Xplore Net Solutions are a New Zealand website design and development company and ecommerce provider. We are the developers of the Xsite Content Management System and Xmail Precision Email Marketing software

Ageism on the web - the Google Sandbox (07/07)

In an industry riddled with countless employees yet to experience their first pubescent shave, it seems incomprehensible that ageism could be impacting the web industry with such force. But, for over three years now, Google (one of the world’s leading search engine providers) has had in place policies that prevent the equal treatment of young and old; blatant and unrepentant ageism.

Before you scurry off to tell your colleagues about the great injustice which will surely lead to the public crucifixion of Google, please first allow me to explain.

In recent years, website owners have been frustrated by the ongoing anomaly of NEW websites ranking well in Yahoo and MSN search engines, while they seem completely invisible in Google. Many web developers and Search Engine Optimisation companies have dubbed this anomaly the “sandbox effect” with the age of the website domain (e.g. www.xplore.net) being the catalyst.

...websites with newly-registered domains or domains with frequent ownership changes are placed in a “sandbox” where they won't rank on Google.

The theory is that websites with newly-registered domains or domains with frequent ownership or nameserver changes are placed in a “sandbox” where they can play nicely with the other “children” away for the “real” websites. While these websites earn their way out of this “probationary” status with Google, they are hidden from sight when users search for keywords related to these websites.

Recent observations suggest that it can take anywhere from 3-8 months for sandboxed websites to be “deemed appropriate” by Google and be allowed a proper ranking with the grown ups. Meanwhile, many poor website owners spend copious amounts of money investing in Search Engine Marketing campaigns and content tweaks/changes to influence their rankings - all in vain.

One widely held opinion of Google’s motivation behind creating the sandbox is that it is Google’s way of fighting back against the mini-networks and other multi-site strategies created to artificially force high rankings for new websites. For years, developers have been trying to “force” high rankings by dividing what should be a single website into multiple websites, in order to capitalise on the links that are then exchanged between the sites (a key factor Google uses to decide page rank). Google finally had enough and ended playtime.

The Sandbox Effect theory is the topic of hot debate amongst the web community, with many differing opinions about whether the sandbox actually exists (some believe the effect can be attributed to a mathematical algorithm) and how it works. However, all agree that this anomaly only transpires in the Google search engine and the only way to rank during this period is to plan ahead!

It was common practice to keep a new website under wraps until the “grand launch”, but with the sandbox now in play, it is smarter to get up a website as soon as possible...

In the past it, was common practice to keep a new website under wraps until the “grand launch”. However, with the sandbox now in play, it is smarter to get up a website as soon as possible (even if it is only a single page with a short blurb about your business). The sooner Google is aware of your new domain, the better.

In fact, I highly recommend that as soon as you get a domain name, get a temporary page up and get a link to it from another website in Google’s index (e.g. Xplore.net links to all new website customers, as we are already indexed by Google) to start the clock ticking.

Author: Wendy Schollum

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