I just registered a new domain on November 6th (one month ago today). As soon as I submitted the site to Digg, it made the front page. The site received a lot of backlinks from Digg visitors. Also Digg members posted the site to other bookmark sites, where it got more exposure. Less than a month now, I am at the front page of Google's SERPs for every single one of the competitive keyword phrases that are in my <title> tags. Now, my intention of this post isn't to boast and brag, but if there is a sandbox, why didn't I experience it? Could it be that getting at the top of the SERPs is just a matter of getting lots of backlinks and visitors to your site, rather than anything else? I have other sites that I experienced the same thing. No sandbox. Of course, there are some of my sites that took longer to get on the SERPs, but mostly this was a result of not promoting the site.
Getting quality and relevant backlinks certainly seems to be one way to avoid or at lest mitigate the phantom sandbox.
True, but then are you really avoiding the "sandbox". The question is either: 1. Google sees your website, then says "Ok, let's allow this new website out of the sandbox. Yes, it's new, but let's make an exception, because of the quality of the content." or 2. No sandbox exists. It's all based on the Google algorithm which sees the quantity of your backlinks and visitors and just places you at the top of the list regardless of how new the site is.
Well, that's sort of my point of this thread. It could happen to anybody. The speed at which you get to the SERPs is directly reflected by how quickly you get backlinks.
It's not uncommon for a new site to rank well right away - a "freshness boost" that usually doesn't last. The sandbox has nothing to do with how many backlinks you have. Problogger is one example. High PR, thousands of relevant links, took a long time before it started getting google traffic. Matt Cutts recently confirmed something that could be considered the "sandbox" (although google doesn't call it that) exists, but doesn't apply to every site. The "sandbox" means an aging filter (in the google patent) on a domain - backlinks are not counted during this time for SERPS. The "sandbox" doesn't mean a site can't rank for a word, it means it doesn't have the benefit of backlinks helping it rank. The sandbox has nothing to do with on page factors. It also depends on a persons definition of "competitive keyword" - How many searches are done for that word a month? I've seen people claim "competitive keyword" is a word with a hundred searches a month or use quotes around their term. I had a site that ranked #1 within 2 days after domain creation, with only one minor backlink, for a niche keyword phrase that gets about 2,000 searches a month. The URL was the keyword phrase. Even though the site went on to get a few hundred relevant backlinks and a PR5, it didn't rank for a competitive keyword phrase for a little over 3 months. About 20 keywords went from out of the first 1000, to between #1 and #15 overnight. It obviously had enough backlinks and content to rank well, but was being held back based on the age of domain. I have seen this similar type of behavior on at least 30 sites I have.
I see, well if it's from Matt Cutts, then that's enough proof for me to know that it exists. Thanks for the info, Mjewel!
It's really just a filter... which can be tripped pretty easy. We have two new sites that have avoided it so far but we don't add very many backlinks... and when we do we are very careful where they come from and what they say.
Solid points smindsrt - a filter indeed, and like a filter, if you try to push too much through it at once, it will bog down. Slow and steady wins the race; but of course, relevancy helps a lot too (regarding link building).
It's a mathmatical formula based on multiple factors. If your site is about Widgets, google crawls you the first time and you meet obvious signs of SEO (high unrelated inbound link count, new domain, blah blah), your listing has a filter added to it, if you find a cure for cancer and you have 8 billion links after 2 days, I would be willing to guarentee you won't be filtered. It's all about building and designing your site and letting the natural world take over. Give people a reason to link to you, give people a reason to visit your site repeatedly. The "sandbox" is just a filter that with the proper techniques (see Google's Webmaster Guidelines) can be bypassed. This is just my opinion and my results may not necessarily be your results. Aside from my above point, is a year really that long to wait for an investment to pay off? Thats a year worth of optimization, adding content and making your site a solid authority site, or building a few more sites that will pay off in the end.
Hello well i would like to say one of my sites ranked on page 1 & 2 in google for the first month for some good keywords i was over the moon untill i droped like a bag of spuds and i have been sandboxed and i still am over 6 months later it happens like this to alot of people for some reson google seem to show you were you can get ranked and try to really make you happy then they make you feel like poo when you come to check and your not there so you spend a full day lol looking around you site for things that you may think google dont like then you relise dam the sandbox
See this is exactly what I was saying. Google is not out to get your particular site. People say the sandbox like it is a desease, YOU TRIPPED A FILTER, something YOU DID caused your site to drop like a bag of spuds. Whether this was to many unrelated inbound links, over optimization of the pages, keyword stuffing, whatever, it's not like there is a guy sitting there deciding the fate of your site. Don't go stupid with inbound links, if your competitor in #1 has 1000 inbound links, do 1100, NOT 11000, it's overkill and if you think it fools the SE, those days are dead. And gain those links over time, let the algo work for you, don't look at it like "Shit I am in 35th place" look at it as last week you were in 50th and you moved up 15 positions. Slow and steady wins the race.
Great info i see what you mean the thing is i never really tryed to get high ranked i just did what i normally do what i think is best and i never try and out rank people by doing over the top things on the site
I suppose I'm just an impatient guy, but a year seems like a freakin eternity for me. LOL Maybe a few months, I'd be able to handle it. I would never want to wait a year though. Glad that there are other search engines though (eg. MSN), which will index almost immediately.