Google Sandbox Effect for New Websites

Google Sandbox effect started in March 2004 for new websites is the hot topic currently in discussion for every search engine optimization forums, blogs and websites. SEOmoz.com has defined Google Sandbox effect is the theory that websites with newly registered domains are placed inside some sort of holding area within the indexes of Google until such time is deemed appropriate before a ranking can commence. As per Google’s Senior Engineer Matt Cutts “There are some things in the algorithm that may be perceived as a sandbox that doesn’t apply to all industries and it works to keep the spam out”.

As per my studies with new websites, they started ranking with several competitive keyword phrases within 2 or 3 months of launch EXCELLENT! Even though there wasn’t any page rank assigned to my website it out-ranked many higher page ranked website for several competitive keywords. But the sad story started just after 3 months. Website traffic dropped. Although my website is getting traffic my Google but most competitive keywords it use to rank in SERP has seen huge drop. For most of the keywords it is not even in the SERPs. VERY SURPRISING! But not to worry about.

Factors Triggering Google Sandbox
Google Sandbox and Trust Rank are the important elements of Google ranking filters. Websites observed inside Google Sandbox shows following symptoms:

The ageing factor influencing your ranking. The older your website / domain the higher trust rank it gets. New websites gets low trust rank directly triggering sandbox effect.
New websites getting huge number of link backs in short period. Google has excellent idea of natural link building. Higher number linking will trigger link trade or link spamming.
Websites having search-engine friendly pages, those considering on-page optimization factors like maintaining keywords in text, title, meta tags, header tags, anchor text etc.
As per SEOMoz blog websites particularly in English language are affected with Google Sandbox.
Sites penalized most are higher ranked (particularly top 3 results on major search engines like Yahoo, MSN, AOL, and Ask.
Sites which are over optimized in anchor text. As with inbound links Google also knows natural anchor text building with inbound links. When this appears over optimized it is flagged to be sandboxed inside Google indexes.
Reports have also brought cases with commercial & private sector sites more affected than authority sites like .gov, .edu and .mil.
What to do when in Google Sandbox?
Personally I thing sandbox is the best time when you can think of making your website more popular. Google sandbox is not a penalty on any website but it is there to reduce spam, but it is when your new site is reviewed by algorithms to give them trust rank. This is when search algorithms decide if a new site is highly relevant for competitive keywords. Theory has suggested a website can remain inside sandbox for at least 1 year depending on how competitive the keywords are. Less competitive keywords will be given much shorter stay. So the only real way to come out of sandbox is just to wait. In the meantime continue to improve your website and build trust with other search engines. You can consider following when sandboxed:

Add more relevant content to your site. Concentrate on more keyword rich content along with both on-page and off-page optimization. Stick to the theme of your site.
Sandbox is the best time when you can start adding more incoming links to your website. This gives two big advantages. Firstly, it increases trust when search bots finds your link and secondly contributes towards increasing your website’s page rank that Google assigns. Make sure you added your keywords in the anchor text and blend them with related keywords to avoid spam filter. Build natural linking.
Consider other website traffic sources. This is the best time when you can find several other sources to traffic. Consider other search engines like Yahoo, MSN and Ask. It is very easy to rank in MSN if you have good off-page optimization. Consider buying traffic from Adwords, Yahoo Search Market, MSN AdCenter, buying text link ads etc. If you budget is low I would recommend you working to get organic search results with search engines like Yahoo and MSN.
Getting listed within quality free Internet Directories most preferable DMOZ and Yahoo Search Directory.
If you want to escape sandbox at the first place, consider buying older domains.
The length of time your site is within the sandbox is quite difficult to quantify however starting rank of less competitive keywords will boost other rankings soon.