SEO Consult Blog

Google Sandbox … fact or fiction? Well Google has as good as admitted to the existence of the phenomenon known as the Sandbox effect, the Bermuda Triangle for new sites within their SERPs (Search Engine Results Page’s ) .

For all you who think I’ve gone crazy, the sandbox is theorised as being a holding area for new sites as they are found in Google. There are a number of theories as to why Google does this. The first theory is a preventive measure against spamming, for instance unethical Webmasters could churn out sites which without this Sandbox effect could get to the top of the search engines within a day, thus destroying the credibility of the algorithm.

The second theory is that the Sandbox is just a holding area while the Google Algorithm calculates the strength of the site. You’d think that this would be quickly established but the depth and the scale of Google’s Algorithm is vast beyond compare.

The third theory is that it’s a penalty for being a new site, if you have ever created a website online you will know it is an ongoing process and new sites just haven’t had the same time spent on them as a site which has been tweaked over a number of year.

This is all theoretical but I am going to pass on some of the things I believe about the Sandbox because they have happened to me. Firstly, not all new sites get Sandboxed. I still haven’t discovered why but I will speculate that it has something to do with PageRank 6 and above inbound linking, combined with the ability to create user profiles.

Adding your new site to Google will get you Sandboxed very quickly, best let Google find it on its own. The Sandbox effect will normally take place between 4 to 8 weeks after your site has been discovered by Google. I have seen a new site only recently get a high position within the SERP’s, with a low PageRank and then drop from the listings. Seeing as I was doing the SEO on it I know that it was a completely clean site and the only thing this could be is the Sandbox.

So people believe that the sandbox can last up to a year, but the most I ever experienced is 6 months. To conclude the phenomenon of the sandbox does exists in some form, and is a constant issue for people releasing new sites, but with the right knowledge and attitude you can overcome this problem and minimise the time you spend in the hole.