Google Sandbox - Why your new site won't rank right away!
Since around March 2004 Google has placed newly hosted "real estate" websites in what is commonly referred to as a Sandbox. Essentially if your keywords include a significant number of references to real estate including your title tags and description tags it is likely that your site will not rank for a few months via Google. This is one of the reasons why when you do trade links with other sites you may rank on MSN and Yahoo however it seems that for a significant number of months you aren't even searchable on Google.So how do you plan for such a contingency?
I recommend a longer term view of your overall SEO strategy. Plan on building a few links from the highest ranking sites that will give you a link almost immediately. I would suggest trying to find about 10 - 20 sites that will give you a link on a PageRank 3 page or higher if you can talk them into doing it. It might be a challenge since you will likely be trading a PageRank 0 or if you are lucky a PageRank 1 page for a link back from their PageRank 3 page. PageRank is currency in the link trading arena and if you can't trade like for like its sometimes hard getting in the game.
Anyway if you can get those links then let the site incubate for a few months before really starting a significant SEO push on the site. Once your site has been accepted by Google and isn't in the Sandbox anymore it becomes significantly easier to move up the rankings on the Search Engines. It still takes work and probably takes about 10 times the amount of work that you might expect (especially if you are requesting the links one by one without some sort of automation to the process).
Remember SEO is a long term strategy. Once your SEO strategy starts to produce results and you are able to monetize your strategy (get it to pay for itself) you have a business which will grow as long as you continue to reinvest in growing your business.
It starts with one site and then one lead and then one closing. Eventually you should have multiple sites, more leads then you and your team can handle and multiple closings per month, month after month.
Ironically this site is a brand new site and is still in the Google Sandbox :D
Labels: SEO Companies, SEO Strategies
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4 Comments:
we've had exactly this same experience. thanks for bringing some clarity to this topic. It appears to be a 3 or 4 month process from our experience -- but it's hard to isolate this specific issue from so many other SEO changes made during that same period.
There is a way to move a site out of the sandbox quickly- and that is to get a link from a seed site. Very difficult (especially in Real estate) to do but completely possible. Although, to move yourself out faster in an easier fashion- try multiple links from Trust -1 sites.
Also I think as real estate is a very, very competitive industry it is harder to rank well in Google which is why it takes time. As long as you have good unique and high value content and build a constant stream of exposure from other quality and relevant sites then your new real estate site will gradually climb to the ranks its deserves.
Myself I have had real estate and property sites rank quite quickly with in a few months, this is when it’s a new emerging market. The more competitive and established markets have taken sometimes 1year plus to start to rank well for my core high search volume phrases, niche long tail phases rank quicker.
Its worth doing a competitors and keyword analysis first before you spend ages doing SEO as Glenn rightly pointed out SEO is a long term strategy, you have to weight up the potential end returns for the amount of ongoing time and effort you out in.
Some webmasters don’t believe in the sandbox, myself I don’t think Google deleberatly penalises sites for being new its just that they have a trust factor built into the algorithm which included domain, URL, content and link aging as well as authority sites linking in to yours etc… and from what pages.
I agree with the above post. I don't think the sandbox is cause and effect. I think it's how we perceive the process. Getting higher PR or search results seems always to work like reaching critical mass. Nothing seems to happen and then suddenly you have some sort of chain reaction and your site appears to suddenly levitate.
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