7 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
7 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

Google Sandbox Question

by adamcm
5 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Hi all,

I realize there is some debate between if a Google sanbox exists, how it affects you, etc. But for my purposes (and how I understand it), I think one of my sites is in it. Basically if I perform a site:sitename.com, all of my posts, tags, categories, etc are all found. But when searching using keywords that used to rank me #3 - #5, I am no where to be found. This has been happening for about a month now.

I was browsing my Google Analytics today, and notcied that this site in particular had something strange happen. I had 1,000 unique vistors last night. So I look at my traffic sources and sure enough a very popular blog on Yahoo Sports had some anchor text pointing to my site. It looks like he wanted an image related to the keyword he was writing about and found my site through the Google Image search. The image corresponding to one of my keyword is displayed in one of the first three spots. Unfortunatly the backlink only points to a post and not my main domain.

I also recently got an Ezine article approved, but this as well only points to a specific post and not the domain.

So will these backlinks help me get out of the "sandbox"? Even if they are not posted to the top level domain of my site? IS there anything else I can do to get out?

Thanks all!
#google #question #sandbox
  • Profile picture of the author Suka
    Just keep building the backlinks i would say... also keep giving it some fresh content and do the necessary bookmarking etc etc each time.. eventually it should come back to life..

    Im not talking out of experience, however i have read allot about this encase this ever happens, and thats pretty much what i learnt.. Theres not much else you can do..
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2668578].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Vusal
    Sandbox exists, I had my 2 links sandboxed, after a month and a half they came back.
    Signature

    +

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2670117].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author dburk
      Hi adamcm,

      Since the "Google Sandbox" is an imaginary construct that only exists within our own thoughts, if you believe you are in the "Google Sandbox" then you in fact are. I wouldn't deny you the freedom to view your predicament as such, but it 's not really constructive to envision yourself in some sort of penalty box. Your website has not suffered a penalty, the only penalty Google issues websites is a de-indexing. Since your website hasn't been de-indexed you have not been penalized.

      The real problem you are facing is simply competition from other web pages.

      You haven't yet earned the rankings you had hoped, so if you focus on solid promotional efforts you will be on the right track.
      Signature

      * Get Results - Outsource Your PPC Management |
      *       Don Burk Advertising & Marketing - www.donburk.com

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2670987].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author adamcm
        Originally Posted by dburk View Post

        Hi adamcm,

        Since the "Google Sandbox" is an imaginary construct that only exists within our own thoughts, if you believe you are in the "Google Sandbox" then you in fact are. I wouldn't deny you the freedom to view your predicament as such, but it 's not really constructive to envision yourself in some sort of penalty box. Your website has not suffered a penalty, the only penalty Google issues websites is a de-indexing. Since your website hasn't been de-indexed you have not been penalized.

        The real problem you are facing is simply competition from other web pages.

        You haven't yet earned the rankings you had hoped, so if you focus on solid promotional efforts you will be on the right track.
        That's what I originally had hoped for, but I had been consistently ranking in the Top 5 for a month before seeing my ranking in a very uncompetitive niche drop out of the Top 20 pages.

        Are there any explanations for that?
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2675729].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author dburk
          Originally Posted by adamcm View Post

          That's what I originally had hoped for, but I had been consistently ranking in the Top 5 for a month before seeing my ranking in a very uncompetitive niche drop out of the Top 20 pages.

          Are there any explanations for that?
          Hi adamcm,

          Yes there are several possible reasons to see your rankings drop. One of the most common reasons is due to QDF wearing off. QDF is a factor used by Google that will temporarily boost the rankings of new content to ensure that fresh content can be found by searchers. After this temporary boost wears off your page will sink to it's truly earned rankings.

          Other possibilities include the removal or devaluing of some of your backlinks, as well as the constant tweaking of SERP algorithms by Google. Then there is the constant promotional efforts that some of your competitors are producing and changes that you make to your own pages that will cause your page to shift in the SERP rankings.
          Signature

          * Get Results - Outsource Your PPC Management |
          *           Don Burk Advertising & Marketing - www.donburk.com

          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2675836].message }}

Trending Topics