The Google Sandbox Explained

Introduction

Google Sandbox is a term that we have all come to use to explain why many new websites after a set period of time enjoying relatively good rankings in the search engines are suddenly put into a Sandbox which results in these specific sites achieving poor rankings in the Google SERPs (Search Engine Results Page). Very few people are sure whether or not this Sandbox actually exists, in fact “Matt Cutts has stated in an interview that “there are some things in the algorithm that may be perceived as a sandbox that doesn’t apply to all industries”. Jaimie Sirovich and Cristian Darie state that they believe that whilst Google does not actually have an explict “sandbox”, the effect itself, however caused, is real”.

How does Google Sandbox function?

The generally accepted theory is that the Google Sandbox facility allows Google to filter out those ‘flash-in-the-pan’ websites from the websites that actually offer good quality and up-to-date content. It’s in Google’s best interest that the results displayed within the search engine results page (SERPs) is highly relevant to the search term that is searched. The relevancy is the most important aspect of any search engine so Google will take all necessary steps to ensure the best relevancy for search results. Filtering out irrelevant websites as well as monitoring new ones ultimately allows them to ensure more accurate results in the SERPs.

How to identify the Sandbox?

So how can you be sure whether or not your website has been put into the sandbox? The vast majority of new websites under recently acquired domain names will most likely get relegated to the sandbox once the Google search engine becomes aware of it, although it’s argued that sandboxing affects some niche markets more than others. The Google search engine usually finds website via inbound links (IBL) from another website that the Googlebot has just recently crawled. From there you’re likely to see your website appear in the Google SERPs under your domain name, but the website will not show up under any significant keyword (keywords with a search count in excess of 100 per month). In many cases Google will also not show you any of the websites that are linking to your site, nor will it display any pages that are related to yours. In short, Google will not list any of your webpage’s besides the home (index) page.

If you keep note of your websites traffic statistics (I personally recommended http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/ ) while your site is currently being Sandboxed, you will notice that the Googlebot still continues to crawl your website for changes to it. Google is aware of the amount of pages that exist on your domain and is also aware of the content, but in many cases it will choose not to list them in the main SERPs. This is theoretically a result of your website being new.

So how long will your site be Sandboxed?

Well it is pretty difficult to determine how long your site will remain in the Google Sandbox as this seems to depend solely on the types of keywords that you’ve chosen for your site, the competitiveness of these keywords and there search count. Ultimately you should expect to wait anywhere from 6 to 8 months, during this period I recommend you continue to add content to your site, keeping it up-to-date.

Google Sandbox isn’t all doom and gloom, providing your website contains sufficient amounts of quality content, it should find its way out of the sandbox. Getting sandboxed does have its advantages as it allows you to reflect on your link build strategy.

Another thing you should keep in mind is that Google isn’t the only major search engine out there. MSN is a massive search engine, with the amount of influence and power Microsoft have, it’s sure to become a leading player in the search engine world in the near future. As of today, I can say that both MSN and Yahoo do not have a sandbox filter, which means your only task is to get your site indexed and listed into these search engines, where you receive your link is most vital here (I recommend SEO Elite for finding the right sites to get links from).

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