When does the sandbox kick in?

[drang3d]

Does the sandbox kick in from the minute a new site is indexed by google?

[Susan Zanzonico]

Not to side track this thread, but I don't know what "sandbox" is...can it be briefly explained so I can follow with this thread?

[Brian Mc]

From the REW Glossary:

Sandbox: With regards to search engines this refers to the probation period that Google applies to new sites. The site will not rank well in the Google results until the period has passed. Although widely agreed upon, Google has not officially acknowledged the existence of the sand box. This definition of Sandbox contributed by jimolenbush.

[Susan Zanzonico]

Thanks Bryan (& Jim).....I have to remember to check the glossary. Regarding the sandbox and site...one would think that the clock starts ticking as soon as its indexed.....???... What is defined as "rank well"....1st or second page

[Brian Mc]

I have seen past comments that people couldn't get past page 5 or so. From what I remember reading the length of the sandbox period may be related to how competitive the term you are trying to rank for is.

I don't know the answer to drang3d's question but am interested in hearing more as my site is still sandboxed. (or penalized )

[Susan Zanzonico]

I'm on page 3 for Madison, NJ real estate, but to me....unless you're on the first page or right after the big agencies...no point...

[Mack Perry]

It seems more like a litterbox than a sandbox.

[Joesheikh]

Sites in the sandbox have varied for me. I remember one of my sites took about 5 months while another took 2 months at the max. It definitely sux though.

[Dave Kovaleski]

From what I have read on these forums, it seems that some feel the sandbox is a myth and simply an effect of a site being new and not having enough seo/inbound links.

Example, I was on page 7 of my main keyword for about 6 months, I spent one day registering to about.....maybe 10 good directories and on the next crawl I was on page 2 and have been there ever since (damned second page hump is hard to get over). Coincidence? Or did I finally have enough seo/inbound links to get me to start ranking better?

[VRI]

It seems more like a litterbox than a sandbox.

Very nice, thanks!

There's a lot of speculation around everything that relates to SEO because the dynamic is so fluid and the dialog is so full of very opinionated individuals who have a loud voice but very little evidence other than what they see on their own sites.

To know about the "sandbox" aka "litterbox", IMO, you'd have to talk to someone who has been around for awhile. The reality is that you used to be able to put up a site in a reasonably competitive market and have it banging in a month if you had more resources. All of a sudden it was like six months and that time has increased in almost all reasonably competitive fields.

You can still put up a site for Joes Hardware in Podunk and have it rolling in a month but looking at Podunk Real Estate, it's going to take more time.

I first saw it coined by your very own Webmaster when it started taking longer to get new sites banging. He, if I recall correctly, attributed it to a filter on new links to a site... kind of like an aging filter. The value of new links to a site is dampened, with the full value attributed after a period of time hence, the "sandbox".

Again, if I recall correctly, there was a patent application about that time that brought the concept of aging links and rate of link acquisition into the discussion. It successfully took most out of the business of putting up a spam site, bombarding it with links and if the site got banned just putting up the same crap on a different domain and having it fly straight away. The side effect, intended or not, was that it took longer for quality sites to have an impact as well.

Matt Cutts, I don't have the reference, said awhile ago that although there is no "sandobox" filter there are a group of filters that could work to have the same effect.

To get a perspective I think you really need to look at how easy it was, back in the day, to get new sites going and how much time it takes today. The process isn't all that different but the time is and it is a fluid dynamic.

Back to the question... it's generally assumed that it's the time of first indexing. When the Google bot first finds your site/pages.