2. So you put a lot of work into creating a really great
website only to find that noone can find it and Google
doesnt rank your site very highly. You hear about a thing
called "search engine optimization" and decide to give it a
try. Before you go adding your keywords to every element
of your pages and building links any way you can, take a
step back and remind yourself of the old saying,
"sometimes less is more".
3. Search engine optimization, or SEO, has really taken off
over the last five years as more and more fledgling
webmasters have created websites, only to find that
noone comes to visit. As they search around for ways to
get more visitors, most of them quickly find resources on
how to optimize a web page for the search engines and go
right to work sprinkling keywords everywhere and
building links from any place they can get them.
4. This causes problems for a search engine because, lets
face it, you are trying to manipulate the search results and
they are trying to avoid being manipulated. After all, just
because YOU think your site is a great resource on a topic
doesnt mean that it is. Google has already adjusted for
the webmaster that is over-optimizing their website, and
its called the Google "sandbox". The sandbox is a name
that disgruntled webmasters have given to the situation
where a new site that should rank well for a keyword is
nowhere to be found in the rankings, only to suddenly
appear one day several months down the road. What is
this sandbox effect and what could cause it?
5. My theory is that the "sandbox" is actually more of a
"trustbox", meaning that Google looks at many attributes
of your site to determine if you are attempting to
manipulate the search rankings. The most obvious, and
the twp traps that most beginning webmasters fall into, I
believe, is over-optimizing your on-page content and
building too many low quality links too fast.
6. I believe that the newer your domain is, the less tolerance
Google has for over-optimization of pages, or suspiciously
fast link building. Once you trip the filter, youre placed in
the holding cell ("sandbox"), because Google suspects you
of trying to manipulate the results. I also believe that the
tolerance for over-optimization varies based on the
industry, so spammy industries such as pharmaceutical
drugs are far more sensitive to over-optimization than
most. That can cause some discouragement by many who
are hoping to find fast success, since those industries are
already competitive enough that you NEED highly
optimized content and lots of links to possibly compete for
top rankings, but you cant do it too quickly or you will be
sandboxed.
9. - Is your title a single target keyword phrase and nothing
else?
10. - Is your keyword phrase found in several of the following
locations: title, header, subheaders, bold or italicized
words?
11. - Does the page read differently that you would normally
speak?
12. - Are you in a competitive industry that is frequented by
spammers?
13. - Have you acquired a large number of low PageRank links
quickly?
14. - Do you have very few high PageRank (6+) links pointing
to your site?
15. In summary, the current theory about Googles "sandbox"
is that it is actually more like a holding cell where the
Google "police" keep your website when it is suspected of
possibly trying to manipulate the search results. As the
domain ages, most sites eventually gain enough "trust" to
escape the sandbox and immediately start ranking where
they normally would. Remember that Google is not
manually ranking every website - in the end it is simply a
computer algorithm and those who are able to score well
in Googles algorithm WITHOUT tripping any filters will
achieve top rankings and profit the most.