What is the Sandbox?
Google Sandbox is a filter which places new websites on an initial probation in SERP’s (search engine results pages). Without an official start date, SEO experts believe first Google Sandbox effects took place back in March 2004. Usually new websites get pretty good results on Google first couple of weeks. But when sandbox filter starts affecting the new websites, they lose their high placements in SERP’s.
The purpose of Google Sandbox Filter is to prevent new websites from having immediate success in the search engine result pages. By this filter, Google targets to stop the search engine spam created by spammers who used to create a number of websites, and gained backlinks and good results at SERP’s overnight.
Google Sandbox Filter is not a punishment for websites, and almost all of the new websites are affected by Sandbox. Without statistical data, webmasters believe competitive keyword driven websites are affected more than the less keyword competitive keyword driven websites. Below is an example:
Website A target keywords:
Insurance, Auto Insurance, Health Insurance
Website B target keywords: Lubbock Texas Insurance Agent, Lubbock Texas Insurance Quota
In this case website A will be affected by Google Sandbox affect and stay in the sandbox more than website B. Since most spammers focus on more competitive keywords, it is also a proof that Google Sandbox Filter is going to help the honest webmasters in the long run.
I have been working on some statistical experiments about Google Sandbox Filter, and two examples below are two of my websites, and statistical data proving the Google Sandbox Effect for two different keyphrases.
Google Sandbox Experiment 1
Website : http://www.onestop-directory.com/
Keyphrase: Online Shopping Directory
Domain Registration Date: November 22, 2004
Site Launch Date: December 10, 2004
OneStop Directory was launched on december 10th and main keyphrase for the website was “Online Shopping Directory”. During 10 days the main keyphrase had an excellent place in SERP’s. Its ranking was usually around 5-10 on the first page. Then it has disappeared from the SERP’s on Google. Then the keyphrase was back in top 50 on January 15th. Approximately over one month, the site has disappeared from top 100 rankings. It took around 35 days after the launch to be back in top 50 results. “Online Shopping Directory” is a pretty competitive keyword with around 20 million search engine results in Google. As of today (March 1st) the site’s ranking is 13 on Google and has been increasing steadily as shown on the graph.
Google Sandbox Experiment 2
Website: http://www.freeauctionscripts.com/
Keyphrase: Ebay Success Stories
Domain Registration Date: August 06, 2004
Site Launch Date: August 25, 2004
FreeAuctionScripts was launched on August 25th. But the “Ebay Success Stories” page which has the target keyword was launched about a month later (around September 25th). Until December 2004, the specific page did not have any ranking on Google. It has ranked within 100 around the first week of December 2004, and with a steady increase it has number 1 ranking since February 20, 2005.
Comparison of Two Google Sandbox Experiments
We cannot compare the statistical data for two experiments. Site launch dates, targeted keywords, number of backlinks to both sites within given time period, PR (page rank) values of the sites and many other outside effects prevent us comparing the two experiments. But the goal of this experiment was to prove the effect of Google Sandbox Filter regardless of site’s launch date, total backlinks, PR value, and home page sub page difference.
Since August 2004, I have been recording the statistical data for over 100 keywords targeted by six websites. I have only given 2 examples to prove that Google Sandbox Filter occurs but the significance difference between two statistical data clearly shows that Online Shopping Directory in example 1 has gotten out of sandbox much faster than FreeAuctionScripts in example 2.
How did Experiment 1 Succeeded Faster Than Experiment 2
Now, we all agree that Google Sandbox Filter exists. But the main goal should be how can my website get out of the sandbox as fast as possible. Even though targeted keyword in the first experiment shows around 20 million results, and keyword in second experiment shows around 500.000 results on Google, we have succeeded to leave sandbox with keyword 1 faster. How did we achieve this? Here’s the answers:
- Focus on the quality of your website first.
- Gain quality, targeted backlinks with a variety of anchor keywords which includes your target keyword. In experiment 1, the target keyword is “Online Shopping Directory”, and I’ve focused on “Online Shopping”, “Online Shopping Mall”, “Shopping Directory”, “Online Shopping” mainly. They both had 1 or 2 of my main keyphrase.
- Try to avoid so many outbound links from your site to new, not-established websites. It’s always good to link to authority websites.
- Increase your content, this will end up with more indexed pages on Google, and it will speed up your site’s success.
- Get a few backlinks with your target keyword from authority websites in your field. Remember, a backlink from a related authority website is extremely important.
If your new website has quality content, and useful information for its industry, and if you keep adding quality content, it will be out of the sandbox pretty quick.
Google sandbox filter is just one effect of SEO for Google. We will talk about other filters, and SEO tactics at further articles.
Today’s Quote
If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?
Albert Einstein
