Google’s Sandbox

test

What is the sandbox?

Origin of name:

In software development, “sandbox” usually refers to a development environment to test new products while keeping them separate from previously released codes. For example, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Sandbox is a place for people to practice how wiki-markup works without influencing the rest of Wikipedia. When used in reference to search results it means that the site is being kept separate from the rest of the search results.

“Help! I fell into the sandbox!”

For businesses that depend on the Internet for income, being sandboxed can be a death sentence. In many cases, people prematurely diagnose a website which is not ranked well as sandboxed. As incorrect action can aggravate the problem, always contact a SEO expert before taking any drastic action. There are similar problems such as penalties by Google, robot obstructions, code errors or simply a low rating in search engines which could mimic the problem.

Why do sites fall in the sandbox?

All new sites on the internet run the risk of being sandboxed by Google. After the site is live and has been indexed by Google, it will immediately be displayed in Google searches. If after a short amount of time the site disappears from the search results, it has been sandboxed. It can stay there for a week or for six months. During this time Google continues to revisit and index the site, but it does not display in the search results, no matter how much the site is promoted.Falling into the sandbox is not related to the quantity or quality of the site’s content. It is not dependent on the level of site optimization, links, or back-links. It is not even a punishment for anything you did! Sites recently registered are more likely to be sandboxed. Sites that focus on highly competitive keywords are also more likely to be sandboxed.Sandboxing is a way for Google to slow down and rate change on the Internet. It does not want old, established sites suddenly replaced by new ones of questionable quality. At the same time, Google always wants to give the best results. As the most popular search engine, Google is constantly bombarded by spammers who figure out how Google operates, and create a lot of spam sites designed to rake in traffic and revenue quickly.To fight the phenomenon of spam in search results, Google created a mechanism whereby each site gets a short time immediately after indexing in the search results, but is then hidden away while Google carefully watches it. After the site is trusted by Google it will be moved to the real search results.

How do you know if the site fell in the sandbox?

Sandboxed sites will not be found in relevant searches on Google. Unequivocal sign of sandbox is a search with the “site:” prefix to target only pages on your site.

Things to check to be sure you are sandboxed:

• Make sure the site appears properly in other search engines (there have not been reported cased of sandboxing on YAHOO! or Bing)

• The site does not appear in search results – not even for

Title Metatag
Tag meta description
Short text from the site with “quotes”
Ordinance: Site

• The site does not from other more ordinary problems (HTTP status, robots.txt, websites designs that obstruct robots)

• Check that outgoing links are current. Dead outgoing links hurt your standing on Google.

• Check outgoing links for content. Links for gambling sites, or pornographic sites can label you a spammer. It can happen if you sell links, or participate in “link exchange” programs.

• Check your security. Hackers can insert malicious codes on your site without any visible changes, leading to a ban by Google. Do a comprehensive code review.

How do you get out of the sandbox?

There is nothing you can directly do to get a site out of the sandbox. The sandbox was designed to stop spammers from outsmarting Google and therefore purposely lacks any automated “tricks” to get out. The only thing you can go do is to wait patiently, while continuing to build your site.

SEO while in the sandbox

Just because you are sandboxed does not mean that you should stop promoting your site. You should continue to optimize the structure, and add high quality original content. Google continues to visit your site even when it is in the sandbox.

Continue building links to the site. However, remember that you are under the magnifying glass of search engines and should be extra careful to avoid being labeled a spammer.

• Get high quality links to you site. Try to get marketing cooperation agreements with other sites. Think of links as a way to get traffic and not to “fix” the search engines.

• Avoid bad outgoing links. When you link to someone you are recommending them and stating that they are trustworthy. When you link to bad sites it reflects badly on you.

• Add links at a slow but constant pace.

• Try to get links from pages that are already ranked high for keywords you are targeting.

• See if other sites are stealing your content.

It is important to understand that the promotion activities do not speed your departure from the sandbox, but may greatly affect where you will be placed when you eventually leave.

SEO Jerusalem is a premium search engine optimization company, promoting websites in English, Hebrew and German SEO. Our SEO expert team provides worldwide SEO services and we serve as one of the leading companies in the Israel SEO market. Our search engine marketing strategies and our innovative SEO web development techniques are ideal for Google SEO or any other organic SEO needs. Locally – We offer Israel-wide SEO services including the cities: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Kiryat Shmona , Haifa and Eilat. Worldwide – we offer global campaign services to companies and organizations from all over the world. We look forward to working with you, so please feel free to contact us.