If you are engaged in SEO you probably heard many times about the Google sandbox. On many SEO blogs and forums you may find the next definition of this “phenomenon”:
Google sandbox is a penalty for new websites or websites getting great amount of backlinks in a short time, that results in inability of the website to achieve good positions in Google search results for the most competitive keyword phrases. And even high PR, SEO optimization, many backlinks and qualified content are unable to boost website rankings in this case.
Why Google, why???
Why did Google launch the sandbox? The purposes are quite clear. Sandbox must stop the websites, trying to get high rankings with purchased links and suspend new websites (still not trusted) trying to rank higher, than old trusted websites (already trusted). So the main purpose of sandbox is to make Google search results more natural and relevant.
Common penalty cues
What are the common cues signalizing your website was “caught” by Google sandbox:
- website isn`t able to achieve good positions in Google search results for its most competitive keyword phrases;
- domain is rather new (less than 1 year old, though in some cases even older);
- pages of the website are not able to get high rankings for exact title matching search phrases;
- common SEO parameters are relatively positive (page rank, site backlinks, etc);
- after the time period when site was ranking quite good for competitive queries, it drops under 30-500 ranking position;
- the website has good rankings in MSN, Yahoo and other search engines.
Is the Google sandbox still here?
At the moment there are many opinions that Google already annulled it`s sandbox, but at the same time we can often find numerous forum threads about websites caught with the Sandbox. Also there is such opinion (and I guess it`s true) that sandbox works just in several niches, probably just in competitive ones. Actually Google sandbox questions is very controversial, but let us suppose it still exists. So how we can jump it over or at least minimize damages caused by it?
Jumping over or minimizing damages
Ok, there several useful tips to jump the Google Sanbox over:
- Publish a lot of good content and obtain links from highly trusted websites like CNN, DMOZ, wikipedia, .gov, .edu, .mil domain websites.
- Create your website on the old or expired domain, because sandbox usually effects new domains and in this case you can just avoid it.
- Make the content strategy natural. Don`t publish 300 articles at once, better let this process be more gradual.
- Use long tailed keyword pharses. If you even get to sandbox, that is not fact that you can`t have good rankings for less competitive long keyword pharses.
- Start your new website on the subdomain of old trusted website. Or you can even redirect that subdomain to the new one, but Google can find that as an attempt to fool him)
How to stay in sandbox for a long time?
And the last section of my article is for webmasters, who “would like” their websites to stay in the sandbox for a long time. Actually it is very-very easy. Just submit your website to numerous SEO website directories, comment many-many dofollow blogs and gather too many forum signature links, in other words – show Google you want to make him a FOOL!
Tags: google sandbox
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