SEO and Google Sandbox
All the time you put a lot of into creating a really great website only to find that no one will get it and Google will not rank your site very highly. You hear about a thing called "search engine optimization" and determine to give it a go. Before you go adding your keywords to each factor of your internet pages and building links any way you can, take a step back and remind yourself of the old saying, "sometimes less is more".
Search engine optimization, or SEO, has truly taken off over the last five years as more and more fledgling webmasters have developed websites, only to find that no one comes to visit. As they look at different companies for ways to get more visitors, almost all of them quickly find resources how to optimize an online page for the search engines and go right to work sprinkling keywords everywhere and linking from any place they can get them.
This causes problems for a search engine because let's face it, you want to manipulate the search results and they are generally trying to avoid being manipulated. Following all, just because YOU think your site is a great resource on the topic doesn't mean that it is. Google has already adjusted for the webmaster that is over-optimizing their website, as well as called the Google "sandbox". The sandbox is a name that disgruntled webmasters have given to the situation in which a new site that should achieve a high ranking for a keyword is nowhere to be found in the rankings, only to suddenly appear one day several months down the road. Precisely what is this sandbox result and what could cause it?
My theory is that the "sandbox" is definitely more of a "trust box", meaning that Google appears at many attributes of your site to determine if you are trying to manipulate the search engine rankings. The most obvious, and the twp traps that most start webmasters fall into, My spouse and i believe, is over-optimizing your on-page content and building too many low-quality links too fast.
We believe 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, you're put in the holding cell ("sandbox"), because Google suspects you of trying to change the results. I also assume that the tolerance for over-optimization varies based on the industry, so spammy industries such as pharmaceutic drugs are far more sensitive to over-optimization than most. Which could cause some discouragement by many people who are hoping to find fast success, since those industries are already competitive enough that are needed highly optimized content and a lot of links to possibly compete for top rankings, but you can't do it too quickly or you will be sandboxed.
At a newly released WebmasterWorld conference, Matt Cutts from Google explained that there really wasn't a "sandbox", but "the criteria might affect some sites, under some circumstances, in a manner that a webmaster would perceive as being sandboxed. " Which means that avoiding the sandbox is only a matter of customization your site without slipping the filters in Googles algorithm.
Ask yourself these questions to avoid over-optimization penalties:
- Is your title a single goal keyword phrase and nothing else?
- Is your keyword phrase found in many of the following locations: title, header, subheaders, striking or italicized words?
- Does the page read differently that you usually use to talk?
- Will you be in a competitive industry that is seen by spammers?
- Have you crossed a huge amount of low PageRank links quickly?
- Rarely some high PageRank links point to your website?
In conclusion, the current theory about Googles "sandbox" is that it is actually a lot more like a having cell in which the Google "police" keep your website when it is suspected of possibly trying to adjust the listings. As the domain ages, most sites eventually gain enough "trust" to escape the sandbox and immediately start rating where they normally would. Remember that Google is not manually ranking every website - in the end, it is simply a computer algorithm and people who are able to score well in Googles algorithm WITHOUT tripping any filters will achieve top rankings and profit the most .
Search engine optimization, or SEO, has truly taken off over the last five years as more and more fledgling webmasters have developed websites, only to find that no one comes to visit. As they look at different companies for ways to get more visitors, almost all of them quickly find resources how to optimize an online page for the search engines and go right to work sprinkling keywords everywhere and linking from any place they can get them.
This causes problems for a search engine because let's face it, you want to manipulate the search results and they are generally trying to avoid being manipulated. Following all, just because YOU think your site is a great resource on the topic doesn't mean that it is. Google has already adjusted for the webmaster that is over-optimizing their website, as well as called the Google "sandbox". The sandbox is a name that disgruntled webmasters have given to the situation in which a new site that should achieve a high ranking for a keyword is nowhere to be found in the rankings, only to suddenly appear one day several months down the road. Precisely what is this sandbox result and what could cause it?
My theory is that the "sandbox" is definitely more of a "trust box", meaning that Google appears at many attributes of your site to determine if you are trying to manipulate the search engine rankings. The most obvious, and the twp traps that most start webmasters fall into, My spouse and i believe, is over-optimizing your on-page content and building too many low-quality links too fast.
We believe 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, you're put in the holding cell ("sandbox"), because Google suspects you of trying to change the results. I also assume that the tolerance for over-optimization varies based on the industry, so spammy industries such as pharmaceutic drugs are far more sensitive to over-optimization than most. Which could cause some discouragement by many people who are hoping to find fast success, since those industries are already competitive enough that are needed highly optimized content and a lot of links to possibly compete for top rankings, but you can't do it too quickly or you will be sandboxed.
At a newly released WebmasterWorld conference, Matt Cutts from Google explained that there really wasn't a "sandbox", but "the criteria might affect some sites, under some circumstances, in a manner that a webmaster would perceive as being sandboxed. " Which means that avoiding the sandbox is only a matter of customization your site without slipping the filters in Googles algorithm.
Ask yourself these questions to avoid over-optimization penalties:
- Is your title a single goal keyword phrase and nothing else?
- Is your keyword phrase found in many of the following locations: title, header, subheaders, striking or italicized words?
- Does the page read differently that you usually use to talk?
- Will you be in a competitive industry that is seen by spammers?
- Have you crossed a huge amount of low PageRank links quickly?
- Rarely some high PageRank links point to your website?
In conclusion, the current theory about Googles "sandbox" is that it is actually a lot more like a having cell in which the Google "police" keep your website when it is suspected of possibly trying to adjust the listings. As the domain ages, most sites eventually gain enough "trust" to escape the sandbox and immediately start rating where they normally would. Remember that Google is not manually ranking every website - in the end, it is simply a computer algorithm and people who are able to score well in Googles algorithm WITHOUT tripping any filters will achieve top rankings and profit the most .
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