This is just a theory but is it possible. I have a site that is over 2 years old and is ranking okay. Mainly on the first two pages for many of our major and minor terms. But recently, well since the New Year, it has been going up and down like a yoyo. Even completely disappearing but coming back to the first page for many terms and then sliding down. And repeating the pattern a couple of times. The Theory is that sandbox is several filters, within the Google algorithm, that takes into account several factors age, the links, content etc. But each time you make a content change it looks at it temporarily as a 'new' page and if you are constantly making changes to various pages a 'new' site. UNTIL that is it calls on all its filters and recognises it as an 'existing' site. Therefore you fall back into the sandbox and then reappear. Make lots of changes and the process starts all over again. This would of course fly in the face of the belief that G likes fresh content. As I said, just a theory.
Your theory does have merit though. One of my sites was ranking highly for many of its key terms and rightfully so. I then did a complete overhaul of the site and changed the look of it and lost all the rankings in Google. This nearly crippled my site. However, because my site belongs near the top (or at least I think it does based on relevancy), it is now slowly climbing its way back to the top. I think that this supports at least part of your theory. I haven't seen any yo yo effects just yet though.
A lot of what you said recently happened to me i redesigned my site and my serps dropped like a stone for about a week on G all seems to be stable now but because the change was quite recent it may have some reoccurring affects. ill keep an eye on this thread and update if i notice any more adverse affects on my site. Kathryn.
This is exactly what I have been experiencing. One of my sites keeps dissapearing for brief periods before returning to normal, sometimes with better rankings, I must say. Normally, it dissapears for about 3-4 days. This time its already been 4 days but has not reaturned yet. I am not too sure about your theory though on the basis that some of the major sites update their sites all thetime without them ever dissapearing. Anyway, I think it s more to do with a few issues google has been experiencing and currently sorting out which means there are occasional glitches.
I believe that the sandbox should not be on your sites after about 9 months. No source just my instinct. The fact that google likes fresh content (additional rather than changed) is proven and noted by many commentators. I do not see any reason for google to apply such a filter - do you? Google does not leave things like this to chance, theyve got the best minds on this task! Notting
The fact that google likes fresh content (additional rather than changed) is proven and noted by many commentators. Notting and there I was thinking it was just change. Didn't realise it was additional content on existing. Interesting Thanks for the info.
Yeah i have noticed this as well. If you change a page significantly it does seem to drop into the sandbox for a short period of time.
Here is my situation. My site has ranked positions 1, 3, and 5 for 3 major keywords during 6 years. Two weeks ago I uploaded a major redisign of my site. I changed all my files from being static to dynamic I did even change my logo. After a week my keywords are gone, I don´t have a ranking for those keywords any more and Google has totally left me on the dark. I basically don´t have now visitors. I believe my site has been sandbox because of these major changes. My question is, does anyone now when my site would be back for these keywords?. How can Google do this for a site that has been 6 years ranking on top?. The goal of the redisign was to make my site more modern looking and more user-firendly to users, but now I´m starting to regret these changes.
I'm seeing the same, sites not as old as yours but ranking on page 1.. then they disapear.. come back to page 1, drop down 50 results or so... disapear again then come back lol...
Did you change the names of the pages without a 301 redirect? If you have changed from .html to .php for example, Google will see this as a new page. You need to do a 301 redirect of all pages immediately if this is so.