I have heard of the word sandbox spoken a number of times by my friends. But I don't exactly get to know what it is. would someone enlighten me on this? what has it got to do with SEO?
All theory but; Not being able to rank a new site for mildly competitive to highly competitive terms when all other known indicators show that it should rank. A period of probation time that a new site and its inbound links must wait until google sufficiently trusts the site enough to let it rank naturally and without penalty.
Sites in the sandbox are always indexed. Its nothing to do with indexing. Its easier to think in terms of trying to get into the trustbox rather than out of the sandbox. You are trying to get in the exclusive club of sites that google trusts. As a new site you are not trusted enough to get in the club. As you get more important and better connected (linked) you eventually are allowed to join the club. It takes 3-24 months to get into this club assuming you get some trusted links. Some sites never make it.
If your site is new and it is in sandbox then this period is like a probation period for your web sites.... Don't worry. optimize your site properly.