Google Sandbox or Google Dance?

[corepartner]

Hi guys,

I have a 1 month old site and I choose a long tail keyword (5 words) to rank.

The pages which are ranking on the top 10 for this keyword are weak in term of page rank & SEOmoz page authority though the domains are very authoritative and old.

After adding the post and doing little backlinking I landed on page 3 but for few days I am ranking nowhere for that keyword.

Please let me know if my site got sandboxed by google because my domain is only 1 month old or it is just a google dance?

I also want to ask that I have booked my domain name for only 1 year, so if I extend its booking for several years will I get any positive result?

[Hannahness]

Your site is 1 month old - there are going to be bounces in the rankings, or "Google dance", as you put it.
It's generally thought that registering a domain for a longer period of time may have a positive impact on rankings, although I have yet to see it proven. That's a factor that can't hurt, though, so if you can afford it, why not?

[tedster]

In my view, having a long registration is a plus only if you get into a manual review from tripping an automated spam flag. Then it's one small factor testifying in your favor as a legitimate business. But there's no ranking boost coming from it.

[corepartner]

Thanks for the suggestions :D

[Yellow_Sun]

Your site easily could be sandboxed since it is so new, you might have to wait 3 months or so till Google gets it situated where it wants. Then, get ready for the "yo-yo" effect or google dance if you want to call it that, which could last a few additional months as well until Google is comfortable with the positioning.

As long as you are doing a good job with your back-links, you will be good to go. But if you aren't, you may never see your site again.

Also, in the mean time continue adding quality/value to your site as much as you can; adding unique quality content and links, etc.

If you do it right, Google will do you right.

Good luck!

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

When you launch a site it's squeaky clean. If you do everything right, and target attainable keywords, you can get yourself onto page one of serps but then the fun begins.

As tedster pointed out you're going to trip some flags to get onto page one for at least SOME of your keywords. When a human comes and takes a look at if your site is quality enough to REMAIN on page one they may leave it alone (on a keyword by keyword basis) or they may remove your power to rank on page one for given keywords at least temporarily.

You'll still be ranked but on page 2,3,4 etc where you're not likely to get much traffic. It's a Google dance but likely not a completely automated one. It is possible that there is a time limit between first crawled and page one worthy that can get an automated de-rank, who knows. It probably changes as the algo is tweaked. Your best bet is to make sure the site is worthy with the best quality you can muster.

You'll also get gray hair fast my friend if you're into checking stats to this level after just one month, it can take years to shed Google manual rankblocks :-)