(3)
It has been a while since we really discussed the "Google Sandbox." The Google Sandbox goes back to April 2004. We first spotted it when I wrote New Sites = Poor Results in Google, then it became known as the Sandbox effect and had controversial definitions. Matt Cutts confirmed the sandbox existed, somewhat, in his Coffee Talk with Brett Tabke. But since then, we really did not discuss it much.
So why bring it up now? Well, Patrick Gavin wrote a post about it, asking if it is US based or worldwide. The discussion is now on Sphinn about it.
The thing is, I don't believe the original Google Sandbox Effect still exists as it was. It has morphed into something different and although it has signed of the original sandbox effect, it is far from the same thing. So I ask you, in a poll below - does it exist and if it does, is it just impacting Google.com or the other localized versions of Google.
Forum discussion at Sphinn.
Comments:
Matthew Lawson
02/05/2009 02:05 pm
I'm in the UK and I have recently released a new microsite for a major brand and when it was launch I have massive influx of organic traffic because of strong links from the client site, I now believe that its in the sandbox as the organic traffic has disappeared after a couple of months. It has been 2 months now and still no traffic.
Can HANHAN
02/05/2009 02:50 pm
I'm in Turkey. I had three of my domains in sandbox before. It is very similar to Matthew's issue.
Rob Abdul
02/06/2009 10:22 am
I have a theory that Google allow for new sites to jump the queue on SERP’s in a bid to see whether the site in question is good. I call it the Google Initiation Theory. By exposing a new site to visitors Google can quickly asses the value of your new site and based on the analytics/metrics, either drops the said site down in SERP’s on keeps you there. I have found this with all my UK sites.