The Google Sandbox: Myth or Reality?

Many ecommerce entrepreneurs have probably heard of the infamous Google Sandbox, but does it really exist?

What is the Google Sandbox?

Supposedly, the Google Sandbox is where all new websites spend the first few months after conception. Although Google has never officially admitted to the sandbox being a reality, the proof, as they say, is in the pudding.

SEO experts have long seen that new websites, regardless of how well optimized they might be, simply don’t get a high ranking on Google. This is not the case with some of the other search engines such as Yahoo or MSN, where new websites can get a toehold in search rankings pretty quickly.

How Long do New Websites Stay in the Google Sandbox?

The average length of time new websites seem to languish in the Google Sandbox is around six months or so.

However, this period of time certainly isn’t etched in stone, as some new websites make it out of the sandbox in as little as a month, while others stay there for as long as eight months.

What is the Purpose of the Google Sandbox?

It may strike new entrepreneurs as terribly unfair to have their websites relegated to the Google Sandbox for a few months, but there is actually a pretty good reason why Google adopts this unpublished policy.

There has been an awful lot of Black Hat SEO, or keyword stuffing, as well as such practices as bulk buying of links, and duplicate content creation. These things are believed to be the reason for Google’s penalizing new sites, which get tons of backlinks almost overnight.

Additionally, these new websites are sometimes used as a source of inbound links for an older and sometimes parent website.

When this kind of fake site is indexed and moved up to the top ranking in SERPs, this seriously compromises search results, and the sandbox is apparently Google’s way of making sure these practices aren’t tolerated.

Basically, landing in the Google Sandbox for an unspecified period of time when you launch a new website is something beyond your control.

There are things you can do to minimize the damage of your stint in the sandbox.

But, proceed with caution, because some of the tips and tricks floating around the internet to lessen the sandbox effect are not good and could get you more penalties from Google, or even completely banned, which would be a major catastrophe!