Playing In The Sandbox

The official word from Google is that it doesn't exist.

Right.

I've heard stories from too many people, read too much about it, and have even experienced its effects myself.

"The Sandbox," for the uninitiated, is the term given to a new (or badly-behaving website) that gets unreasonably low ranking. For instance, a website with a newly registered domain or a website where the owner has participated in "keyword stuffing" will both suffer vastly lower ranking in Google. Waiting it out a few months tends to allow enough time for Google to decide you no longer need to be in the penalty box.

So, for those of you with a brand-spanking new domain, be prepared. My advice? Set up your Google sitemap in your XSite (free, but annoying to get through), and set up good content, with inbound AND outbound links.

For those of you who have been naughty and have tried to trick Google in some way (like keyword stuffing), fix your site, and set up your Google sitemap if you haven't yet done so, remove the offending content, and hope for the best.

In both instances, the reasons for a Sandbox are quite simple. Google is protecting their users from fly-by-night sites (in the case of new domains), as well as from tricky webmasters trying to use good keywords to bring visitors to bad (or useless) content.

I'll say it before, and I'll say it again: Give Google what they want. Your life will be so much easier!