Google Sandbox - The Webmaster Myth
For the last few years (after the wretched Florida update) many webmasters started to talk about something called the Google Sandbox. Now at first, I had no idea what people were talking about. Even though I have been practicing SEO since the days of when Altavista and Excite were the dominant engines, I always considered the “sandbox” as the keyword tool Google used for finding new keywords for AdWords campaigns. But after constantly being asked about this sandbox of Google not listing new sites, I started to run some quick trials on test domains to see if the rumors were actually true. Was Google really not listing sites that were 1-3 months old? And why the hell not? I thought Google’s primary goal in search (aside for making billions of dollars) was to keep everything relevant to whatever the searcher was seeking? I mean, that’s pretty much the reason why people loved Google from the start, wasn’t it?
I have to say, that from a professional SEO’s perspective, the sandbox myth is the greatest urban myth around. It’s like if someone living in the woods, who didn’t like being around people much started making up a rumor around town that there was a very scary monster living there. It would keep people afraid, and they would accept it, and choose a different path just to avoid this fabrication of the imagination. That’s what the sandbox myth has done for SEO’s. Most of them know (or at least they should know) that there is no damn sandbox.
For instance.. I have a site, that used to be pretty popular (not anymore because I haven’t updated it in months) and it was on the top of Google and every search engine because I changed the title tags and some header and meta data to keep it very relevant to the topic people would search for. Guess what.. After registering it, less than a week later it was #1 on Google for pretty much every major keyword I wanted to rank for. Where was the sandbox then? Was Google not putting me into there because they liked my site a lot? Doubtful. It’s probably because I didn’t try to over SEO the crap out of the site and kept it completely relevant to the topic it served.
Personally I think the “sandbox” is really just a combination of filters that get tripped up when a site tries to SEO the bejesus out of a site or a page. They end up tripping themselves up, and because they don’t want to admit, or can’t explain why it happened, they blame the elusive sandbox, and end up switching back to conservative seo mode, which is what they should have done in the first place.
So here’s a tip for you sandbox believers.. When you make a new site, try and keep it seo’d from a very conservative standpoint. Don’t go out and buy a cajillion direct links, or go on a reciprocal linking spree. When you do a linking campaign, KEEP IT RELEVANT. I cannot stress that enough. Just because a page linking to you has a PR8, doesn’t mean you’re going to jump in PageRank** and dominate your competition for your desired keywords. Take your time, because one of the biggest parts of seo is patience, whether you believe it or not. Pace yourself. I’m not saying to go as slow as a snail, but don’t overdo it. Keep your title and header tags relevant to that page’s topic. Don’t just cram in as many keywords as possible because you want to get the seo stage over with asap. If you want to continue tripping up your site over these filters, then go for it, I can assure you, your competition will praise you for it. Just take it slow, like a normal person, and update your site, from an seo perspective every so often each month. You will see a huge and positive difference going this route, than what you’re probably doing now.
** - I’m also a firm believer that the PageRank tool is fairly useless. But that’s another story for another time.
Terrific post. I agree 100% with everything you have said.
I’m a firm believer in the build it slow, build it strong approach to SEO. These days I don’t even bother trying to keep up with the latest little SEO fads, but instead just stick to the basics. Everything’s done from a “human” perspective rather than purely to please the search engines. Sure, I make certain spiders can crawl my sites easily using good linking structures and I have keywords in prominent places - but essentially I hope my sites would pass scrutiny by human reviewer.
That said, one way or the other, the whole process of getting pages ranked well for a new site has been slowed down in my opinion. Whether that means some filter has been “triggered” or the SEO approach is slower. Doesn’t really matter what it’s called, sandbox or not, it’s still slower than before.
… in my experience
Chromate-
It also may depend on the industry/market you’re trying to seo for.. If it’s something extremely fierce, then it’s obviously going to take some time to work up to the point where people before you have been working years on, but if it’s fairly unpopulated, you’re going to fly to the top without anything really holding you back. Either way, the “sandbox” is a figment of the webmaster’s imagination, and people need to move their focus back onto building their sites to make it better for user usability ease, instead of trying to be a brown noser to Google.
Bottom line, it sucks anymore: meaning it takes along time for any relevant keywords. It’s definately slower. Google trying to keep out spammers or affiliate marketers in a sense and just get site that will have staying power. Links are the thing of the past, meaning it’s not the link obsession that gets you to the top it’s the time and populatity from the searchers on your link. To me, it seems that google is doing the first page rankings similar to their rankings from sponser rankings, not just by the most amount of money you pay but popularity of people click on your link. They should just start picking manually. Their algo’s will only go so far. I hope google will one day just give up fighting and let the most determined win with the algos. It’s pure mathmatics and no more. Yes, it could give random results but if ever fluctuating or just pure link rank like msn then no internet entrepreneur could make a living. Without “pagerank” no internet marketer could make a living. We wish to belive otherwise but no other search engine has stability. I might be talking out my ass but I hope google sees this nonsense. Yes Google, you make us, but we make you!! Peace, love and whatever…
Well I’d rather not get into a PageRank debate right now, but after the Florida update, PR became more of a fairy tale of focus, rather than actual on page content. There are a lot of webmasters that went overboard with getting as many recip and direct links as possible, because they wanted the little green bar to read 8/10 instead of 3/10, and they got fucked pretty hard after Google put them from top ten, to 3452352356. There were also a lot of seo firms that got hit because of that as well.
Jon - So why do you suppose so many people believe in the sandbox - is it just an excuse when their site ranks well in yahoo and msn but not google? Urban myths usually have some sense of truth to them, but are also they are based on fear of the unknown (a role Google enjoys playing). I am fairly new to the game, but I always thought the sandbox arguement was strange, since my sites tend to show up quickly in Google
Keep debunking - Nice job!
Dan
Sandbox Myth?…
“Is the Google Sandbox a myth? Jon of Aojon.com believes so, and I say I must have to agree with him. He states that the Sandbox is a Myth and provides some tips for starting a new site.”…
Next time there is a debate on PR on WebsitePublisher.net looks like I won’t be the only one on the “fairly useless” side
I agree with aojon and it is pretty safe to say that there is no sandbox. I just launched a new site and designed two other new sites for clients that were both indexed and showing up on the first page of the SERPs within 30 days.
I also think it is safe to say that Google is a crazy beast and no one really knows what the heck is going on. Even if you can figure it out, what is here one day can be gone the next.
I just want to make it clear that I would slap my Mother in the face to get my site on your blogroll.
HiredMonkey-
Slap your mother and send me pictures I can post, and I’ll surely add you to my blogroll!
I always thought the so called sandbox was for newly registered domain names
I’ve never really believed in it because I have seen little to no evidence in sites I produce.
Can anyone reading this actually verify that every new site that they launch, and use a conservative amount of seo in the beginning actually end up in this Bermuda Triangle of Google’s serps?
I have a site thats been up now for a few months that hasnt really gone anywhere as far as Google listing go.
Key words “Metal Detecting”
I think Ive optimized the site pretty good compaired to the sites im competing with, but still no placement.
If youd like check it out run a G search for “Metal Detecting” than look for Detectorx.com, you wont see it. Then go to the site itself and check out the title tags, and keyword placement and tell me this site should not be being picked up.
SandBox?
http://www.threadwatch.org/node/3479 this begs to differ:
…he would try to get the spam team to adopt our term, “sandbox”, so we could all call it the same thing.
I disagree, there is a sandbox, and I also never changed my own definition of the sandbox… lag between filters/algorithms and sites being held back by spam filters.
Matt Cutts has validated this definition of the “sandbox”, except that at google they don’t call it the sandbox of course.
As I said in my first post, it just completely depends on how you define the “sandbox.” Everyone agrees that there are filters that can be tripped and if that happens it slows your site’s entry into the SERPs. As I said, it doesn’t really matter what you call it - it is there.
Jon’s advice is still top-notch, as the best chance anyone has of circumventing these filters is to take a long term natural approach to launching a site.
In some competitive niches where earnings can be high and spam is often rife, it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if sites enter a probation period as a matter of course.
The other thing is, if one of the “filters” are triggered, then why does Google suddenly show the site in the SERPs 6 to 10 months later as if nothing has happened? Surely if they determine a site is spammy or whatever, then why should this suddenly change after however many months? Like I say, I think some sites in competitive industries go through this sandbox-filter-thingy-majig whether a filter is triggered or not.
Well everyone who is still reading this post I just put up a site well not a site a blog from blogger, I put the damb thing up exactly 8 days ago now and guess what I’m already listed in Google, Yahoo, Not MSN for some odd reason, Altavista, and I cannot remember the other one.
Back to the tools I guess.
Oh guess what according to the funny broken pagerank bar on the google toolbar I have zero pagerank but I’m still listed, now I was an idiot when I first set it up and did not optimize it the way I should have, gotta get used to the blog restrictions blogger has on a guy’s posts, no script in your post only in your template, what the fuck is up with that.
Anyway I’m listed on page 3 with one of my keywords and top of the list if you type in Agloco Hype you’ll see me all over that keyword which no one ever uses and even Agloco Blog I’m up there too.
So there is just a bit of more proof that if your not a complete idiot at making a blog or site that you can avoid that so called “Sandbox”
I think if it did exsist we would all be in shit because I’m not going to sit around for 6 months waiting to reach the search engine audince, I want results and I want results sooner then 6 months.
Ok, I’m done and sorry for the language if anyone is concerned.