9 replies to this topic

[squibbs11]

Did anyone else notice any change in the duration of the Google Sandbox??

Recently, for the second time, we published a new website (new URL) and were completely indexed by Google within a matter of two weeks. In addition to the index, the sites are receiving quality organic results.

Both sites were for smaller local businesses...

Perhaps Google has changed their sandboxing policy to help further enrich their depth of local content as they continue to make a push into the local advertising market???

[BlueSky]

Did anyone else notice any change in the duration of the Google Sandbox??

I recently set up a domain and it was indexed within weeks, then Yahoo, and eventually MSN a few weeks later. I have no idea why Google was so quick...

[Bradley]

The sandbox effect is most noticeable for competitive queries; and often local sites aren't particularly competitive.

I've been involved with a few local launches recently, and have had similar results with optimized sites. Which is great, nothing like qualified traffic right off the bat...

[Jill]

Please let us know if those results stick. It wouldn't be surprising if within a few more weeks they are missing again...

[squibbs11]

Jill,

Any idea as to why this might be???

[Jill]

Maybe because new sites have no trust built up around them?

[Karena]

We launched a single page website in June. Within a couple of weeks it was appearing on the first page, in a high position in Google for a competitive search term that we told the client not to expect anything spectacular as they were competing with established, content rich websites with more than just one page. To get that sort of result when I'd read so much about the Google sandbox meant that I was shocked to say the least!

Two months on, it has dropped for the competitive search term, but only to the second page. It's stayed in a good position on the first page in Google for the local search terms.

Although the website is using a new domain name registered just before the website was launched, the website does have our client's two other separate businesses' websites (with completely different content) linking to it. Those websites are very well established, with one being over 8 years old and also performing well for it's competitive search terms.

I will certainly keep an eye on our client's single page website to see if any more drops happen. I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has had a similar result for a similar set of circumstances.

[Lorinda]

I have also had a similar experience. I launched the home page of site under development on August 4th and within a few days, it too appeared in the top 5 of Google (MSN and Yahoo, too) for the major key phrases and has stayed there ever since. In fact, I feel kind of foolish now because, at that time, the site really wasn't ready for human consumption and it was already getting quality traffic. I just figured I'd get a jump start, thinking the site would be done by the time the search engines picked it up. The real shocker is a major portion of the page is big honkin' swf file (yes, I know: Flash bad, HTML good). But again, this site is in a relatively non-competitive niche and who knows how long it will last...

[Karena]

We launched a two page website on Friday which currently has one good quality website linking to it already. The good news is that Google has picked it up for the local search terms today, but we don't expect any amazing results for the national competitive search terms and nor would our client want that type of traffic.

Any else having the same pleasing results with new launches? As with the other website I've mentioned, I'll keep you posted as to whether the results change at all.

[squibbs11]

The two sites that I were referring to were both hyper local in nature also. I honestly believe that Google has changed their aging delay to enrich their local content for Google Maps, but I could be entirely wrong.

We also run a community based website for a small local community and have seen a noticable increase in organic results from Google. For the last 6 months or so, we averaged approximately 60% of our organic traffic from Google; however, the past 1-2 months, we have been approaching 75% of our organic traffic from Google without seeing a decrease in the number of total searches coming from either MSN or Yahoo.

Maybe i'm looking into it too much, but in my opinion, Google has changed their algorithms to provide higher quality local search results especially for the small business owner. As someone who relies very heavily on SEO and organic traffic, I have no problem with it; however, it does raise some flags as to what Google has up their sleeve as they make their push into the local advertising market.