Is this sandboxed?

by 13 replies
15
Very strange -- I did an admittedly aggressive link-building run last week, and:

1. I vaulted to the top of google hong kong results
2. Not in results in the Google US search
3. Did another smallish blog commenting run on Friday
4. Nowhere in sight this morning on SERPs for both Google Hong Kong and Google US

None of my other keyword SERPs for the same site have been affected (out of about 15).

Is this the dreaded sandbox? Should I just keep building links? Mind you this is for a domain that has been up for a year and a half and we have been steadily link building over this time. For this particular keyword, we weren't more aggressive than other keywords...

If anyone has been sandboxed before, what did you do? Was it only for one keyword? or your entire site?
#search engine optimization #link buidling #sandbox #sandboxed
  • Don't worry about the 'sandbox' and just keep building quality links. Keep your backlinking consistent
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • You have to wait a few weeks to know if you've been sandboxed

    It's more likely what many call the "Google Dance" after you do some aggressive backlinking and it's quite common and happens all the time. Don't worry about it and just wait and see.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • Good news then.

    Does anyone know -- in the case of being sandboxed, is it just by keyword or the whole site?
  • Is it a whole site drop or just one page/homepage drop?
    • [2] replies
    • You're doing the google dance my friend. Happens every time you hit a domain with serious backlinking. Unless you've been de-indexed completely, which I find highly unlikely, because google does not sandbox even brand new sites for aggressive link building - this is a total myth.

      Keep on keeping on, and I'm sure your site will resurface again - this time much higher in the rankings.
    • Just one page drop. This is a deep page, not the homepage that is now not in the results.

      The rest of the keyword SERPs have remained unaffected.
  • Its a Google dance just wait for it to return to the index. If it was sand-boxed you know Google aliens have removed the whole website off there index.
  • The only way that you will be removed from Google is if they have banned you. Even in the sandbox you should be able to site: to determine what google has for your site. I would just watch it and track it daily to make see what happens. Any time that you throw a hard link building campaign you may see some dancing. This is the one reason that you should build your links on a consistent basis and not try to hit it in spurts.
    • [1] reply
    • No, in fact, indexed pages have gone up by 5K.

      In fact, other keywords have moved up on page 1 results...
  • Recently I've seen sites in no 2 position, then disappear (ie several pages down) then come back, then disappear and they have not had any link building. Well established sites which are not doing any SEO at all. How can that be?
  • This isn't a sandbox -- don't worry. Sandboxes occur when your SERPs drop exponentially off in rankings. Just wait a little for your links to get indexed and eventually you'll know if you're sandboxed.
    • [1] reply
    • OK, will they just sandbox by keyword or the entire site?
      • [1] reply
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