What is the Sandbox?
From time to time you may hear about the blasted Google Sandbox. A myth, an excuse or perhaps a reality? The age of your web site is a key factor to good rankings in Google. The reason for this is because so many brand new “spammy” web sites pop up each day.
What makes your site different?
Google will list your web site in their index as long as it doesn’t raise any flags as far as being a “spam central”. During this period Google will keep a watchful eye on your site to make sure that it can be trusted. If it has a good linking structure, safe incoming and outbound links and solid content, then Google will most likely allow you to rank for relevant keyword phrases. But if your site doesn’t not gain Google’s trust, then you will go directly to jail and not collect $200.
Welcome to the Sandbox, as it is called. This is the place where Google will put you on probation for up to a year, until it can trust you. Not a crook? It’s okay, because good people end up here too. Just keep the linking structure of your pages, get inbound and outbound links to “safe” areas, write more content and sooner or later you will be free again. This is a test of will and determination, where only the strong will emerge.
Some search engine marketers question the existence of the Sandbox as they claim they have never been stuck there. This may be true.
Factors to rank:
- Age - How old is your site? If it is young it will be harder to trust.
- Content - Does your text stay focused to the subject of the page?
- Structure - Does your site have an easy to follow navigation?
- Linking - Do you link to bad web sites? Do good web sites link to you?
