So - you've built your sparkling new e-commerce site. You've researched the best keywords and phrases to attract customers, and optimised your pages to achieve high rankings in Google. You've submitted to all the search engines and directories, and got links from other sites. Eagerly you check the search engine results for your keywords After a couple of weeks, you start to turn up on MSNs results, then a bit lower down in Yahoo, but in Google - a big, fat zero!

Welcome to the sandbox!

The sandbox effect first appeared around April 2004. Since then, new websites with newly registered domain names have had to wait several months before being allowed into the main search results. There has been quite a lot of discussion about the Google Sandbox, even whether or not it really exists. There has been no official word from Google, although some Google employees appear to have confirmed its existance.

What appears to happen is this: new sites are subjected to an "ageing delay" which prevents them ranking well for a period of time. Some people have suggested that this is designed to stop spammers creating sites that get to the top of the results quickly using tactics that are in violation of Googles TOS, making a lot of money quickly before getting banned, then creating another site and repeating the process.

Another suggestion is that it is the inbound links that are discounted for new sites, reducing their rankings, in order to stop new spam related sites from buying numerous inbound links and ranking highly from day one. In effect, new sites are being put on probation until they have "proved" that they are genuine sites by still being there several months later.

How do I know if my site has been "Sandboxed"

The Sandbox is not a punishment for anything you have done wrong - your site will still be indexed by Google (you can check which pages of your site are in the index by searching for site:yoursite.com) . If however, no pages from your site appear in Googles index, then the site has probably been banned. Another way to check this is to look at your server logs - if your site has been visited by Googlebot then it is not banned.

Typical effects of being sandboxed are:

• Your site ranks well in other search engines, particularly MSN, but ranks nowhere in Google
• Your site ranks well for obscure or secondary keywords or phrases, but not for the main ones

How do I get out of the sandbox

In a word - wait.

That isn't much comfort for the website owner, however there are strategies for coping with the sandbox effect.

Firstly, don't wait until your site is "perfect". No web site is ever "complete" so don't wait until it's "ready" before setting it up. Get that domain name registered, get some content written and get it on the web and submitted to the search engines. You can finalise the layout and the graphic design elements later, as long as google has something to start indexing. This does not mean you should put up a site with broken links or "under construction" pages, just start with a small site or a few temporary pages and add to it later.

Dont forget that there is life beyond Google. Although Google is by far the most popular search engine at the moment, you can use your time in the sandbox productively by optimising your site to achieve higher rankings in MSN, Yahoo etc. Not only will this generate more traffic from these search engines, but the lessons learned will give you a head start when google releases you. There is some research that suggests people searching on MSN are more likely to actually buy goods than those searching on Google - presumably down to different demographics of MSN users.

Build your linking strategy to get high quality inbound links from quality sites. As this takes time anyway, use your time in the sandbox to improve your PR. Don't forget - links aren't just to improve your ranking - they're there to bring targeted visitors to your site.

Use the fact that you may still be ranked highly for secondary keywords or phrases to your advantage. Optimise for these and you could steal a march on those of your competitors who are only targeting the main competitive keywords of your market.

There is of course, no ageing delay on established sites - if it is appropriate and possible, it may be worth building your new site as a subdomain of your existing site, thereby bypassing the sandbox altogether.

There is of course a way to make sure you get on Googles first page straight away. Anyone running an e-commerce site should have Google adwords as part of their marketing strategy - it may be the first and best thing to do to get traffic to your site.

How long will I be in the Sandbox?

The short answer is that no-one outside of Google knows. From peoples experience, there seems to be a delay of between 3 - 9 months before websites start ranking properly. If your website targets a competitive industry or keyword, it is likely that your stay in the sandox will be longer than if you are targeting a less competitive niche.

Conclusion

Whether or not the Google Sandbox actually exists, the "sandbox effect" for new websites certainly does exist. As a webmaster/website owner you need to have patience, and learn how to cope until your site comes out of the sandbox. Use your time on "probation" to put in place all the strategies that cause websites to rank highly in the search engines. When you finally do leave the sandbox, your website should be very well positioned within Google