Are you playing in the Google sandbox?

In order to answer this question, I’ll explain what the Google sandbox is for those of you that have never heard of it.  The term “Google sandbox” or “the sandbox effect” are terms that refer to the period of time that Google decreases the page rank of new domains.  Domains are temporarily placed in this “sandbox”  in order for Google to stop spam sites from ranking on the first page.  While in the sandbox it is impossible to have first page rankings.

There are two reasons your site could get placed in the Google sandbox, either it is brand spanking new site or you have made major changes to your site.  If you have one of these situations with you site you may want to check to see if you have been “sandboxed”.

How to check if you are in the Google Sandbox

1.  Do a Google search for your sites title tag.  If it does not show up in the rankings you may have an issue.

2.  Your sites rankings have dropped suddenly.  If this happens check to see if your site is still ranked well with Bing and Yahoo.  If it is then you have been sandboxed.

How to get out of the Google Sandbox?

New site owners

Unfortunately, the average wait time to get out of the sandbox is 6 months  if it is a new site.  Try to link to larger sites with credibility.  This will help build Google’s trust in you.

Sites with major changes

If you have made major changes it should only take 1-2 months to come out of the sandbox.  Remember not to make any other changes to your site while waiting for your rankings to return to normal.