7 replies to this topic

[doughayman]

I apologize in advance, if this post is construed as a repeat of a post that I made several days ago. I orignally posted the information on that one slightly incorrectly (I used the term "subdomain", when in fact, I should have used the term "subdirectory").

Anyway, I have a domain that has been in existence since 1997, and I have 6 websites off this domain, that have been created as subdirectories. E.g.,

www.domain.com/subject1/Website1.htm
www.domain.com/subject2/Website2.htm
.
.
.
etc.

Each website (subdirectory path) is unique, and unrelated subject-wise to any of its siblings.

All 6 of my subdirectory-based websites have a PR of either 3 or 4, and all of their subordinate pages also have a PR of 3 or 4.

2 of 6 "subidrectory" sites rank extremely well in the SERPs; one of which is in a very highly competitive space (keyword-wise). 2 of the sites rank moderately, and 2 of the sites don't rank anywhere, unless I include my domain name as part of the keyword search text. These latter 2 "subdirectory" sites are in competitive keyword search areas.

My question is as follows (you know I was going to get there eventually :

Everything regarding the "Sandbox Penalty" that I've read, talks about new "domains" being effected. Given that my domain has been around quite some time, are my new "Subdirectory-based" websites, which are underneath my established domain, still subject to this Sandbox penalty ? Does anyone have any insight into this ?

Thank you very much in advance, for any insight that you can provide.

Regards,

Doug

[Michael Martinez]

To date, including my own direct experience at launching new content sections on existing domains that are not sandboxed, I have seen no one report that such content has been sandboxed in any way.

However, without knowing what technology is behind the sandbox effect, we cannot definitively say that Google would not ever be able to block new content sub-sections (although identifying them would be pretty hairy, in my opinion).

[doughayman]

Michael,

Thanks for your reply and information. I was leaning towards your answer, to be quite honest, but was secretly hoping that the Sandbox effect was in effect for new subdirectories.

Reason being is that these 2 sites are cut from the exact same mold as my other sites (i.e., HTML is almost identical). Only thing that is really different is content. Content amount is somwhere between those sites that have excellent SERPs, and those that have mediocre SERP's.

I guess I'm just trying to discern why the ranking difference. Is it Sandbox (and should I leave the site along), or is there something more fundamentally wrong with the site ? That is the $ 64,000 question.....

Doug

[Michael Martinez]

When did you create the sub-directory sites that are not ranking well? How competitive are the terms (in your own estimation)? How well optimized are the sites that rank above them (in terms of both on-page and off-page factors)? Did their rankings change during the update that Google is still rolling out?

[doughayman]

When did you create the sub-directory sites that are not ranking well? How competitive are the terms (in your own estimation)? How well optimized are the sites that rank above them (in terms of both on-page and off-page factors)? Did their rankings change during the update that Google is still rolling out?

Michael,

The subdirectory sites that don't rank were created 2-3 months after those that rank well. In my own estimation, the terms are very competitive, but those of my sites that rank well, are also very competitive. I applied the exact same optimization techniques to those of my sites that rank well, and those that don't. The only difference is the size of, and the contents of, the content. My sites that rank well, have moved up slightly during this last update - I'm ranking on the 1st page of Google in at least 8 different phrases; in the bad ones, I'm still off the map.

It is rather perplexing, in high-level terms, no ???

Thanks,

Doug

[Randy]

I rather doubt you're looking at any sort of aging delay issues Doug. Like Michael I've never seen a new subdirectory of an already established site experience anything remotely like an aging delay.

You'll need to take a good look at the competition factors, how well your subdirectory sites are being linked to, what anchor text is being used on those links, what anchor text you're using internally, etc, etc.

FWIW, when you're looking at competition don't just look at the counts that come up in the SERPs when you do a search on your phrases. Take a good look at the top 20-30 sites and see how well they are optimized overall. That'll give you a lot better indication as to the level of competiton.

[doughayman]

OK Randy, thanks for your comments and advice.

Regards,

Doug

[Michael Martinez]

The third phase of Google's latest update has begun rolling out. In a few more days, most people will be able to see what the true damage (or boon) for their listings has been.

Until then, I recommend you participate in the Web site reviews. Looking at other people's sites and commenting on them may help give you some ideas.