- The name of the beach volleyball court at Google HQ
- A quarantine zone that Google applies to new sites and URLs
The term sandbox was coined by the Search Engine Marketing (SEM) industry rather than Google and it is basically the theory of a quarantine zone for new URLs within the Google index. These URLs are kept in the Google Sandbox to play away from the big boys until Google has assigned a value to the site. In effect, this period exists until Google starts to 'trust' the site. This period of time allows Google to visit and assess the validity of the site for inclusion in the index and Search Engine Result Page (SERP) listings for the keyword terms contained within the site's content.
So we can look at the Google Sandbox as a period of time in which all new sites are subject to an assessment of site 'quality'. But why does Google do this?
Google, like other search engines, wants to ensure that the results which it presents to users are relevant and this 'relevancy' is partly based on the merits of the site. New sites must pass an assessment before being returned for searches for target keywords - the site must convince Google that it is worthy of inclusion in the index. And in this way Google attempts to maintain the highest possible quality for its SERPs.
This kind of quarantine in Google's index essentially restricts the ability of the site to perform within the organic search results for an undetermined period of time. The site cannot perform for targeted keywords until Google trusts the site enough to allow inclusion in the organic search results.
How, then, does a site emerge? Well, since the sandbox effect is essentially aimed at determining trust in a site, user activity is one of the most important factors. Organic search users entering and spending time on the site - and not immediately clicking away to another site - is a good way of getting out of the sandbox. But how can a site that is currently not achieving within organic search listings manage to drive traffic to the site? Depending on budget, there are a number of offline marketing options, and online the best you can do is apply techniques to reduce the time spent in the Sandbox.
It is important, therefore, for brand new sites to be aware of the so called sandbox effect that restricts a site's ranking organically for keywords within organic search results. So what can you do to avoid the Sandbox? Make your site interesting and have relevant content. Make sure there is a reason why people would want to link to, visit, and spend time on, your site. Create a buzz about your site and let the world know you are there - get yourself a bigmouth and shout from the rooftops that you have arrived!
