Is your website sandboxed by Google

Google sandbox – what is it all about!

Website owners and the search engine optimizers doubt and get frightened – "Will my site go in the Google sandbox?" How to avoid sandbox? Will the investment of time and money go in sea…

Anyways there is almost nothing like "Google sandbox" – at least Google has not accepted the existence of such system. But there is something for sure that comes in count for websites. What is that? Is it a “prison” for mischief-making existing websites or "resting place" for the “newcomers” in the “game village” of world wide race of getting the first position in the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) - "Google sponsored" marathon run!

May it be the new sites or the older ones, Google do not spare any site that either hurries to get better result in Google search or start spamming or misleading Google. We may see the things in little details:

Some say it is a resting place for the new comers!

It is not to mention that the Google database is just huge! Google has to update it’s database regularly maintain search index, cache and other factors that determine the SERP and page rank. It is evident that all the sites want to get better SERP and page rank as fast as those can. But it is not possible to give priority to the newcomers always, just avoiding the older ones or the existing sites.

And here is the factor that comes for the newcomers (new websites) as resting or waiting to get in the SERP. This situation is considered as the Google sandbox time for the new sites.

Why it is applicable to new comers?

It is found that the new sites are too much eager to get at the top of the SERP and to get that position those are ready to go any extent. They just hurry up in exchanging the links, go on changing the contents and try some black-hat techniques even. For this reason Google has to put a question mark on the reliability of the sites to come in proper SERP.

Goggle simply keeps waiting to prove or judge the trustworthiness of the sites. Consequently new sites remain far behind or not present in the SERP for quite a few long days. Those sites have to prove that they are not playing tricks to effect adversely to the proper process of Google search engine indexing, crawling and caching.

The new site owners should know that from the genuine links (present in several same category sites) Google find the newer sties and index those. After the crawling is done, it keeps a cache copy in its database. Here does not complete the process, several other factors comes to help getting the site better position in SERP.

So for the new websites, Google sandbox is a resting place to prove the genuinely and worth to plunge in the race of page rank, SERP and all. It is simply the fitness test that every player has to pass. However as I said in the beginning Google never accepts the existence of such situations (sandbox).  

No, Google sandbox is penalty

Some SEO experts claim that the sites that do not follow the white and clean process of getting the SERP, page rank are penalized by Google by confining it to what we know as the “Google sandbox.” In other words the mischief makers are imprisoned or jailed by Google.

Why this penalty?

As I have already said before – everybody is in hurry to gain better SERP and page rank. They forget – there is no short cut to success. The new sties and even the older ones are found to exchange links with irrelevant sites, go on pirating the content of other sites, stuff content with keywords, and other black-hat process to misguide the Google.

So it is evident that Google takes the drastic steps to stop such kind of search engine spamming. And put these sites in sandbox. If the sites are quarantined in such ways, it becomes hard to come out of such situation for sure.

Now the big guns are going to be shot and bigger questions are coming in your mind regarding the Google sandbox...

How may I know that my site is in Google sandbox?

It is really tough to pin point the criteria against the Google sandboxing of a site. But it does not mean that you will never understand if your site is in sandbox. Let us have a look at few symptoms that can make you understand that your site is caught up in the Google sandbox:

• A site is not coming in the search results though few months have passed. Whereas other sites in the same field or category is out ranking it with same search query.
• The advanced searching or technical search with exact “Title” tag and “Meta” tag of your site is not showing any result.
• Your site was showing gradual progress from the time it had been indexed, crawled and cached by Google but all in a sudden it is vanished or showing downward moves.
• Your site is getting better search results in other search engines (Yahoo, Bing) result pages but in Google you are finding your site in drastic condition.
• Last but not the least is the failure of all your SEO techniques to give your site a good position in Google.

The above are only the few symptoms that can notify that your site is under Google sandbox situations. There can be other issues through which you may know that the site is affected by sandbox. However you should not feel frightened to get your site falling under such conditions, if you are not involved with any mischievous activity to mislead the Google bot.

Anyways, you may be thinking deep inside the matter or few other questions may be running inside your brain. And you want to get answers of those questions. Let us have the answers of two main questions:

How to overcome - if my site is in Google Sandbox

No doubt it is one of the most shout after question when a site is affected for the sandbox. As there is no fixed time period for which a site is going to remain sandboxed, site owners and the SEOs should follow the points below to get out of the situation:

• Actually to get out of the sandbox it is going to take little time. And the time is not going to increase if you and your SEO stop applying speed in optimization process. If you slow down the process and malpractices (if any), your site will gain the trust of Google and soon come out of sandbox. Though minimum time may be 2 to 3 months.
• Stop the piracy of content and start pouring into your site the original and properly optimized content. As I said before that Google either doubt the use of keyword stuffed and duplicate content or avoid useless content. So you have to revive your site with most relevant content.
• It may be the case that the keywords you have chosen are highly competitive or they are stuffed in content. Again there may be the case that the on-page tags (meta, title, alt etc.) are thoroughly mismatch. You have to correct these problems and you will find the ways out of the Google sandbox is getting open.
• Start removing the useless links that you have developed for your site in the process of link exchange. The bad and irrelevant links may have resulted in sandboxing your site. So without any delay fix the situation and only keep the relevant links matching your sites category. Google needs to understand that you have left the wrong process or you never had such malicious intention.

In this way or through these simple techniques you can make Google understand that your intention is very clear. You want business from your site but in clean way. Gain the trust and get out of the Google sandbox.

Prevention is always better than cure: Avoid Google sandbox situation

Finally what I can say or you may find over internet with a little study that all the new sites do not fall in the Google sandbox. Only the fast and unsteady players lose the race. Simply saying again that “there is no shortcut to success”. It is fact that your site needs to come higher in the SERP of Google but not through malpractice or misleading process for search engines.

For your use and instant help I may only suggest a few points that will help you to keep out of the Google sandbox. Let us have a look on few of the points:

• Try the search engine optimization but in slow and steady process. Never go fast. It attracts the attention of Google filter – sandbox is one of such filtering.
• Start with less competitive keywords and use them properly in on-page optimization. Never stuff keywords. If you choose highly competitive keywords you will see slow growth result and increase of malicious techniques in your mind to get instant success.
• Never pirate content. Whatever the situation use original content from the beginning of your site development and optimize those content with proper keyword density.
• Exchange link with relevant sites only and try to get links from the higher ranked or older sites. This not only helps you gain good ranks and SERP, it also stops Google to think of sandboxing your site as you are trusted by the reputed sites.
• Always keep your site up and running. Never let it remain too much down for any reason, never change content too much. Save it from spammers and make it for the user not for search engines. In everyway Google has to feel you are active for positively not for shortcut success.

The final touch!

Do not get frightened about the Google sandbox. If by any means your site is “jailed” or not “resting” for joining the race to get better SERP and page rank, you have to wait and stop doing any kind of nonsense to misguide Google. Gain trust from the search engine giant that you are genuine and clean in your intentions.

Always ask for good result from your search engine optimizers – never ask for fast result. Remember the old saying “slow and steady wins the race”- it is not my saying Google also follows this.

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