Say I have an site http://www.redwidgets.com with okay pagerank. I want to start a new site, about dingbats, which is somewhat related, but really deserves its own web page. If I do this via a subdomain http://dingbats.redwidgets.com can I avoid, or mitigate, the google sandbox effect? (The sandbox effect is described all over the web, but particularly thoughtfully here: http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/view...&start=0&sid=3cf2c110138b92369562516032f9168d) Or does it make no difference, and I might as well just go with http://www.redwidgetdingbats.com and grit my teeth during the sandbox period? Would appreciate to hear from people with experience on this. Thanks! Thomas.
It's hard to say for sure, but I have seen less of an effect when applying subdomains...that said, the subdomains were going for a less competitive term....if you're going to really go after something, I think there's something to be said about your own domain.
My subdomains for highly competitive terms seem to be unaffected by the Sandbox. I launched a site two weeks ago that already ranks for "city name hotels" because I made it a subdomain from an existing site that is ranking well in Google. I have 16 other sites that are affected and they are brand new domains (since about May 2004). I think Google at this time considers the subdomain as part of the site and so if your out of the Sandbox then your out. Although, some people have reported going back into the Sandbox after a redesign but no one can say for sure if its the Sandbox or some other over optimization filter that might be at play. My point is, I would try the subdomain first, if it doesn't work, 301 the whole thing over to the new domain. Good luck.
I feel like I'm raising the dead bringing back this thread, but I'm thinking of creating a subdomain on an established site that has good Google rankings. Does anyone have recent experience of adding a subdomain to an established site and, if so, did you find any sandbox effect? Thanks
My main domain is back in the SB after poking it's head half-way out for a while, but I am still getting good traffic through the subdomain. In fact it is beating out my Yahoo and MSN traffic! Now, I thought the whole point of the SB (supposedly) was to stop spammers creating masses of interlinked domains quickly and benefitting from the link value to boost dubious sites? If that is the case, why is Google so easy on sub-domains? After all, creating thousands of sub-domains is even easier and cheaper than making a bunch of domains to link together. If there is a SB, and if G is using it to prevent the kind of abuse I have mentioned, then it seems bonkers that they are not applying the same standards to sub-domains. (Although I don't really want them to, becos I will lose all my traffic from them then!)
I have seen some sub-domains I have created get indexed and ranked nice on a new site, I am building for some one
The trick to not getting into the sandbox has to do with content and link building, but I can't say too much or else you guys will take away my business. :-D If you've had trouble in the past with the sandbox effect, on a new domain name try having a lot of good content and get no more than 50 links per month from relevant sites (reciprocal and one way). I think google separates commercial from informational. To me it has nothing to do with the keyword you're going after but the content of your site. You don't have to take my word for it, but it works for me.