Forum Moderators: Robert Charlton & goodroi
I for example have a site: mysite.com . When i search for 'mysite' it lists all sites that tell a story about 'mysite.com'. Google lists mysite.com at the end of the results.
I've not have been banned cause mysite.com still appears in the results. My PR is still 6.
Before the google update of last christmas mysite.com was listed on the first result page. Now it is at the bottom of the last result page.
I waited about 6 weeks to see if this was just a glitch in google system, but it appears to stay this way. Is there anything i can do to get my site back to the top?
Is there maybe something else between being banned and being in the sandbox again?
Thanks!
site:example.com
Do you think your sites were sandboxed because all content and URLs were altered in one go?
arran.
Can sites that are over 1,5 years old go to the sandbox again?
No they can't. That assumes that the sandbox is a "thing" that sites are put into, which it isn't - it's an effect. There's a set of requirements and filters that when combined can cause the effect referred to as the sandbox that keeps many (or most) new sites from ranking, which is simply because they haven't yet met necessary requirements, or they're running into filters.
Older sites that are "out" don't get "put back into" what isn't a thing - if they don't rank or if they lose rankings it's because they're not meeting current algo requirements or they're hitting filters that cause them not to rank.
People are calling everything the "sandbox" no matter what, and that's the wrong thing to do because it isn't so. With an older site, time would be better spent examining the site in question to see what it needs or what might need correcting, or just waiting it out until the algo changes again.
link:[www.example.com]
as opposed to:
link:www.example.com
Don't do enough; don't get out. Do too much, go back in. Not a sandbox...a PRISON, for site that don't meet standards, according to the world of GOOOOOOOOOOOGle. Heheheheheh. ;-)
Not a sandbox...a PRISON, for site that don't meet standards, according to the world of GOOOOOOOOOOOGle. Heheheheheh. ;-)
Google has the freedom to decide what sites it links to, just as any other site does.
To call the sites Google declines to link to a "sandbox" is making an entity out of a simple policy decision.
By that reckoning we all have sandboxes -- the sites we've declined to link to, or even visit despite having spam-invites to do so.
Perhaps it would make sense for every site in the world to publish its sandbox -- ie rather than peck at Google for not doing so, simply start the ball rolling by publishing your own sandbox page with all the URLs you have declined to link to.
Might shame Google into doing the same, especially if there were the last in the world not to do so.
EG the losing of PR and bad crawling as a result of Canonical and Hijack problems for the homepage could cause the same symptons as outlined by the original post.
I woulda disagreed w/Marcia .. UNTIL I read her full postSmart man.
It's worth reading again, then doing.
..time would be better spent examining the site in question..
What, if anything has changed? Me, and my sites, change as we get older. I might also suggest looking at the competition to see if anything has changed, but it's a long shot considering the fall you've experienced. More likely something closer to home is causing you the grief.
<Add>
This bit of info might help you get back on track. A dropped site checklilst [webmasterworld.com]
The competition seem to have the same problem, a big PR but listed on the last result page. Only the big competition (lets say the really BIG ones) just stay at the top.
Could it be that some competitor has caused this effect?
I've searched for website with the same content text (duplicate filter) but didn't find any.
Will it help when i buy a couple links on PR4 + PR5 related sites? Or should i contact google, i for certain don't want to appear 'pushy' at google.
At the moment i don't support a domainname without www. So everyone is surfing to www.mysite.com, if they surf to mysite.com (without www) a message is displayed (no links).
So non-www does not redirect to www? and is displaying different content or an error message.
Could well be your problem.
Has this non-www page been indexed at all? - even url only?
Does it show page rank different from the www (even if it is 0 or grey bar)?
Does it show a different back link count to www?
If those questions are yes then Google could have a problem correctly identifying your site and specifically what is the root page of your site as you may have homepage canonical issues.
James;
I believe it helps to think of the Sandbox as "0" TrustRank, rather than a penalty associated only with new sites.
Let us assume that all new sites start out with "0" TrustRank. Until certain trust-establishing criteria are met (age of domain, age of inbound links, inbounds from trusted domains, etc.), you will not rank for competitive terms.
Let's say 9 months after launch, you have established sufficient TrustRank and are now ranking for competitive terms. Can you lose that TrustRank? Sure.
A few factors which MAY negatively affect TrustRank:
Completely overhaul your site content--grab your ankles and kiss your rankings goodbye.
Exchange one too many links with low or "0" TrustRank sites--forget reading, writing and arithmetic--you are history.
Rename all of your pages--be prepared to molest the sofa for lunch money.
Add a couple of thousand inbound links in a relatively short time period--grab a stick of butter--you are toast.
Get caught holding the wrong shared IP--say hello to your new cellmate, "Tito"--cuz you're in the big house.
Hope that helps.
P.S. I am not interested in hearing from anyone in Nepal who is ranking well for "monkey nuts" with a brand new site. It doesn't apply here.
..a big PR but listed on the last result page
There is no correlation between the PR of any given page and that page's ranking in the SERP's. I don't recall losing any PR when the Florida update hit us, but the page ranking bottomed out. PR is I.M.O. eye candy and should not be used in any way, shape or form for SEO purposes. It's usefulness as the basis for the worlds largest search engine has been outlived. Forget about PR, look at the other things on your page that do matter.
I feel like I ranted... sorry. Things do change, and maybe one of these days the PR factor will fall back into favor.
[edited by: grandpa at 6:08 am (utc) on Jan. 30, 2006]
I agree, and I have stated before in these threads that "sandbox" is Google devaluing ALL your links, enabling even the cheesiest directory to rank before "your-name.com."
Then suddenly last year, with the Bourbon update, my site was all over the place - #1 for pretty much all of my search terms. I hadn't done anything new to it in months, having pretty much given up. It's just that whatever algorithm change they made that time, it got picked up again after two years. And it's stayed at the top ever since.
I'm not sure what my point is, except that yea, you can suddenly drop down for seemingly no reason, and then rise up again for seemingly no reason.
