very start, just because it hasn’t gained any authority yet.
- The sudden ranking drop with a comparatively new website can more than likely mean the following: you started promoted your site too aggressively (that usually doesn’t look natural if a new site acquires tons of links once it’s launched). In this case, if you hold on and wait, you can be back to SERPs in a much longer period of time (up to several months).
So does Google sandbox exist in the meaning of some sort of “special treatment” of newly launched sites? I am pretty sure it does, as the domain age and authority are two very important ranking factors. Can it be avoided? Yes, it can, if you are particularly careful and wise at the start. Is it niche specific? Google does treat some ‘shady’ or very competitive niches more carefully; thus in those niches it will naturally take your site longer to be found and ranked.
Do you have other experience with Google Sanbox than me? Please share your thoughts!
I used to believe more strongly in the Google sandbox, but recently we posted a brand new web site and within a month we had rankings for over 15 key phrases in the top 20!
Neither MSN nor Yahoo has picked up the site yet, but for some reason Google likes it. I only wish I knew why this has happened to this one site and not the majority of other web sites.
Is there any Sandbox for the old websites also?
Yes, Google can use the sandbox as a penality for even older sites that conduct shady conduct like:
1. high numer of links aquired in a short period of time followed by extended periods of time with little to no link building activity;
2. massive infusion of content, also done in an unconsistent manner.
I don’t agree with Google sandbox being an initial period when the newly lauched site waits to be crawled and indexed.
Like Ann said above, this can happen quite fast, but due to its lack of authority Google places it on a probation period, without any ranking power.
Cheers,
Cristian
Strongly agree with Ann Smarty. Old domains and less competitive sites bypass the google sandbox entirely.
Domain name wise, it also means an established domain name with some PR can get going much faster than one you just bought. More here:
http://nyherald.com/google-sandbox/89.html
I never had any problem with the Sandbox until now and I totally agree with your definition. My new website was launched at the end of June and did pretty good until my link ended up in the “Recent Comments” section of a very popular blog. I’m sure you know the result. All the sudden my website had hundreds of links pointing to it. A day or two after my website was gone from the first page of results and the funny thing is, Matt Cutts had a comment on that same blog. I guess we don’t all have the same privileges. lol
The sandbox is both real and frustrating. Ive started a Movie and TV blog site over 3 months ago and Im stuck in it. Since Google can be 90% of every sites traffic, it wears on your patience.
Is there like an estimated time table of how long a new site may be in the ‘sandbox’? Thanks!
@Max, I am afraid what you are asking for is hardly possible. No one knows the exact time…
Interesting article. Google changes are constant and you never know when the next one will hit and affect you.
Sometimes I think the Sandbox though is misconstrued as an algorithm change… those too are constantly occurring.
The best thing to do is not to submit your site, if you submit your site manually google can take anywhere up to 8 months and more to index.
Tell me about it, i submitted thefreesite manually and even though it has 6- pr6 links linking to it, it still hasn’t been indexed after 8 months.
It hard to get out .take too much time.
Tell me about it. We changed our domain with links from the old .com domain and wham bang thank you sandbox.
Getting thrown into the sandbox seems to be the obligatory penalty that Google makes most new sites go through. I just kept setting links and working with the site and in about three weeks it came back up to top five for my preferred keyword phrase.
Those were a difficult three weeks and it felt more like the penalty box than the sandbox.