caveman - 11:04 pm on Mar 15, 2005 (gmt 0)

Pleeker, my opinion is that the short answer to your question is yes, especially if the site you refer to was SEO'd relatively conservatively. IP had nothing to do with it, but redesign and nav changes might. IMO, a number of previously sandboxed sites were on the cusp of being let in, and with Allegra, G loosened up certain filters that allowed this to happen.

One of the reasons I fight against the notion that there is some distinct "thing" called the sandbox is that it lets people off the hook. In your example, my guess is that your client's redesign made them susceptible to the part of the algo/filter combo that causes sites to vanish (there is no sandbox), and when G tweaked things with Allegra, some sites reappeared. Mainly more conservatively SEO'd sites, to my eye. :o

It does make sense that Google holds a list of top performing keywords and phrases.

Of course it does; the question is whether or not such a list is used to sandbox sites. Overwhelming evidence suggests that it's not.

caveman is 100% right, which wouldn't surprise me

Me neither. Happens all the time. ;-)

Oh lighten up, just kidding.

2by4, on tech-related matters of any significance, my opinions and theories are informed mainly by a whole lot of data from the many sites we run and competitors we watch, and by people who know technology far better than I, because I'm no techie. FWIW, I'm told that what I believe to be happening re sandboxing is at least technically feasible (meaning in practice, not just theory). Beyond that, well, I'm better at guessing what is happening than how.

For example, one might look at anchor text and kw patterns on and especially off site for clues about what is happening with sandboxing and how to get beyond it. Including overly aggressive footprints of various kinds. :-)

What amazes me is that there are still those who are either not listening or not paying enough attention to know what is possible and what is not. If one does not even know that, how can goals be established? :\