Google Sandbox

[JamesMason67]

Hi All
I have a number of new sites launched lately, and I understand as new sites on new domains they will be held back somewhat from high ranking by what is known as the Google sandbox.

Can anyone tell me how long this effect can last for? Does this mean that SEO at this point would be wasteful, or will the SEO efforts done now kick in later?

Rightly or wrongly, I have carried out the onpage stuff, keywords, titles, page speed, Schema etc, got the sites live and am leaving them to mature.

What would you guys do? Link building etc now or post-sandbox?
Thanks guys
James

 

[fisicx]

The sandbox stopped being relevant years ago.

New sites are often indexed and ranked within hours of google discovering their existence. If your new sites have been indexed then the ranking they have is the ranking they will keep until you do something to convince google they are worth a higher rank. The sandbox isn't applicable.

 

[JamesMason67]

Hi Graham
You absolutely sure about that? That is interesting.

So, full steam ahead with SEO and Google wont hold me back? That's good news.

 

[fisicx]

The sandbox harks back to the days when Google updated every few months. It was used to stop people pushing new sites to the top of the ranking through dodgy link building. Google has got a lot smarter since then and can spot someone going full steam ahead with SEO. So be a bit careful how you do this, if you efforts look unnatural you could incur a penalty.

 

[JamesMason67]

You've been very helpful as always Graham, many thanks.

 

[Alan]

Yes, i agree, for at least 4 years sites have ranked on the day launched. One I wrote yesterday not only ranked but got two leads http://mobilepetminders.co.uk/

Graham, we need to meet up again.

 

[JamesMason67]

Thanks Alan
Just so as I am clear. Google will put no restraints on my new sites outwith the rankings push more mature sites get?
Cheers
James

 

[Alan]

Only Google know their algorithms, but experience say that new sites can rank very quickly (within 30 minutes) for niche keywords. Actually they seem to rank highly early on and then stabilise to their 'natural' position,

 

[ZeroDouble]

Hi All
I have a number of new sites launched lately, and I understand as new sites on new domains they will be held back somewhat from high ranking by what is known as the Google sandbox.

Can anyone tell me how long this effect can last for? Does this mean that SEO at this point would be wasteful, or will the SEO efforts done now kick in later?

Rightly or wrongly, I have carried out the onpage stuff, keywords, titles, page speed, Schema etc, got the sites live and am leaving them to mature.

What would you guys do? Link building etc now or post-sandbox?
Thanks guys
James

What people sometimes describe as a 'sandbox' does exist, but it's probably better described as a 'ranking barrier'. By that, I mean that google doesn't just put a blanket 'you won't rank for anything for x amount of time' on webpages, but specific keywords will take longer to rank than others, due to having to break through that barrier. You can, however circumvent it by tapping into the viral element of the google algo, but that's probably a discussion for another day.

Anyway, what you do is really up to you, you could start linkbuilding now and gradually break through the authority barrier that way (with the longtail ranking first), or you could wait for the domain to gain some authority through age and then start link building then. The latter would eventually require less resources to rank, but would obviously mean that you'll have to wait longer to see any ROI.

Personally, if it were me I'd start dripping high quality, relevant, branded and naked url links to the home page (to build the domain's authority) and category pages (if you have any) now, and then when you see the product pages start to creep up on their own via your internal links, give them a little push as well. But, having said that, there's many other different ways to skin a cat...

 

[Alan]

@ZeroDouble what would be good if you could point readers to good resources on how to

start dripping high quality, relevant, branded and naked url links to the home page

As (in my limited experience) this is a lot easier said than done.
(as in finding sites that are high quality that will give you a link, unless you own a PBN and building a decent PBN is no easy task )

 

[ZeroDouble]

It's normally pretty easy to get links on high quality sites. If you don't fancy contacting them yourself then just go to one of the freelance sites and pay someone on there who's able to post articles on the ones you want. Or just build a network of feeder sites and use them, which would be cheaper, but riskier if you don't know what you're doing. Alternatively, you could go more white hat and use some of the methods outlined by Brian Dean and Neil Patel - promo codes / student discounts, broken link building etc.

 

[UKSBD]

If you are good at writing articles you have things like - https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/mar/04/you-tell-us

If article writing isn't your thing you have things like this - https://www.theguardian.com/index/contributors

Where it differs from the old article writing mentality is though, the articles have to be reasonably quality, not just self promotional trash with links dropped in.

You want someone to write on your behalf you have to build relationships and provide them with content to base their articles on, article writers and freelance journalists are crying out for quality content, it makes them look good too..

Off course 99% of business owners don't put in the effort required to do this, they just outsource to whoever does it cheapest and wonder why it doesn't work

 

[JamesMason67]

Thanks very much guys. This is in line with my thinking.
Much appreciated.
James

 

[JamesMason67]

UK SBD that's great. Thanks for the guardian links, that is very interesting.

Alternatively, you could go more white hat and use some of the methods outlined by Brian Dean and Neil Patel - promo codes / student discounts, broken link building etc.

I had read before about the broken link method. Do any of you guys know of a tool for finding such broken links?
Thanks again
James

 

[JamesMason67]

Personally, if it were me I'd start dripping high quality, relevant, branded and naked url links to the home page (to build the domain's authority) and category pages (if you have any) now, and then when you see the product pages start to creep up on their own via your internal links, give them a little push as well. But, having said that, there's many other different ways to skin a cat...

With this in mind, would you suggest starting slowly with this? Given that they are brand new sites.

I also want to make a start on my citations. I normally use Brightlocal for this. Is there any problems adding these quickly for a new site? Its just that they normally come with a link (mostly no-follow).

James

 

[ZeroDouble]

I had read before about the broken link method. Do any of you guys know of a tool for finding such broken links?
Thanks again
James

Sure, you can use screaming frog to do it ( https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/broken-link-building/ ) or good 'ol scrapebox with the 'link extractor' and 'alive check' (free) addons.

 

[ZeroDouble]

With this in mind, would you suggest starting slowly with this? Given that they are brand new sites.

I also want to make a start on my citations. I normally use Brightlocal for this. Is there any problems adding these quickly for a new site? Its just that they normally come with a link (mostly no-follow).

James

There are exceptions, but as a general rule of thumb, the more powerful or spammy a link type is, the more careful you want to be with them.

For example, you could add a couple of hundred press release or citation links to your site all at once and it most likely wouldn't have any negative effect (as they're neither powerful nor inherently spammy). However, if you did the same with powerful homepage links from your PBN it would most likely get you kicked down a flight of stairs in the google serps.

So, to answer your question directly, don't worry too much about the velocity of the citations (but obviously don't go to somewhere like PBN butler and order thousands at once), and for any more powerful links that you build, just drip them slowly, maybe a few a week. However, as with everything SEO related it really depends on exactly what you're trying to achieve, and how much risk you're willing to take vs the potential reward.

Seeing as you're fairly new to off page seo, the best tip I could give you is to build yourself a nice safety net of branded and naked url links first, and then (sensibly) go in with the exact match anchors later, mixing in lots of longtail and not just focusing on one or two key terms. If you do it this way you'll have a solid foundation to build upon, and as long as you don't go too mad, it's pretty difficult to mess it up.

And to answer your next question, you could probably use a decent press release service, some citations, social profiles, and hand built web2s to build the safety net / prep the site...

 

[justinaldridge]

Wow, it's been many years since I've seen any discussions about "Google sandbox". That is truly history and it never really existed as people thought it did....

There is nothing to hold back a new site from ranking apart from 2 things:

1. Trust
2. Competition

We put together a new mini site for a client and Google has ranked it instantly through association. We see this a lot. Their main domain is highly trusted. It started generated quality leads in the first week.

And competition is really key. If you put a site together and you want to rank for "how do I remove lemon stains from my wig" and you're optimised for that...you're pretty much going to rank straight away. If you're targeting "car insurance"...it's not going to happen!

So yes, you can rank straight away, it just depends what you're targeting.

 

[StevePoster]

There is no Google sandbox only webmasters or site owners called it when their site is suffering fluctuation and de-indexing. New websites must establish its name and actively reach its target audience through different platforms because it will take time to gain long term rankings.

 

[DhruvSoft]

Sandbox is a holding area in which Google keeps those new websites which does not seems trustworthy in eye of Google. Not every new website kept in this area. If once a website is caught under Google Sandbox, generally it takes 6 month to 1 year to take website out from it. As I said not every new websites comes under it, you need not to be panicked. Even though a site caught in Sandbox, it does not mean that we cannot optimize our website. Keep optimizing your website and promote it. Attract visitor and gain traffic on your website to prove your website trustworthy in eye of Google.

 

[zigojacko]

@ZeroDouble what would be good if you could point readers to good resources on how to

As (in my limited experience) this is a lot easier said than done.
(as in finding sites that are high quality that will give you a link, unless you own a PBN and building a decent PBN is no easy task )

My agency runs a blogging network and publishes a variety of useful content at thousands of blogs (real blogs run by real bloggers and read by real people of course) in all sorts of niches. It isn't a PBN as such (as these are easily detected by Google and eventually hit) but this is the next best thing, works and is natural - bloggers in our network won't just publish anything, it has to tick all their boxes as do the blogs in our network have to tick all our boxes. No set criteria otherwise.

 

[JamesMason67]

Hi Guys
Sorry about the late reply to your help, just back from weeks' break. Thanks to you all for your help.