Sandbox filter is a filter created by Google some years ago to fight against spam in the search results. Usually sandbox is applied to new domains which are less than 2 years. Under the sandbox effect, no matter how well you optimize the website, it just doesn’t rank high on Google. On average, the sandbox effect is 6 months, but it can vary from less than a month to over 8 months.

If you have made major changes to your website and you found that your rankings have dropped off 30 to several hundreds positions, then it’s likely you’re in Google sandbox. You might think that it’s unfair. According to Google, the delay of inclusion of brand new websites is to encourage webmasters to build content instead of building mini-networks.

The Google sandbox is something beyond your control and you cannot avoid it. You cannot fight the sandbox. The only thing you can do is to adapt to it and patiently wait for time to pass and sandbox effect will be slowly disappeared. But there are a few steps you can apply to minimize the damage for new websites and new domains.

#1 Create Good And Relevant Content Actively

As time passes by, relevant and fresh content will take you to the top of search engine. Relevant content will make your website becomes authority in the industry. Not only that, fresh content will keep your readers coming back.

#2 Gather Quality Inbound Links

When getting inbound links, keep in mind that they need to be from trusted sources such as DMOZ, CNN or other reputable places. In addition, links coming from .edu and .gov domains might help because these domains are usually exempt from the sandbox filter. Build the links slowly and steadily instead of getting 100 links a day as it will kill your website completely without releasing from sandbox.

#3 Buy Old Or Expired Domains

Sandbox effect is more serious for new sites on new domains. If you’re buying old or expired domains and launch your new sites there, you’ll likely to experience less problems.

#4 Host On A Well Established Domain

Another solution is to host your new site on a subdomain of a well established domain such as wordpress.com and blogger.com. The sandbox effect is not so severe for new subdomains unless the domain itself is blacklisted. However subdomains on free hosts are generally not a good idea in terms of branding.

#5 Concentrate On Less Popular Keywords

The fact that your site is sandboxed doesn’t mean that it’s not indexed by Google at all. You website can still be on the top ranking of search engine results if you’re targeting less popular and competitive keywords. I’m always advice to target long tail keywords first for newly established websites while waiting to get to the top for the most lucrative keywords. This is the technique I have been using for this blog.

Conclusion

Although Google doesn’t confirm the existence of sandbox but many people have experience its effect. It’s often reminded that Google is not the only search engine or traffic generation source. We should create multiple stream of traffic to minimize the damage of Google sandbox. If you’re planning your SEO efforts, try to include other search engines. This will help to minimize the damages of the sandbox effect in addition to the 5 points mentioned above.

Please share with us what is your thought and your approach in minimizing the sandbox effect.

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