Feb

Does Google have a sandbox?

admin

Unless you’re new to the SEO world, you’ve probably heard people
talking about the dreaded “Google Sandbox” causing their site to
get poor rankings. Some people go so far as to say “all new
sites must wait 6 months before being removed from Google’s
sandbox”, while others adamantly deny the existence of any type
of sandbox.

So is there a Google sandbox? There is no real Google sandbox.
New sites aren’t penalized. In fact, in some cases, new sites
are actually rewarded (MSN does this most notably).

Ok, so why is my new site doing so poorly in search? Well, there
are a couple of factors you need to look at.

1.)How many other sites link to you? 2.)How good is your
content? Is it fresh, deep and related to the topic? 3.)How is
your site hosted?

Before we get to what these factors have to do with the “Sandbox
Effect”, lets take a look at how new sites are most likely*
handled by Google.

When Google first stumbles upon a site, it doesn’t know anything
about it. All it has to go on is its content (which it quickly
indexes). Sadly, thanks to shady SEO firms and search engine
spammers content isn’t enough to make a ranking decision. It may
look great to the search engine, but how does Google know if
it’s of any value to users?

A great example is the site located at www.gstones.com. While at
first glance it looks to be a jewelry company, closer inspection
reveals that all the links are just search results. Sure it’s
full of content and looks great to the Google spider, but it’s
not really useful to a person. There is no added benefit in
using this site versus searching Google for “jewelry”.

Ok, this takes care of #2 , on to #1. How does Google tell if
your site is useful to a person?

Simple, they wait. After Google finds a new site, they then look
at what sites start linking to it, and how quickly in-links
start popping up. If 100 off-topic links pop shortly after a
site launches, Google starts to get suspicious. On the other
hand, as reputable sites start linking to you, you start
building rapport with Google. As links slowly get added, your
relationship with Google starts to grow. Think of it like
dating: It takes time (a few dates, and a sufficient amount of
money) to build the trust required for a loving relationship
(and a lot more money as that trusting relationship grows into
marriage).

You mean SEO takes time? I won’t see results over night? Now
you’re getting it!.

Alright fine I’ll wait, but what does hosting have to do with
this? Google is also a name registry. That means they know the
details about your domain name and hosting. Did you register
that domain for 5 years or 1? Most spammers tend to only
register domains for a year and drop them if they don’t generate
enough traffic, whereas a legitimate business will keep that
domain for a long time. (It’s also cheaper to register for 5
years versus 1)

What about hosting? Do you have a static IP? Are you hosting it
from your house? Who had your IP before you? What did they do
with it? Was it blacklisted as a spam site in the past? If so,
it may take a lot longer for the search engines to realize it
has a different site on it now.

A dedicated server with a dedicated IP costs money; a lot more
money than the $7 / month shared hosting plans many companies
offer. Which one is a search engine spammer more likely to
purchase? Having your own IP is a really good way to establish
rapport with the search engines (and it offers more flexibility
for your developers too).

A dedicated server is also a good way to prevent changing
hosting companies. Remember, even though your domain name is the
same, switching hosting companies may you back in the so called
“Google sandbox”. If you’re thinking of switching to another
shared host, you may want to start practicing your serve