I have number 1 spot for student forum on msn and yahoo. On google i can't seem to find my results. Have i been sandboxed?(i presume this is what it means) ( www.students-forum.com Also, My starting weight is 54,000 spread over 7 ads each targetting similiar keywords will i get sandboxed for this? . I am a bit of noob to the advanced details but know the basics of SEO etc. Thanks [Please move] I have completely posted in the wrong section.
Well the Google Sandbox is somewhat of a "urban myth" in SEO circles. I wouldn't get too worried if I was you. Sometimes it takes quite a while for Google to pick up new sites. Give it a few more weeks and your site will most likely show up. Also don't be afraid if your site appears and dissappears in the Google listings, that's just an effect of the various Google servers being updated.
Thanks for your re-assuring words . I'll keep repeating it to myself "urban myth", "urban myth", "urban myth"....
Sandbox tends to be an issue for newer sites. I rank #1 in MSN for a few keywords but not for google, but the site is only a few months old. There isn't a test that you can run to see if you are sandboxed, you can only do the best you can and hope they will affect the rankings in google in a positive way. good luck
I'm still interested to know how long the sandbox can last. I started this site at the start of November, ranked very well for around two weeks, then was ditched to out of the top 1000. I've been there over four months now. The people who say there might not be a sandbox, are often people who have never been in it. I think there has been some recent evidence from googles patent that it does infact exist. Whether you call it a sandbox or a new site filter, chances are you will enter it and get stuck for some time. Just wait, that's all you can do.