What is the Google sandbox?
Can a brand new domain and website overcome the sandbox?
New website seo strategy.
Ranking a new domain in 60 days for tough, national keywords.
It’s a dubbed industry term for a supposed filter that stops a brand-new domain or website from appearing in the leading results of Google search (typically, 6 to 9 months of hold-ups).
To be more precise. Google sandbox prevents a new website from appearing in the top few pages for keyword phrases with search volume.
This means Google doesn’t want to serve new websites to users that might find them through a traditional keyword.
There are a number of reasons why Google don’t want to serve a new website or business.
- The more obvious one (and one that most SEO’s subscribe to) is trust. The search engine knows nothing about your business and doesn’t want to risk serving it as a search result to their valuable customers (Google users).
- Another reason has to do with website power and authority. Mostly, webpages don’t rank on page 1 without power (this often leads to backlinks) or authority (a small by an important part of this is found via domain age).
Brand search versus keyword search
Brand search is another matter. Let’s say your business is called “Laces Bakes” and you have bought the domain lacesbakes.co.uk. Google algorithm (and sandbox) doesn’t prevent this domain from ranking on page one for its brand term i.e. Laces bakes
There may be little value in ranking on page 1 for a brand term as very few people will be using new business brand names in search.
How many people will be searching ‘laces bakes’ in Google when the business is just launching?
Few, if any at all.
So, the Google sandbox is meant to hold new websites and domains from the first few pages of search results for keywords with a search volume.
Laces Bakes are a cake and cake decoration service. The sandbox stops them from appearing on page one for ‘order birthday cake’ or a local phrase such as ‘birthday cakes Bristol’.
The sandbox isn’t confirmed by Google but with multiple tests, I have not found a domain ranking on page one for revenue generating keywords within at least a six-month period from launch.
At least, until now.
Jumping the Google sandbox. Can it be done?
Yes.
I have been successful in jumping the Google sandbox by driving thousands of unique, monthly organic visitors to a new business website and domain in around 2 months from launch.
Google Analytic Metrics
Domain purchased: 15th March 2018
There was a six-week build. This included design, site architecture and content.
Note – during this phase I carried out a variety of personal seo strategies to enable the site to jump the Google sandbox.
Domain submitted to Google search engines: 3rd May 2018
First signs of organic traffic: 15th May 2018 averaging about 60 hits per day
500% Increase in traffic: 7th June 2018 (approximately 3 weeks later) to 300 unique hits per day
Further 200% increase in organic traffic: 2nd April 2019 (10 months later) 1,200 unique hits per day
To confirm, see screenshots below. More than 90% of the traffic arrived with Google search engines for keywords that are meaningful to the business. This resulted in quick sales and revenue.
New domain purchase
Google first indexing
700% Increase in organic traffic within 10-months of launching website
The first five minutes of my recent YouTube video outlines these stats and revenue in a bit more detail.
Actually, this very blog post and the rest of the website are currently in strategy for jumping the sandbox. I’ve composed this article on 21st April 2019 and will launch the site in the next few weeks.
Key to this entire strategy is the work carried out on a website before it is submitted to Google for indexing. There’s a plethora of work that goes in to ensure the right outcome.
Factors include:
Website architecture
Content and inner linking
JSON LD Schema markup
Video
My hourly rate on ‘Done For You’ SEO is just £100 per hour.
My hourly rate for consulting is £150 per hour.
If you need experienced, detailed attention for your business website get in touch with me now or use my direct email here seo@marcusrockey.co.uk
Marcus Rockey
Google & YouTube SEO consultant
