Thread: How To Avoid The Google Sandbox

Creating too many backlinks too quickly can sometimes trigger Google's "spam alert" system, which can result in your site being "sandboxed" by Google. If that happens basically your site will be placed in limbo to give them time to review your site properly so they can decide whether or not it's spam. The end result: You won't appear in the SERPs for your keyword for many, many months.

If you're targeting a keyword with long term intentions, this isn't such a bad thing. Eventually your site will return and as long as your links / content don't look too spammy, you should reappear with a good rank.

But if you're planning to hijack an upcoming product launch (like I do), and you need your site ranked quickly without the risk of being sandboxed, here's what you do:

First, obviously optimize your website properly for the keyword(s) you want to target. I recommend to target at least two keywords. If you're using your home page to target both keywords, set up a sub page for each keyword to give you a chance at getting a double indent listing.

Next, write a high quality article related to your niche (or pay a freelancer to write it for you). Make sure to optimize the article correctly for your main target keyword (use it in the title, H1 tag, first and last paragraph, and also some variations using H2 or H3 tags).

Then, submit the article to Ezinearticles dot com and make sure to link to your primary site that you want ranked in the resource box using your main keyword(s) as the anchor text.

Now build ALL your links to this article once it's approved and live. Because articles can naturally receive thousands of backlinks quickly, it will appear to be natural to Google (or at least a lot more natural than building a ton of links to your site too quickly). And because you're linking to your primary site with a dofollow link, the article will pass a good deal of link juice to your site, meaning you should get a top rank in a short period of time, without the risk of being sandboxed.

I agree with you. The article in article directory can be boost with lot of backlinks

Also when you register a domain always upload a page with content and keep the domain live. few backlinks would get spider attention too. So it doesn't matter when you start building a site for it, your domain will be old one and it can help you to avoid sandbox after you build the site.

since there's nothing like google sandbox, you have nothing to do to avoid it. Google sanbox is just a myth what some people believe

Originally Posted by rain22

since there's nothing like google sandbox, you have nothing to do to avoid it. Google sanbox is just a myth what some people believe

I agree that There is no "sandbox" like people say. But what i mean was Google sandbox is an algorithm Google used to have which detect and filter sites which are too new and have unusual number of links. This used to cause sudden lost of traffic in new sites after having a traffic spike for a while. Even you might have noticed in your new sites that sometimes sites start getting lot of traffic and suddenly drop to zero and stay like that for several weeks.

Isn't that more the Google Dance??

Originally Posted by rain22

since there's nothing like google sandbox, you have nothing to do to avoid it. Google sanbox is just a myth what some people believe

Although many people believe the Google sandbox is just a myth, I'm afraid my experience tells me otherwise. I've had many brand new sites on Page 1 / 2 / 3 for competitive keywords for a good couple months, built too many backlinks and my sites disappeared completely from the SERPs for 3-6 months, only to reappear later. If this was the Google dance, my site would have re-appeared a lot quicker than that.

---------- Post added 04-28-2011 at 07:43 PM ----------

Originally Posted by wink0r

Isn't that more the Google Dance??

I've found from experience that when my sites do the Google Dance, they usually bounce all over the place. IE: One day they're on Page 1, then next #142, then #17, and so on. The Google Sandbox (whether it exists or not) is where your site completely disappears from the SERPs for about 3-6 months. Only to reappear later. This has only happened to me when I've built a lot more backlinks than I usually do. So while some people say it doesn't exist, I'm not sure about that, because my actual experience tells me otherwise.

---------- Post added 04-28-2011 at 07:44 PM ----------

Great tip bluearrow!

Yes When the Google Dance happen your site traffic goes up and down. It's not the same thing like you loose all your traffic and everything for a couple of weeks.

How to find the site is in sandbox?

Originally Posted by bluearrow

I agree that There is no "sandbox" like people say. But what i mean was Google sandbox is an algorithm Google used to have which detect and filter sites which are too new and have unusual number of links. This used to cause sudden lost of traffic in new sites after having a traffic spike for a while. Even you might have noticed in your new sites that sometimes sites start getting lot of traffic and suddenly drop to zero and stay like that for several weeks.

yea, this can be the effect.

Using an EA article is a great way to get your page on #01 for a product launch (aka "Launch Jacking" as Mike Long would say)

Another way to get a #01 page position would be to rank a Youtube video review of the product. Just a couple of days ago, reading a WSO I learned that Youtube is similar go article directories: the don't punish thousands of backlinks that suddenly appear overnight.

Beause Youtube is a social site, it's normal that a video get viral and start generating a lot of backlinks. So if you have programs like Scrapebox or Xrumer, then linking to a Youtube video can get you an easy to get position on the google results.

Just my two cents.