Google Sandbox & the Terror within..
Well, winter is here constant reader and you may have felt the effects of the harsh ice and snow, not to mention the hassle of scraping it off of your car every day. With the weather being so bad we hope that people are drawn more to staying inside and browsing the internet, thus creating more sales and with a good SEO campaign in place you can ensure your website is top of the list when those potential customers come clicking.
There is one snag though that we have to overcome from time to time and that is the Google Sandbox. I know what you are thinking, the name alone brings back horrible memories of being buried up to your neck in sand or being hit with plastic toys by the “yard” bully in the sandbox when you were just 3 years old in playschool (or maybe it`s just me) but in our industry it can, believe it or not be even more feared than those pre-school traumas.
We all know that Google works on algorithms to decide on whether a site lists higher or lower in the rankings and we don`t know for sure exactly what those algorithms consist of. Mostly we adhere to certain rules about keyword distribution and quality link building to ensure we dont scare Google away but in most cases, sites that are affected are fairly new and it is because the SEO process has been too forceful when promoting keywords and when link building. The Sandbox is essentially a penalty, a devaluation of the listing in the Google SERPS. It acts as a filter system that is placed on new websites that carry no page rank or value. Quality backlinks are definitely the way to go and these would show Google that the site is connected to well respected sites and of a high quality. It is vital that when you start an SEO campaign for a site that may be optimising for a competitive keyword or phrase, that you link build gradually rather than multiple links being submitted left right and centre. Google could pick up on this and decide to penalise you for it and if this happens and your site is sandboxed, there is the potential of it being de-listed for anywhere between 3-9 months which would be devastating to a business launching a new website.
So how can you avoid the Sandbox?
There are many theories on this and some people believe you can avoid it and some believe you cannot, personally I think as long as you use common sense and are aware of the consequences for taking shortcuts on competitive keywords then you have a good chance of preventing it from happening. As mentioned earlier, good quality links are always the preferred option and preferably not too many to begin with, you want the listing to be eased-in and look natural to Google. Another tip would be to use more Longtail phrases with your keywords as this will be less obvious to Google and will help to almost cover the keyword when link building. Do not underestimate the power of longtail phrases as it allows you to still push your keyword but in a more natural and less recognisable way to the search engines. It would also be advisable to link build to more than just the homepage and provide some deeplinks too, again to help promote a natural feel to your site.
If you do become stuck in the yellow, dont panic and follow some of these tips and you should be out of there soon after. Unfortunately, there is no guarantees on when a site is released but utilising the same advice above, even when you have been sandboxed will help to hopefully get you listed again.
So as the ice and snow fall outside and winter settles in and all of those potential customers go online, make sure you do everything you can to stay out of the Google Sandbox, as well as the one outside where you could get a nasty scrape this time of year.
