Does Google sandbox exist?

Cristian Level X³

May 28, 2017, 4:21 pm

Write the reason you're deleting this FAQ

Does Google sandbox exist?

For years now there has been a lot of debate on whatever a Google sandbox exists.

What is Google Sandbox?

Well, in short, it ma e is some kind of flagging don't by Google to doubtful websites, a sort of probation period where Google probably keeps an eye on your website until it makes sure you deserve better rankings, getting out of the sandbox.

Sandboxed websites don't get deindexed, they just get way worse rankings and lower organic traffic than expected.
I personally experienced the "sandbox" effect myself. 10 years ago or even more it was pretty easy to rank a new website for a specific keyword if you had a small network of websites.
So I started this new website and right from the start I gave it side-wide backlinks from all the other websites I owned plus asking friends and contacts with multiple websites to side-wide link my new website.

I start ranking in no time! I even got top 3 positions for all my main keywords. This didn't last long, just a few week or so until Google penalized me or got me into the sandbox. Don't know exactly which one of these happened but my rankings drop as well as my organic traffic. I then removed all the backlinks I previously implemented and the website started ranking again, this time a lot lower than it previously did but at least I was begging to see some organic traffic.
So I figure this was a Google Sandbox experience.

Dose Google Sandbox really exists?
Well, Matt Cutts admitted it to some degree as far as I know, which made it true for a lot of webmaster and SEOs out there.
Recently Gary Illyes from Google was asked if the Sandbox really is a thing and he denied it.

Well, yeah, sure Gary! Maybe you guys at Google don't really call it "sandbox" but I definitely believe you have some kind of algorithm in place that acts similarly to what most SEOs describe as Google Sandbox.

Getting out of Sandbox.

So you may think to yourself, how do you get out of the sandbox once you been hit? Well, I don't really know. I only did this for my website on which I had full control over all the backlinks but also I did it for a client. The trick is to remove all the spammy backlinks that website may have. And that can be very challenging, especially if you bought blackhat links from dubious sellers.
Good content + a clean backlink profile = getting out of Google's Sandbox in theory.

What is your experience with Google Sandbox, do you think it exists in some for or the other? Have you ever had a site that got sandboxed? What kind of methods did you use to get it out?

Comments

Please login or sign up to leave a comment

Join

johnfranklin1

Thanks for sharing such a nice article on the Seoclerck. I faced this problem 8 years ago. All of my blogs suddenly ranked low and decreased traffic. A lot of publishers was attacked by Google sandbox. We should take proper notice of backlinks.

The traffic from search engine is most valuable. The paid backlinks could create a problem for ranking in search engine.

I really appreciate your effort to share knowledge with us.

9 years ago

Are you sure you want to delete this post?

idealmike

Ohh well I never! For years the Google sandbox has sort of been held in a do they don't they kind of light. I've always thought they didn't have a sandbox they put your site in. Like some kind of filter. But rather when it happens to your site, it's not that they've sandboxed it, it's just that it's been affected by one or some of their algorithms.

Now here's the thing. Google haven't ever strictly denied it (or confirmed it) before. And I think there is a reason for this. You see, Google WANT people to think there IS a sandbox. Why would they want people to think that when there isn't? Because if people think that there IS a sandbox, people will be careful and not go OTT on their backlinking and SEO etc so as to not get "sandboxed".

And I don't think that Gary knew this! So I think Gary has let the cat out of the bag here. And I think that Matt and everyone else at Google webspam team will now be slapping Gary on the wrist (proverbially) or at least, chewing him out over it haha!

So yeah, all this time, my sneaking suspicions have been confirmed. There is no sandbox penalty. There isn't even a sandbox! What it is when this happens to you (your site) is part of another (or several) algorithms.

And this did happen to one of my sites a long time ago. I never bothered to do any cleaning up though. I just kept going. When you suddenly stop building links that's not a good sign and is a sign the links you was building weren't natural. For sites that get lots of links don't just suddenly stop getting links. So I just kept going with the link building. Although admittedly I did change my tactic a little and focused less on the quick links I could build and went for better links. But through that and just adding lots of content to my site, my rankings came back better. However, eventually I flipped the site/domain anyway.

But yeah, no sandbox penalty exists. - Something I've largely suspected for a long time.

Thanks for confirming my suspicions today.

Mike.

9 years ago

Are you sure you want to delete this post?

sumoncps

I have just read about this term but not so aware of this yet. Has not used it yet, but after reading this post got some basic idea, now will try to explore more about it.

9 years ago

Are you sure you want to delete this post?

idealmike

now will try to explore more about it.

Please do!

9 years ago

Are you sure you want to delete this post?

overcast

They do seem to have an algorithm at place. And that's how they filter new blogs and websites. I think it takes few weeks for any domain to properly settle. I am guessing that some of the time, such sandbox has different name and algorithm going on which updates with time.

9 years ago

Are you sure you want to delete this post?

cmoneyspinner

You just taught me two new terms: sandbox and site-wide backlinks. It seems to me I need to find a tool that checks my site's backlinks. A quick search led me to Free Backlink Checker SEO Tool. Will have to add this SEO task to my To Do List.

9 years ago

Are you sure you want to delete this post?

overcast

Backlinks checker sounds like a good tool. Though backlink checker tools often are spammy in nature. And they don't properly count the links. And the links which are weighted by google. So it'd be fair to see how does this work. I am going to try the link.

9 years ago

Are you sure you want to delete this post?

itommy

I don't think Google Sandbox is exist, it is only one of penalties from Google for bad sites that against Google SEO guidelines.
I believe if we oly focus on quality content and backlinks then we don't care about Google penalties any more.

9 years ago

Are you sure you want to delete this post?

SEOClerks

Does Google sandbox exist?

Does Google sandbox exist?

Comments

Please login or sign up to leave a comment

johnfranklin1

idealmike

sumoncps

idealmike

overcast

cmoneyspinner

overcast

itommy

Invalid SQL

Expensive SQL

Suspicious SQL

Match	Count	SQL	Script
SELECT * FROM members_ledger WHERE ip = ? AND added>=unix_timestamp(NOW())-86400	1	SELECT querystring, added FROM members_ledger WHERE ip = ? AND added>=unix_timestamp(NOW())-86400	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/include/functions/includes/security.php 398 fetchMemberLedger() include_once()
SELECT * FROM `questions` as q JOIN categories_faq as c ON q.catid=c.CATID WHERE (q.status=1 OR (q.status=2 AND userid='') ) AND q.quesid='22853'	1	SELECT q.*, c.seo as CatSEO, c.name as CatName, c.parentid FROM `questions` as q JOIN categories_faq as c ON q.catid=c.CATID WHERE (q.status=1 OR (q.status=2 AND userid='') ) AND q.quesid='22853'	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/viewfaq.php 496 () ()
SELECT * FROM seoclerks.members WHERE USERID='134'	1	SELECT * FROM seoclerks.members WHERE USERID='134'	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/include/functions/includes/member.php 445 GetAllUserDetails() ()
SELECT * FROM categories_faq WHERE CATID='36'	1	SELECT CATID, seo, name, metatitle, h2header, metakeywords, metadescription, metaheader, parentid, image_name FROM categories_faq WHERE CATID='36'	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/libraries/adodb5/adodb.inc.php 1899 CacheExecute() GetCategorySeoFromType()
SELECT * FROM categories_faq WHERE CATID='30'	1	SELECT CATID, seo, name, metatitle, h2header, metakeywords, metadescription, metaheader, parentid, image_name FROM categories_faq WHERE CATID='30'	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/libraries/adodb5/adodb.inc.php 1899 CacheExecute() GetCategorySeoFromType()
SELECT * FROM seoclerks.members WHERE USERID=134	1	SELECT googleplus_profile FROM seoclerks.members WHERE USERID=134	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/include/functions/main.php 16914 GetGooglePlusProfileFromId() ()
SELECT * FROM ratings_faq as r, seoclerks.members as m WHERE r.USERID=m.USERID AND r.upvote=1 AND r.PID=22853 LIMIT 5	1	SELECT m.username FROM ratings_faq as r, seoclerks.members as m WHERE r.USERID=m.USERID AND r.upvote=1 AND r.PID=22853 LIMIT 5	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/include/functions/main.php 17159 GetVoters() ()
SELECT * FROM answers a, seoclerks.members b WHERE a.quesid='22853' AND a.userid=b.USERID and b.status='1' AND a.status=1 ORDER BY a.combined_votes DESC, a.date_answered asc	1	SELECT a.answer, a.USERID, a.upvotes, a.downvotes, a.ansid, a.parentid, a.combined_votes, a.date_answered, b.username, b.userlevel, b.profilepicture FROM answers a, seoclerks.members b WHERE a.quesid='22853' AND a.userid=b.USERID and b.status='1' AND a.status=1 ORDER BY a.combined_votes DESC, a.date_answered asc	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/viewfaq.php 1245 () ()
SELECT * FROM ratings_faqanswers as r, seoclerks.members as m WHERE r.USERID=m.USERID AND r.upvote=1 AND r.PID=117949 LIMIT 5	1	SELECT m.username FROM ratings_faqanswers as r, seoclerks.members as m WHERE r.USERID=m.USERID AND r.upvote=1 AND r.PID=117949 LIMIT 5	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/include/functions/main.php 17159 GetVoters() ()
SELECT * FROM ratings_faqanswers as r, seoclerks.members as m WHERE r.USERID=m.USERID AND r.upvote=1 AND r.PID=117965 LIMIT 5	1	SELECT m.username FROM ratings_faqanswers as r, seoclerks.members as m WHERE r.USERID=m.USERID AND r.upvote=1 AND r.PID=117965 LIMIT 5	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/include/functions/main.php 17159 GetVoters() ()
SELECT * FROM ratings_faqanswers as r, seoclerks.members as m WHERE r.USERID=m.USERID AND r.upvote=1 AND r.PID=118002 LIMIT 5	1	SELECT m.username FROM ratings_faqanswers as r, seoclerks.members as m WHERE r.USERID=m.USERID AND r.upvote=1 AND r.PID=118002 LIMIT 5	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/include/functions/main.php 17159 GetVoters() ()
SELECT * FROM ratings_faqanswers as r, seoclerks.members as m WHERE r.USERID=m.USERID AND r.upvote=1 AND r.PID=118009 LIMIT 5	1	SELECT m.username FROM ratings_faqanswers as r, seoclerks.members as m WHERE r.USERID=m.USERID AND r.upvote=1 AND r.PID=118009 LIMIT 5	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/include/functions/main.php 17159 GetVoters() ()
SELECT * FROM ratings_faqanswers as r, seoclerks.members as m WHERE r.USERID=m.USERID AND r.upvote=1 AND r.PID=118296 LIMIT 5	1	SELECT m.username FROM ratings_faqanswers as r, seoclerks.members as m WHERE r.USERID=m.USERID AND r.upvote=1 AND r.PID=118296 LIMIT 5	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/include/functions/main.php 17159 GetVoters() ()
SELECT * FROM ratings_faqanswers as r, seoclerks.members as m WHERE r.USERID=m.USERID AND r.upvote=1 AND r.PID=119531 LIMIT 5	1	SELECT m.username FROM ratings_faqanswers as r, seoclerks.members as m WHERE r.USERID=m.USERID AND r.upvote=1 AND r.PID=119531 LIMIT 5	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/include/functions/main.php 17159 GetVoters() ()
SELECT * FROM ratings_faqanswers as r, seoclerks.members as m WHERE r.USERID=m.USERID AND r.upvote=1 AND r.PID=124835 LIMIT 5	1	SELECT m.username FROM ratings_faqanswers as r, seoclerks.members as m WHERE r.USERID=m.USERID AND r.upvote=1 AND r.PID=124835 LIMIT 5	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/include/functions/main.php 17159 GetVoters() ()
SELECT * FROM ratings_faqanswers as r, seoclerks.members as m WHERE r.USERID=m.USERID AND r.upvote=1 AND r.PID=126382 LIMIT 5	1	SELECT m.username FROM ratings_faqanswers as r, seoclerks.members as m WHERE r.USERID=m.USERID AND r.upvote=1 AND r.PID=126382 LIMIT 5	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/include/functions/main.php 17159 GetVoters() ()
UPDATE questions SET total_views = total_views + 1 WHERE quesid='22853'	1	UPDATE questions SET total_views = total_views + 1 WHERE quesid='22853'	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/include/functions/main.php 1765 update_Faqviewcount() ()
SELECT * FROM questions WHERE quesid!='22853' AND status='1' AND (question like '%Does Google sandbox exist? %' OR question like '%Does%' OR question like '%Google%' OR question like '%sandbox%' OR question like '%exist?%') -- ORDER BY RAND() LIMIT 15	1	SELECT quesid, question, seo, userid FROM questions WHERE quesid!='22853' AND status='1' AND (question like '%Does Google sandbox exist? %' OR question like '%Does%' OR question like '%Google%' OR question like '%sandbox%' OR question like '%exist?%') -- ORDER BY RAND() LIMIT 15	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/libraries/adodb5/adodb.inc.php 1899 CacheExecute() ()
SELECT * FROM seoclerks.members WHERE USERID='1129' limit 1	1	SELECT profilepicture FROM seoclerks.members WHERE USERID='1129' limit 1	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/libraries/adodb5/adodb.inc.php 1899 CacheExecute() insert_get_member_profilepicture()
SELECT * FROM seoclerks.members WHERE USERID='498' limit 1	1	SELECT profilepicture FROM seoclerks.members WHERE USERID='498' limit 1	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/libraries/adodb5/adodb.inc.php 1899 CacheExecute() insert_get_member_profilepicture()
SELECT * FROM seoclerks.members WHERE USERID='707' limit 1	1	SELECT profilepicture FROM seoclerks.members WHERE USERID='707' limit 1	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/libraries/adodb5/adodb.inc.php 1899 CacheExecute() insert_get_member_profilepicture()
SELECT * FROM seoclerks.members WHERE USERID='318' limit 1	1	SELECT profilepicture FROM seoclerks.members WHERE USERID='318' limit 1	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/libraries/adodb5/adodb.inc.php 1899 CacheExecute() insert_get_member_profilepicture()
SELECT * FROM members_ledger WHERE script='/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/viewfaq.php' AND querystring LIKE '%id=22853%' AND added>=UNIX_TIMESTAMP(NOW())-1200 GROUP BY USERID	1	SELECT USERID, username FROM members_ledger WHERE script='/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/viewfaq.php' AND querystring LIKE '%id=22853%' AND added>=UNIX_TIMESTAMP(NOW())-1200 GROUP BY USERID	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/libraries/adodb5/adodb.inc.php 1899 CacheExecute() ()
SELECT * FROM categories	1	SELECT * FROM categories	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/libraries/adodb5/adodb.inc.php 1899 CacheExecute() parseRedundantQueriesCache()
select * from categories_software order by name asc	1	select * from categories_software order by name asc	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/libraries/adodb5/adodb.inc.php 1899 CacheExecute() insert_GetSoftwareCategories()
select * from categories_wanttobuy order by name asc	1	select * from categories_wanttobuy order by name asc	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/libraries/adodb5/adodb.inc.php 1899 CacheExecute() insert_get_wantcategories()
select * from categories_wanttotrade order by name asc	1	select * from categories_wanttotrade order by name asc	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/libraries/adodb5/adodb.inc.php 1899 CacheExecute() insert_get_tradecategories()
SELECT * FROM seoclerks.members WHERE USERID='588952.jpg'	1	SELECT profilepicture FROM seoclerks.members WHERE USERID='588952.jpg'	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/libraries/adodb5/adodb.inc.php 1899 CacheExecute() getUserProfileImage()
SELECT * FROM seoclerks.members WHERE USERID='272.jpg'	1	SELECT profilepicture FROM seoclerks.members WHERE USERID='272.jpg'	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/libraries/adodb5/adodb.inc.php 1899 CacheExecute() getUserProfileImage()
SELECT * FROM seoclerks.members WHERE USERID='312171.png'	1	SELECT profilepicture FROM seoclerks.members WHERE USERID='312171.png'	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/libraries/adodb5/adodb.inc.php 1899 CacheExecute() getUserProfileImage()
SELECT * FROM seoclerks.members WHERE USERID='589438.jpg'	1	SELECT profilepicture FROM seoclerks.members WHERE USERID='589438.jpg'	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/libraries/adodb5/adodb.inc.php 1899 CacheExecute() getUserProfileImage()
SELECT * FROM seoclerks.members WHERE USERID='596028.jpg'	1	SELECT profilepicture FROM seoclerks.members WHERE USERID='596028.jpg'	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/libraries/adodb5/adodb.inc.php 1899 CacheExecute() getUserProfileImage()
SELECT * FROM seoclerks.members WHERE USERID='275652.png'	1	SELECT profilepicture FROM seoclerks.members WHERE USERID='275652.png'	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/libraries/adodb5/adodb.inc.php 1899 CacheExecute() getUserProfileImage()
select * from categories_faq order by name asc	1	select * from categories_faq order by name asc	/opt/clerks-staging/docroot/libraries/adodb5/adodb.inc.php 1899 CacheExecute() insert_GetFaqCategories()