My Sandbox Experience

Discussion in 'Search Engine Optimization' started by rolf, Aug 15, 2008.

  1. #1
    I have many Wordpress blogs.

    Here are my strange experiences with them.

    I once had a blog that I never created a single backlink to. I think that the rpc.pingomatic.com statement must have alerted the search engines. I got about 400 hits a day on there and largely through one of my posts on Vida Guerra's ass! Nevertheless I got hits on all my pages from the SEs.

    I have another Wordpress blog that is only 5 pages. It looks nothing like a blog because I took away all the footprints. It gets a steady 40 hits a day on a good keyword but I've only submitted maybe 2 articles to ezinearticles. Those are the only backlinks. Incredible.

    I had 3 blogs that I created, all with the same template. They didn't get any traffic for ages. I created 40 posts on each site. 4 months later and they broke through the sandbox and get a steady flow of traffic every day. It's a real shame because the domains are up for renewal and I'm just going to let them go because the traffic is low converting. Shame.

    I recently created 3 new blogs, all of the same theme (a different one to above). One of them I have added to directories but otherwise, the only promotion I've done on them all is to submit about 30 or 40 articles to ezinearticles. Incredibly, very quickly I started to get google traffic (no msn or yahoo traffic though). These sites are in health niches so there are a lot of good long tail keywords that are getting picked up in my site articles. Just by talking generally about the subject I am getting long tail search engine hits. I don't need to talk BS and use 8 word phrases or anything like that. Even 3 keywords is enough to rank high. btw my site articles are not long. about 200-300 words each and each site has between 10 and 20 articles, I have not focussed on keywords on my site but just on broad good content, like you would get in a FAQ.

    So what is my conclusion? It seems that sticking to promotion with only ezinearticles and focussing on a broad and informative content base to start with is the best way to avoid the sandbox. Maybe the theme had something to do with it as well (I'm loathe to use a different theme, just in case!!). Once you get through this first month, I think it is safe to submit to directories and go on a major multiple site backlink strategy.

    What do you think? Hope this helps.
     
    rolf, Aug 15, 2008 IP
  2. Fat_Man

    Fat_Man Peon

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    #2
    Well, I have to agree. The best thing for any website is content. Content alone can boost someone up in the search engines for different keywords, whether or not that keyword was a target keyword phrase.. But, I'm getting off topic here.. You'll notice a sandboxing, possibly, if you are targeting larger keywords.. Like a two keyword phrase of some significance with medium size competition. Could it take more than one month, I would say so. Domain age is of some importance, so just take note.

    I say go forward with your backlinking strategy, but, I doubt you will avoid sandboxing if the domains are new or if they are old and deal with different content than the previous site.
     
    Fat_Man, Aug 15, 2008 IP
  3. unnameduser

    unnameduser Peon

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    #3
    well you know what they say "content rules" - you method combined with some good backlink strategies should provide good results for you
     
    unnameduser, Aug 16, 2008 IP
  4. flashgordonweb

    flashgordonweb Peon

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    #4
    I would agree, content is king and will get your site out of the sandbox fairly fast.
     
    flashgordonweb, Aug 16, 2008 IP
  5. zaidimz

    zaidimz Peon

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    #5
    Totally agreed with your points. I think this is the best way for new site to get easy traffics..
     
    zaidimz, Sep 7, 2008 IP
  6. Vyliss

    Vyliss Peon

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    #6
    Hmm my site is sandboxed I'm pretty sure, has been for about 2-3 weeks now and I've been adding a lot of unique content to it... it takes time but who knows when it will get out of the sandbox :(
     
    Vyliss, Sep 7, 2008 IP
  7. Pantich

    Pantich Active Member

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    #7
    Google usually sandbox phrases not entire site. Non competitive phrase will never enter sandbox. But one word keyword, that's the problem. I have seen that very clearly on my site. I was ranking 240-300 for one word keywords, and then ooops 1st page.
     
    Pantich, Sep 29, 2008 IP
  8. BigSexy

    BigSexy Peon

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    #8
    I completely agree. I have a site about buddhism, I'm in first page with crappy and seldom used keywords, but with the high-searched word buddha...:eek:
     
    BigSexy, Oct 19, 2008 IP
  9. scissors

    scissors Peon

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    #9
    I think rolf has a good point here. It's too late for me - I went backlink crazy on a new domain and am now suffering. I've disappeared from google and am just playing the waiting game now. It looks as though a slower start may in fact be the quicker way to top results. At least I'll take a different approach next time.
     
    scissors, Nov 19, 2008 IP
  10. nicesonu

    nicesonu Banned

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    #10
    Try to do this
    * Write good content: Content is the king. A better content will attract more visitors to your site.
    * Optimize your web pages: This could be tricky as there would be no way you can measure the effect of your optimizations. But it is worth it, for when you are listed, all this optimization will pay off.
    * Build Links: Inbound links go a long way in improving your page rank on SERP and your Google Pagerank. Therefore, start building links.
    * Optimize for MSN and Yahoo: These two search engines are growing fast and can definitely bring quality traffic to your site if you concentrate on optimizing for them. MSN and Yahoo don't have a sandbox, so it's worth a try.

    Thanks
    Nice
     
    nicesonu, Nov 20, 2008 IP
  11. geckojohn

    geckojohn Peon

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    #11
    how long does it usually take to get out of the box?
     
    geckojohn, Nov 21, 2008 IP
  12. scissors

    scissors Peon

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    #12
    I made my previous site in August '08 and within three weeks it got sandboxed. It has just stated to appear up the rankings within the last few days so I would say it will be sandboxed for around four months. Not sure if it's the same for all sites though.
     
    scissors, Dec 2, 2008 IP
  13. keyurrules

    keyurrules Peon

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    #13
    well...i agree to this!
     
    keyurrules, Dec 5, 2008 IP
  14. autotraffic

    autotraffic Peon

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    #14
    Scissors:
    I did the same thing, however I though about it for a long time. (getting a ton of back-links for a new website)
    In the mass confusion of robot.txt, follow=?, yes you can do it.
    I have a charity fund site. First, I purchased a steady flow of web-traffic/visitors of about 5 to 7 thousand per per week for about 4 weeks before I put 15,000 back-links on my website. The back-links came on board at a rate of 1,000 per day. Still you need to keep the visitors coming daily. The robots are smart, however they count volume to volume VS: volume to volume.
    LOL.
     
    autotraffic, Dec 6, 2008 IP
  15. izwanmad

    izwanmad Banned

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    #15
    I agree with you. Just stick with build relevant link by publishing articles at other website. Also, for new website, make sure to target low competitor keywords at first.
     
    izwanmad, Dec 13, 2008 IP
  16. ShayneSherman

    ShayneSherman Peon

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    #16
    The nice thing about using Ezines is I get a steady flow of traffic from the articles that I wrote...so its kinda of like a double wammy effect. Also, the ezine articles themselves rank pretty high in the serps.
     
    ShayneSherman, Dec 15, 2008 IP
  17. toekangblog

    toekangblog Peon

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    #17
    i only want to thank you for this share...
    looks like that i have to post more contents to one of my blog folder that seems still in the sandbox right now
     
    toekangblog, Dec 15, 2008 IP