Google's sandbox is easy to get out of... first of all dont get in! 10 Way's to get INTO the sandbox. 1. Using a Hosting Service That has been Blacklisted If you want to find a host that has NOT been blacklisted. Just do a google search for your industry. Do a WHOis on the guys on p1 and use THOSE hosts. They are obviously cool. 2. Burst Marketing. If you googlebomb google, it MAY get you to the #1 spot quick but you'll only stay there for 3 days. just long enough for googles indexes to update. A googlebomb ONLY works IF there is a consistent ONGOING backlink flow after the initial one. If theres a big splash then cricket chirps afterwards, you're old news - litterally 3. SEO Yes, SEO can get your domain deep in the sandbox if your webmaster uses old techniques that google already hates. Things like hidden links, abnormal keyword frequency, funny server tricks etc, remember, there are 48 PhD's at google.com they are smart. 4. Tricky Techniques: SEE: http://www.google.com/contact/spamreport.html Dont do ANY of these things 5. Getting Your Domain Trapped in SPAMCOP This happens if you email people too much. IF you email folks, DO NOT email from your URL.com. All it takes is one idiot to forget that he opted in and report you as spam to his ISP then you'll get onto the World Wide SPAMCOP blacklist. Google sees this blacklist. Use a pay per email marketing company or http://znitch.com 's email alert system javascript button at http://znitchit.blogspot.com 6. Use Dashes not Underscores in your URL and STUFF your URL with keywords. If you have a mazda miata website, you want google to see "mazda miata," right? if you use a naming convention of "mazda_miata.html" then google only sees "mazdamiata." If you use mazda-miata.html then google sees "mazda miata" - if you use something dynamic like, "/newthread.php?do=newthread&f=67" the google aint gunna find any miatas in that url. SEE: http://mattcutts.com/blog/dashes-vs-underscores/ 7. Grrr: im starvin. lemme get some food and more later PS. HOW TO get OUTTA the sandbox? 1. Get a Link from a MAJOR <10000 ALEXA Rank website to your domain from your industry. If you get a link from digg.com which is ranked suuuper high, it dont do much for the sandbox pull because digg is too general.
Its my experience that the sandbox occurs almost always for competitive searches. Usually lasts around 6 months.
I am with BILZ. It seems that any of my sites that are in competitive markets go into the sandbox no matter what I do. Article does make some good points though about staying on Google's good side. I would think if you violate some of the points in the article yours sites are at risk of getting banned not just sandboxed.
I remember reading that the sandbox was a year. something about most spam sites only registering for 1 year. i think it was in a matt cutts blog. anybody remember the url?
One of my sites, www.natschat.com, just came out of the sandbox. It was in there for about 6-7 months. Was kinda funny really, one day my rankings in google went from nothing to top rankings. So I can confirm that the sandbox doesnt take a year. The domain registration is a factor in evaluating if a domain is being used for spam or not. If a domain is only registered for a year it may be more easily considered spam than a domain that is registered for 10. I think that is what you are remembering about the domain - it doesnt really have aything to do with the sandbox.
One comment I remember reading from Matt Cutts was to get a link from BOTW directory. He suggested that this link would help pull you out of the so called sandbox.