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I have been posting in favour of the Sandbox's existence and I have 2 sites firmly stuck in the sand!
However...
2 weeks ago I registered a brand new domain and started to build a new site. I knew it would be at least 6 months before anything happened but..
This morning it entered the index for the first time - straight on page one for a one word search (a town, granted only 194,000 matches) but none the less the last 2 sites still cannot achieve similar results after 6 months.
Also preliminary early pages ranking very well
The site has only one incoming link, no adsense, banners or anything, vanilla html etc.
Built as per my last 2 sites so clearly something has changed!
Regards and hope to all
Rod
And if there is a difference, how can you tell?
You can tell by the shared experience of thousands of webmasters describing their woes on hundreds of forums like this - for one! :)
But, how can you tell that their "woes" are due to "the sandbox" and not bad rankings?
What's the difference?
I remember when the sandbox was only 2 months, then next month it was 3 months, now it's 7-10 months? Or is Google simply not able to place new sites, and hasn't been able to fix the problem? What if this isn't deliberate at all? Just a thought. To me Google's continuing silence on this issue speaks very loudly, if this was some type of antispam measure might we not expect to hear them trumpeting this fact as an achievement? Whereas if it's a failure, pure and simple, it's pretty understandable why they don't say a word about it...
if this was some type of antispam measure might we not expect to hear them trumpeting this fact as an achievement
The problem with Google saying "All new domains are suppressed for 8 months and that's the official way we deal with spam" would find all the spammers buying up old domain names that were already listed and getting their spam in that way.
The war against spam will never have particularly open rules - it can't have!
DerekH
But, how can you tell that their "woes" are due to "the sandbox" and not bad rankings? What's the difference?
If you can't tell you're wasting your time in here ;) Try searching for highly specific phrases, the company name, etc.
The problem with Google saying "All new domains are suppressed for 8 months and that's the official way we deal with spam" would find all the spammers buying up old domain names that were already listed and getting their spam in that way.
Are you seriously suggesting that the spammers don't know about this because Google didn't tell them?
Getting back on topic, no, the sandbox definitely not been abandoned (or fixed depending on your point of view).
It helps people with low rankings explain away their shortcomings.
The secret is: slowing acquiring one way links over a period of time. Also, a small recip link trading schedule has been established. The main thing I've looked for is a wide diversity of IP ranges. When I do a link command now, I see many, many pages indicating unique domains on unique ip ranges.
Lots of directory listings, like Yahoo and other paid ones, and carefully targeted link trading. I try to get links from sources that have been in Google's index for a long time. My thinking is that when "trusted sources" link to you, your new website is more trustworthy in general to Google. Hope this helps.
No. 3 is the kicker. I wonder if the site doesn't share an IP with any other, if that would have an impact. I remember hearing a highly respected SEO say (in San Jose) he had anecdotal evidence that sites on their own IP address typically ranked better than shared IP sites. His comment was made independent of the whole "sandbox" issue, but it could be another cog in the wheel.
It helps people with low rankings explain away their shortcomings.
Your smugness does not become you and it is NOT helpful. The sandbox DOES exist even if you have managed to find a way round it, which without evidence I cannot accept.
