Google Sandbox – Myth or Fact?

This was a hot question in the SEO field about a year ago. Not anymore. Because, the evidence that there’s indeed something that matches the characteristics of a “Google Sandbox” is overwhelming.  And according to my experiences also, I’ve got no reason to say it’s not true.

But it’s amazing how many people fall into this trap day after day – not quite knowing what the consequences are. And as someone who had experienced them first hand, let me tell you that they are not so easy to go through with.

What is Google Sandbox?

SEOs believe that when you do ‘certain things’ that would necesarily mess with Google’s algorithm – like gaining a lot of links in a relatively short period of time for a new site or an established site, the site would be sent to a sandbox where it will be spending some time, not getting traffic from the relatively high traffic keywords that you might be targeting.

A thing that many SEOs do is to start a brand new sites and order large chunks of new links from other sites through a test link marketplace right? Well, this “sandbox” had been very successful in preventing SEOs doing just that. Simply said, this is a mechanism to reduce the weight of the “might-be-paid-for” links that a site gains.

It’s debatable how much time a site would spend within this sandbox, but most SEOs believe it to be 6-8 months. Not something that you want to be sent into right?

How to prevent/minimize the effects of Google Sandbox?

1. If you’re already in the Sandbox, patience is the key. Don’t try ordering more links because you will ultimately be left in the No man’s land longer by the search giant.
2. Try maintaining a natural link profile. Don’t order too many links too soon. When you get around 1000 links within a single day for a brand new site, anyone can see something fishy is going on there.
3. When you’re starting a new blog, register the domain as soon as possible and set up a temporary home page. Then, link to it from another site that is already indexed in Google. This will ensure that by the time you get your whole site online, it will already be in the Google’s index.
4. If you should go ahead and buy links, make sure you put quality before quantity. It’s better to get a few good quality links than a lot of high quality links.

Avoid this one when you can. It’s quicksand in there you know.

8 Responses to “Google Sandbox – Myth or Fact?”

1. Video Blogging Tips says:

   November 4, 2008 at 3:42 am

   I actually believe that the Google Sandbox is a myth. I have always ranked on Google when I deserve to.

   The higher the keyword competition you try to rank for, the harder it is to rank.

   When you get inbound links to your site or a specific page on your site, you will rank higher.

   I have started many new sites and have never had the “sandbox” issue that always seems to be talked about.
2. Ben Moreno says:

   November 4, 2008 at 6:50 am

   Interesting concept.

   I have never been involved with buying links. i just usually post comments on other blogs and leave a URL in forums once in awhile. I am working on writing viral content right now. I want to write something someday that just spreads like wildfire all over the net.
3. Nishadha says:

   November 4, 2008 at 8:31 am

   If you do get sand boxed , getting a link or too from a trusted site also helps , but as you said avoiding the sand box is the best thing , if its a new site or blog Google tend to show them for there targeted keywords and then drop them all together. But if you haven’t done anything to piss off G they are back in search results again. Can’t think of any reason but has happened to few of my sites.
4. Virtual Impax says:

   November 6, 2008 at 12:33 am

   It’s been my experience that the “fast track” to the sandbox is as domain name with “hot” keywords in the domain name.

   If I’m targeting “long tail” keywords and my domain name contains “less than smoking” keywords – then I can “skirt” the sandbox effect.

   However, when I use smoking hot keywords – well, I had one site site for 8 MONTHS in the sandbox. Fortunately, it was a blog so I could continue to build links, etc while Google ignored it.
5. Typhoon says:

   November 6, 2008 at 5:37 pm

   Never Heard About It..But still I found interesting to read.
6. Submit Elite says:

   November 9, 2008 at 2:10 am

   well google sandbox used to exist earlier for sure… new websites usually used to get into the sand box and it could take anywhere between 4 months to 1 year to get a website back from sandbox.

   But, now with changes in google policies and terms.. google sanbox has become very minimal.. and it exists to a very less extent now
7. Dacia says:

   November 20, 2008 at 10:26 am

   Still people are talking about the ’sandbox’ till today! There is not such thing as sandbox any more. In the past, a search engine used to ‘penalize’ a site for it being new. This kind of ‘descrimination’ against new sites was the norm and only the older more established sites got the high recognition from google and others. It has been a while now since google realized this was hurting its searches and has introduced new tweaks to its ranking algo to counteract this ‘descrimination’. Now, new sites actually get kind of a boost once they are first indexed. After an initial test, google sees if that boost is well deserved or not. If, according to search patterns by searchers, google finds that indeed the site deserves good ranking, it preserves the ranking and may even increase it with time. If however the site turned out to be a failure as determined by search patterns, then google dumps it low in its search results after having given it its initial chance.
   —————————-
   Dacia

   SEO
8. busby says:

   December 1, 2008 at 1:57 pm

   Yeah…I think mine is in a Sandbox now. I can’t find it anywhere now for my keyword.