Google Sandbox for New Links?

[potentialgeek]

Tedster made a comment a while back (4/10/08): "Google usually 'notices' a new backlink very quickly, but the value of that link builds over the following months." I read on another site that <paraphrase> some search engines don't assign backlinks full value for several months. Also, when they are first indexed, there's a short delay until the effects show up in the rankings.</paraphrase>

Would anyone here like to share their experience on new links and how quickly they get link juice? Do links from highly trusted sites give link juice sooner? How long on average does it take your site to get the full benefit of a new link? Why does Google 'sandbox' new links?

Has anyone noticed a trend in how Google gives juice from new links in 2009 versus 2008? For example, does it now take longer to get the juice or less time?

I think I read somewhere on WW that in the last year or so Google has been gradually devaluing some blog links, i.e: they may pass juice initially but that tapers off over time. Is the opposite true in some cases? Do old links that you've had for years gradually pass more juice?

Are there any Google Patents you've read which address any of these issues?

p/g

[edited by: tedster at 6:18 pm (utc) on Mar. 26, 2009]
[edit reason] paraphrase the quote [/edit]

[BaseballGuy]

I would have to agree with the part about devaluing blog links over time. Based nothing more on observations.

Good for a short boost over a few days, but for the long run not worth my time or effort.

[nealrodriguez]

I would have to agree with the part about devaluing blog links over time.

i have landed a few blog links with little pr that have helped maintain ranking for about 2 yrs; from '06 to '08; i don't rep that site anymore. the one thing that i like about blog links is that they drive relevant traffic to your site. the traffic may dwindle as the story from which your site is linked drops off the home page; but you still get more traffic than the typical directory, article, even .edu and .gov page. i have seen sites that have about 60% of their traffic from blogs and social networks; at times even more; similar sites have less than 25% of search engine traffic and do great selling ads.

[potentialgeek]

Google had a search algo patent application [appft1.uspto.gov] which says, in part:

. . . 28. The method of claim 26, wherein the weight assigned to a link is based on at least one of how much a document containing the link is trusted, how authoritative a document containing the link is, and a freshness of a document containing the link. 29. The method of claim 26, wherein the scoring the document includes: determining an age of each link pointing to the document, determining an age distribution associated with the links based on the ages of the links, and scoring the document based, at least in part, on the age distribution associated with the links.

What do you think the age distribution aspect is for? It's good to have a variety between old and new links? It seems to cover the two major issues of trust and freshness.

...

54. A method for ranking a linked document, comprising: determining an age of linkage data associated with the linked document; and ranking the linked document based on a decaying function of the age of the linkage data.

55. The method of claim 54, wherein the linkage data includes at least one link.

56. The method of claim 54, wherein the linkage data includes anchor text.

57. The method of claim 54, wherein the linkage data includes a rank based, at least in part, on links and anchor text provided by one or more linking documents and related to the linked document.

58. The method of claim 57, further comprising: determining longevity of the linkage data; deriving an indication of content update for a linking document providing the linkage data; and adjusting the ranking of the linked document based on the longevity of the linkage data and the indication of content update for the linking document.

59. The method of claim 58, wherein the adjusting the ranking includes penalizing the ranking if the longevity indicates a short life for the linkage data and boosting the ranking if the longevity indicates a long life for the linkage data.

60. The method of claim 59, wherein the adjusting the ranking further includes penalizing the ranking if at least a portion of content from the linking document is considered stale over a period of time and boosting the ranking if the portion of content from the linking document is considered updated over the period of time.

61. The method of claim 54, further comprising: determining an indication of link churn for a linking document providing the linkage data; and based on the link churn, adjusting the ranking of the linked document.

62. The method of claim 61, wherein the indication of link churn is computed as a function of an extent to which one or more links provided by the linking document change over time.

63. The method of claim 62, wherein adjusting the ranking includes penalizing the ranking if the link churn is above a threshold.

[OddDog]

I did some freebie blog creation at the begining of the year for a site. The keyword targetted shot to top ten, but is now down to 30´ish.

No other link building was done for that page, or that search term theme for the rest of the site.

[tedster]

One simple mechanism that may also be working with blog links - the new article and link are on the blog's index page, but over time they only are in the archives or permalinked url.

[SEOPTI]

These parts of the patent are very important .. there we probably have explanations for the mysterious -50 penalties.

[potentialgeek]

Related discussion from 2007:

How long before links affect SERPS? [webmasterworld.com]

[thinker]

When I received a high quality link to my site, my Google traffic tripled 3 days later. Holding steady since.

Aside from the high quality link, there were no other new links or site content changes. From my understanding, this link took 3 days to take effect.

[tedster]

I've also seen that happen with a high-trust backlink. There's no reason to subject it to the kinds of heavy vetting that happens to a more ordinary backlink, I guess.

[willybfriendly]

What do you think the age distribution aspect is for?

A bunch of old links, with nothing new, may signal content that has lost it relevance, regardless of how well trusted or how strong all those links are.

A bunch of new links with nothing old may signal content that is fadish or has yet to be proven credible or useful, regardless of how well trusted or how strong all those links are.

Good, strong, evergreen content will continue to acquire links from a variety of sources for a very long time.

Not too hot, not too cold, just right...