The Widget Corporation is a highly successful business that
specializes in designing and manufacturing office widgets,
namely customized stress balls and ergonomically designed
footrests.
The owner Jason Widget collaborated with a web design company to
create a beautiful web site with strong content, numerous
incoming links, an online catalog and ordering system.
Even after the site was featured in the industry's most popular
trade publication six weeks after the site launch, Mr. Widget
was confounded when he went to Google and searched for his web
site using intuitive keyword combinations, including ''Widget
Corporation,'' ''office widgets,'' ''custom stress balls,'' etc.
Nothing.
His searches kept yielding pages of results, but the Widget
Corp's site was nowhere to be found in the first two pages of
listings.
Then he typed in the keyword combo ''ergonomic footrests,'' and
his site popped up #1.
Sound familiar?
Mr. Widget's web site, although optimized well for search
engines, is likely one of the many web sites launched after
March 2004 that are experiencing the Google Sandbox effect.
While the existence of the Sandbox as a new site filter is a
subject of debate among search engine experts, Google has
reportedly all but admitted that the Sandbox filter is real.
What exactly is the Google Sandbox?
According to Wayne Hurlbert, a contributor to Blog Business
World for successful entrepreneurs, the Sandbox ''is very
similar to a new web site being placed on probation, and kept
lower than expected in searches, prior to being given full value
for its incoming links and content.''
With the onslaught of spam-related web sites coming online, the
Sandbox theoretically weeds out from results pages those
spammers who supplement weak content with purchased links to
garner high rankings and sales before getting banned.
If a new web site has strong, relevant content, abundant
incoming links, favorable search results for secondary keyword
phrases and yet does not appear for the most important searches,
then it has probably been earmarked to do its obligatory Sandbox
time. Time in the Sandbox can range from one to six months, but
the average duration is three to four months.
A site's duration in the Sandbox is directly proportionate to
the competitiveness of the keywords and key phrases it targets.
The more competitive the site's search terms, the longer the
site stays buried in the Sandbox.
While time is the only real solution to getting out of the
Sandbox, Hurlbert offers some helpful tips for making the best
out of the unavoidable:
1. Register a domain, set up hosting and publish a web site
prior to official launch time to start the clock ticking on the
Sandbox duration period 2. Continue to add as many incoming
links as possible 3. Keep building relevant content to your site
4. Consider buying an already existing domain
Hurlbert claims that proper time management can help a site
avoid the Sandbox altogether. Even if you're not ready to build
a web site just yet, procure a domain name and put up a splash
page at the very least.
Contact staff@vulcancreative.com to get started today and avoid
the Sandbox. Your widget sales just might skyrocket.
Read Hurlbert's entire blog entry on the Sandbox here:
http://blogbusinessworld.blogspot.com/2005/04/google-sandbox-theo
ry-validated-by.html. Send your comments or questions to
jeannette@vulcancreative.com.
About the author:
Jeannette Balleza is Co-Owner of Vulcan Creative, a creative
agency specializing in identity with integrity. Vulcan Creative
consults with clients on communication strategy and concept
development and refinement for graphic design and web site
development projects. Go to http://www.vulcancreative.com for
more information and to request a free initial consultation.
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