{"id":21840,"date":"2018-07-05T00:22:33","date_gmt":"2018-07-05T08:22:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/?p=21840"},"modified":"2022-10-31T03:46:55","modified_gmt":"2022-10-31T08:46:55","slug":"google-sandbox","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/google-sandbox\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Sandbox: Does Google Really Hate New Websites?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"intro-txt\">The Google Sandbox refers to an alleged filter that prevents new websites from ranking in Google\u2019s top results. Think of it like a probation period\u2014even if you do everything right, your site won\u2019t get decent rankings until it comes to an&nbsp;end.<br>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Google Sandbox has never been officially confirmed by Google. But many SEOs are confident in its existence, as they see sandbox-like effects when trying to rank new websites.<\/p>\n<p>So what\u2019s the truth? Does the Google Sandbox exist in 2018? If so, how do you prevent Google from \u201csandboxing\u201d your&nbsp;site?<\/p>\n<p>To answer these questions, I reached out to a few SEO practitioners to learn what they think about Google sandbox in 2018, based on their experience with new websites.<\/p>\n<p>Huge thanks to these&nbsp;guys:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/billsebald\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bill Sebald<\/a><\/strong>, the owner&nbsp;of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenlanemarketing.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Greenlane<\/a>&nbsp;digital marketing agency<\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Edward_Sturm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Edward Sturm<\/a><\/strong>, Director of Marketing @ <a href=\"https:\/\/worldofether.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">World of Ether<\/a>, previously SEO&nbsp;specialist at iProspect<\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/EricSachs_SEO\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Eric Sachs<\/a><\/strong>, SEO expert and CEO of <a href=\"https:\/\/sachsmarketinggroup.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sachs Marketing Group<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/crestodina\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Andy Crestodina<\/a><\/strong>, co-founder of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.orbitmedia.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Orbit Media<\/a>&nbsp;(Andy was especially excited about this topic. He has worked on 1000+ website projects over 18 years and had a lot to&nbsp;share).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Now let\u2019s get started.<\/p>\n<h2>Google Sandbox: A Brief History<\/h2>\n<p>Back in 2004, webmasters and SEO professionals noticed that their newly launched websites were not ranking well on Google for the first few months, despite their SEO efforts.<\/p>\n<p>New websites were duly indexed by Google, but they did not rank even for relatively low-competition&nbsp;keywords and phrases. But they were ranking well on other search engines, such as Bing and&nbsp;Yahoo.<\/p>\n<p>This \u201csandbox\u201d effect lasted from a few weeks to several months.<\/p>\n<p>Keeping in mind that Google wants&nbsp;to serve authoritative and high-quality content to its users and might not trust in brand new websites, that actually made&nbsp;sense.<\/p>\n<p>Rand Fishkin, for example, believed that <a href=\"https:\/\/moz.com\/blog\/seomoz-escapes-the-sandbox\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SEOmoz had been sandboxed for 9 months<\/a>, despite its perfectly natural strong backlink profile.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"small\"><div class=\"quote-content\"> SEOmoz is finally sandbox free for the first time since our move to this domain 9 months ago. We aren\u2019t alone, either. Many folks had sites escape, and I\u2019m happy for all of them. It looks like our 12,000+ all-natural links (never link built for this site, just link-baited) finally paid&nbsp;off.&nbsp;<\/div><div class=\"quote-info clearfix\"><div class=\"quote-photo\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Rand Fishkin\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Rand-Fishkin.jpg\"><\/div><div class=\"extra-box\"><span class=\"quote-author\">Rand Fishkin,<\/span> <span class=\"quote-author-job\">Co-founder <a href=\"https:\/\/moz.com\" target=\"_blank\">Moz<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/blockquote>\n<p>There was even a theory that the Google sandbox was <a href=\"https:\/\/moz.com\/ugc\/what-is-the-biggest-benefit-of-the-sandbox-effect-to-google\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pushing people to spend money on PPC<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In 2014 Google sandbox got another wave of interest when site owners and SEOs again saw that their new sites were not ranking as quickly as they used to, on a large scale. This was <a href=\"http:\/\/www.blackhatunderground.net\/forum\/the-advice-hub\/google-waiting-period-aka-sandbox-for-new-sites\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">mostly discussed on black hat forums<\/a>&nbsp;and could be the result of another anti-spam filter from Google.<\/p>\n<h2>Is There a Sandbox Period in 2018 and If so, How Long Does It&nbsp;Last?<\/h2>\n<p>Although I\u2019ve personally met people boasting about high rankings for 1-month old websites, many SEOs believe there is something that prevents a brand new website from reaching the top search positions.<\/p>\n<p>A lot of SEO experts even list it among the <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/google-ranking-factors\/\">Google ranking factors<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s learn a few opinions from&nbsp;SEO experts. Here\u2019s what I asked&nbsp;them:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>1. In your work, do you feel the impact of <em>the <\/em><em>Google Sandbox (or whatever looks similar to it) on new websites?<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><p>2. How long does it usually take to get out of <em>the<\/em><em>&nbsp;sandbox?<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Let\u2019s go.<br>\n<\/p><blockquote class=\"small\"><div class=\"quote-content\">\n<p>1. I never thought it was a specific \u201cfound a new site; let\u2019s suppress it until we know it\u2019s not a fly-by-night site\u201d type filter. But yes, a new site, be it a start-up or a microsite for an established domain, struggles to get visibility until it proves its importance to Google.<\/p>\n<p>2. If getting out of the sandbox means ranking on the first page, the answer depends on the time put into improving the signals vs the competitiveness of the existing sites. It could be days, months, or years. You get out what you put in. But if getting out of the sandbox means getting indexation, that shouldn\u2019t take more than a few days (unless something is&nbsp;wrong).<\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"quote-info clearfix\"><div class=\"quote-photo\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Bill Sebald\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Bill-Sebald.jpg\"><\/div><div class=\"extra-box\"><span class=\"quote-author\">Bill Sebald,<\/span> <span class=\"quote-author-job\">Owner <a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenlanemarketing.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Greenlane<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"small\"><div class=\"quote-content\">\n<p>1. While I agree there\u2019s no Sandbox, there are certainly sandbox-like algorithms in place to make sure only quality and\/or dedicated webmasters are given the SERP coverage they&nbsp;need.<\/p>\n<p>2.<a name=\"prev-answer\"><\/a> I\u2019m a believer in the \u201c13 month rule\u201d for new sites that aren\u2019t receiving a ton of mentions. For these sites, once the algos see that the site exists past 1 year (non-dedicated webmasters will not pay for hosting fees past 1 year), results tend to increase.<\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"quote-info clearfix\"><div class=\"quote-photo\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Edward Sturm\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Edward-Sturm.png\"><\/div><div class=\"extra-box\"><span class=\"quote-author\">Edward Sturm,<\/span> <span class=\"quote-author-job\">Director of Marketing <a href=\"https:\/\/worldofether.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">World of&nbsp;Ether<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"small\"><div class=\"quote-content\">\n<p>1. Yes absolutely. I completely believe that all new domains experience a \u201cproving period\u201d before they have a shot at organic visibility in Google\u2019s SERPS.<\/p>\n<p>2. That\u2019s dependent on so many different factors. It definitely cannot be a \u201cset it and forget it\u201d approach. The more development one does (content, links, content, directories, Search Console, content, social signals, content, local directories, content, local citations, etc.) the better. As a general rule, I\u2019ll go out on a limb and say 4-6&nbsp;weeks.<\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"quote-info clearfix\"><div class=\"quote-photo\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Eric Sachs\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Eric-Sachs.png\"><\/div><div class=\"extra-box\"><span class=\"quote-author\">Eric Sachs,<\/span> <span class=\"quote-author-job\">CEO <a href=\"https:\/\/sachsmarketinggroup.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Sachs Marketing Group<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"small\"><div class=\"quote-content\">\n<p>1. The way search works, new domains have a big disadvantage. They just don\u2019t have a <a href=\"\/blog\/ahrefs-seo-metrics\/#section2\" data-ahr=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-metrics\/#section2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Domain Rating<\/a>&nbsp;high enough to compete for much of anything. They may get indexed and rank for the brand, but that\u2019s&nbsp;about it at&nbsp;first.<\/p>\n<p>Just like a newborn baby isn\u2019t someone you take advice from, a new website isn\u2019t something that Google considers to be credible, even if there is no actual \u201csandbox\u201d built into the algorithm.<\/p>\n<p>2. New websites are easy to get indexed but hard to rank. We all need to set our expectations carefully.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Crawled<\/strong><em>: Set up Webmaster Tools and \u201cFetch\u201d and you should be crawled within a few&nbsp;hours<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>Indexed<\/strong><em>: Search for your URL in Google and you should see yourself appear in the index within a day or&nbsp;two<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>Ranking for the Brand<\/strong><em>: Unless your brand name is common to lots of other business, you should see your site ranking for the branded keyphrase within a week or&nbsp;so<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>Ranking for ultra-low competition, <\/strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/long-tail-keywords\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">long tail phrases<\/a><\/strong><em>: Especially if they are the titles and headers for a nice detailed page, this should start working within a&nbsp;month<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>Ranking for high-competition, high-volume phrases<\/strong><em>: If you work hard and work smart, you\u2019ll get there in just 3-5 short years. Never give up! It\u2019s worth&nbsp;it.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><div class=\"quote-info clearfix\"><div class=\"quote-photo\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Andy Crestodina\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/andy-crestodina.png\"><\/div><div class=\"extra-box\"><span class=\"quote-author\">Andy Crestodina,<\/span> <span class=\"quote-author-job\">Co-founder <a href=\"https:\/\/www.orbitmedia.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Orbit Media<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/blockquote>\n<h2>Why Does the Sandbox Theory Make&nbsp;Sense?<\/h2>\n<p>The answer is simple:<\/p>\n<p>Holding back brand new websites from ranking could give Google more time to evaluate the website quality and fight&nbsp;spam.<\/p>\n<p>A week-old website suddenly breaking into the SERPs&nbsp;for a competitive keyword, beating the pages that have been ranking there for years is suspicious, right?<\/p>\n<p>Besides, we all know that backlinks are one of the most important ranking factors. And it is highly unlikely that pages on a&nbsp;new website will accrue&nbsp;strong backlink profiles within a few&nbsp;weeks.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, many SEOs strongly believe that Google considers user behaviour in their ranking algorithms via <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/how-to-improve-ctr\/\">click-through rates<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/seo\/glossary\/dwell-time\" data-ahr=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/dwell-time\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">dwell time<\/a>,&nbsp;and other metrics, which they can potentially collect and analyze.<\/p>\n<p>The latter gave birth to another common SEO theory known as&nbsp;the&nbsp;\u201choneymoon period.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It is observed that Google can rank new content higher in search results for a short period of time to understand if it satisfies the users\u2019 intent by looking at visitors\u2019 behaviour.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s a perfect example:<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_21865\" style=\"width: 732px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-21865\" class=\"size-full wp-image-21865\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/possible-honeymoon-period.png\" alt width=\"722\" height=\"325\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/possible-honeymoon-period.png 722w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/possible-honeymoon-period-680x306.png 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 722px) 100vw, 722px\"><p id=\"caption-attachment-21865\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Organic traffic graph from <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-explorer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Site Explorer<\/a>&nbsp;for our&nbsp;recent post about <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/free-keyword-research-tools\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">keyword research tools<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>See that first spike of traffic? That might have been the \u201choneymoon period.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Does Google Deny the Existence of the Sandbox?<\/h2>\n<p>Of course, they&nbsp;do&nbsp;\ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">we don\u2019t have a \u201csandbox\u201d. Don\u2019t worry about it <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JohnMu?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@JohnMu<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Gary \u201c\u9be8\u7406\u201d Illyes (@methode) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/methode\/status\/743480243759964161?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 16,&nbsp;2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"und\">no<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 John \u2606.o(\u2267\u25bd\u2266)o.\u2606 (@JohnMu) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JohnMu\/status\/852131131889790976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 12,&nbsp;2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>But let\u2019s dig a bit deeper.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s John Mueller\u2019s answer to the question about the sandbox effect from a&nbsp;recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=8m__-eaB_hU&amp;feature=youtu.be&amp;t=25m38s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Webmaster Hangout<\/a>, streamed on Feb 23,&nbsp;2018.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"small\"><div class=\"quote-content\"> With regards to sandbox, we don\u2019t really have this traditional sandbox that a lot of SEOs used to be talking about in the years past. We have a number of algorithms that might look similar, but these are essentially just algorithms trying to understand how the website fits in with the rest of the websites trying to rank for those queries. [\u2026] It\u2019s always kind of tricky in the beginning when we have a new website and we don\u2019t quite know where we should put&nbsp;it.&nbsp;<\/div><div class=\"quote-info clearfix\"><div class=\"quote-photo\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"John Mueller\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/john-mueller.png\"><\/div><div class=\"extra-box\"><span class=\"quote-author\">John Mueller,<\/span> <span class=\"quote-author-job\">Webmaster Trends Analyst at  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\" target=\"_blank\">Google<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/blockquote>\n<p>Listen to the full answer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=8m__-eaB_hU&amp;feature=youtu.be&amp;t=25m38s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>, it is very insightful.<\/p>\n<p>As for the importance of domain age for ranking, here is what Matt Cutts <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/-pnpg00FWJY?t=82\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said back in 2010<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"small\"><div class=\"quote-content\"> My answer is not to worry that much. The difference between a domain that\u2019s six months old versus one year old is really not that big at all. So as long as you\u2019ve been around for a least a couple months, a few months, you should be able to make sure that you\u2019re able to show up in the search results.&nbsp;<\/div><div class=\"quote-info clearfix\"><div class=\"quote-photo\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Matt Cutts\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Matt-Cutts.png\"><\/div><div class=\"extra-box\"><span class=\"quote-author\">Matt Cutts,<\/span> <span class=\"quote-author-job\">Former Head of Webspam  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\" target=\"_blank\">Google<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/blockquote>\n<p>That sounds like a sandbox to me. They just don\u2019t call it a \u201csandbox\u201d.<\/p>\n<h2>What stops&nbsp;a new website from ranking?<\/h2>\n<p>Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-A-T) of a website is one of the most important quality characteristics for Google. On top of that, there are backlinks and numerous other factors. It is very unlikely that a new website is able to earn&nbsp;Google\u2019s trust within just a month or&nbsp;two.<\/p>\n<p>Here is a list of factors that might be preventing&nbsp;a new website from ranking:<\/p>\n<h3>1. Lack of content<\/h3>\n<p>Google might not see enough pages on your website to understand its topical relevance. They might need more data to decide what to do with your website and what keyword bucket (topic) it belongs to.<\/p>\n<h3>2. Lack of user signals<\/h3>\n<p>As I already mentioned above, many SEOs are confident that CTR, <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/bounce-rate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">bounce rate<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/seo\/glossary\/dwell-time\" data-ahr=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/dwell-time\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">dwell time<\/a>&nbsp;are among the ranking factors. Until Google processes more behavioral data for your website and compares it with other sites, it might postpone ranking it for <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/top-google-searches\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">popular keywords<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>3. Lack of quality backlinks<\/h3>\n<p>Backlinks (along with content and RankBrain) are one of the <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/now-know-googles-top-three-search-ranking-factors-245882\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">top 3 ranking factors for Google<\/a>. If your content has a weak backlink profile and your website is not yet strong enough to pass \u201clink juice\u201d via internal links, why would Google rank it over other the sites with strong backlinks?<\/p>\n<p>Our own <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/on-page-seo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">study of ranking factors<\/a>&nbsp;showed a strong correlation between the number of referring domains and rankings.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-21869\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/ranking-factors-study.png\" alt width=\"900\" height=\"811\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/ranking-factors-study.png 900w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/ranking-factors-study-768x692.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/ranking-factors-study-472x425.png 472w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\"><\/p>\n<p>You can potentially build quite a few backlinks in just one month, but if they\u2019re not <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/how-to-get-backlinks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">high-quality<\/a>, Google will just ignore them.<\/p>\n<p>Suspicious rapidly grown backlink profiles and anchor text over-optimization <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/google-penalties\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">may get you a penalty<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>4. Industry and competition<\/h3>\n<p>This was another question to the SEO experts:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Are things different across various niches, levels of competition, content types?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"small\"><div class=\"quote-content\"> Absolutely. Google ranks different verticals and industries with different signals. It\u2019s not a \u201cone-size-fits-all\u201d type of ranking algorithm. This is by design.<\/div><div class=\"quote-info clearfix\"><div class=\"quote-photo\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Bill Sebald\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Bill-Sebald.jpg\"><\/div><div class=\"extra-box\"><span class=\"quote-author\">Bill Sebald,<\/span> <span class=\"quote-author-job\">Owner <a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenlanemarketing.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Greenlane<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"small\"><div class=\"quote-content\"> These sandbox-like effects, however, are definitely different across various verticals. Medical and legal websites, for example, tend to require more time and quality backlinks to get SERP traction. This makes sense when you consider that the information on these websites has great power over searchers\u2019 lives; their content needs to be taken seriously.<\/div><div class=\"quote-info clearfix\"><div class=\"quote-photo\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Edward Sturm\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Edward-Sturm.png\"><\/div><div class=\"extra-box\"><span class=\"quote-author\">Edward Sturm,<\/span> <span class=\"quote-author-job\">Director of Marketing <a href=\"https:\/\/worldofether.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">World of&nbsp;Ether<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"small\"><div class=\"quote-content\">\n<p>Always, yes. And I would add geographies to this list. Here\u2019s how to understand niches and neighborhoods in search:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery keyphrase is a competition and every page is a competitor\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So some phrases are within a competitive set where there is much competition. It might be a tony little topic or set of phrases with far fewer relevant pages (\u201cbaby shrew health tips\u201d) \u2026or in a very specific place (\u201cexotic pet clinic in Wichita Kansas\u201d) \u2026or a phrase which pulls up a completely different set of SERP features<\/p>\n<p>You might rank almost immediately and for many years depending on these factors: narrower topics, smaller niches, businesses in that area, less content format, etc.<\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"quote-info clearfix\"><div class=\"quote-photo\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Andy Crestodina\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/andy-crestodina.png\"><\/div><div class=\"extra-box\"><span class=\"quote-author\">Andy Crestodina,<\/span> <span class=\"quote-author-job\">Co-founder <a href=\"https:\/\/www.orbitmedia.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Orbit Media<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/blockquote>\n<p>This was the only question where Eric Sachs had an opposite opinion to those of his colleagues. Eric did not observe any significant difference across various niches and competition levels. The sandbox was everywhere.<\/p>\n<h2>How Can You Avoid or Reduce the Sandbox Period?<\/h2>\n<p>And the final question to the experts was:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Can you avoid this \u201cwaiting period\u201d with outstanding content and quality <em><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/white-hat-link-building-techniques\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">white-hat link-building<\/a>?<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"small\"><div class=\"quote-content\"> In my experience, yes. Look at <a href=\"https:\/\/sparktoro.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sparktoro.com<\/a>&nbsp;as an example.<\/div><div class=\"quote-info clearfix\"><div class=\"quote-photo\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Bill Sebald\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Bill-Sebald.jpg\"><\/div><div class=\"extra-box\"><span class=\"quote-author\">Bill Sebald,<\/span> <span class=\"quote-author-job\">Owner <a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenlanemarketing.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Greenlane<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/blockquote>\n<p>Let\u2019s really have look at Sparktoro, shall&nbsp;we?<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s the screenshot from Ahrefs <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-explorer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Site Explorer<\/a>&nbsp;showing its backlink profile:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-21874\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sparktoro-referring-domains.png\" alt width=\"727\" height=\"283\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sparktoro-referring-domains.png 727w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sparktoro-referring-domains-680x265.png 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 727px) 100vw, 727px\"><\/p>\n<p>And here\u2019s the number of organic keywords, and search traffic:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-21875\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sparktoro-search-traffic.png\" alt width=\"724\" height=\"329\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sparktoro-search-traffic.png 724w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sparktoro-search-traffic-680x309.png 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 724px) 100vw, 724px\"><\/p>\n<p>Looks really impressive!<\/p>\n<p>But at a closer look, Sparktoro does not rank for any high-volume keywords in top 10 yet (excluding the brand keywords).<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_21876\" style=\"width: 910px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-21876\" class=\"wp-image-21876 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sparktoro-organic-keywords.png\" alt width=\"900\" height=\"361\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sparktoro-organic-keywords.png 900w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sparktoro-organic-keywords-768x308.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sparktoro-organic-keywords-680x273.png 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\"><p id=\"caption-attachment-21876\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Organic Keywords report for sparktoro.com, via <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-explorer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ahrefs Site Explorer<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote class=\"small\"><div class=\"quote-content\"> Finally, I know for a fact that it\u2019s possible to circumvent these sandbox effects. If a site goes even somewhat viral and is getting a few hundred to a few thousand daily unique visits, some social media mentions each day, and real backlinks, that site will immediately be taken seriously by Google\u2019s algorithms. I\u2019ve seen this happen twice so far with brand new websites, eventually ranking #1 for their top keywords.<\/div><div class=\"quote-info clearfix\"><div class=\"quote-photo\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Edward Sturm\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Edward-Sturm.png\"><\/div><div class=\"extra-box\"><span class=\"quote-author\">Edward Sturm,<\/span> <span class=\"quote-author-job\">Director of Marketing <a href=\"https:\/\/worldofether.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">World of&nbsp;Ether<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"small\"><div class=\"quote-content\"> I don\u2019t believe you can completely avoid it but I do believe you CAN expedite the process (see my <a href=\"#prev-answer\">previous answer<\/a>&nbsp;about the sandbox duration)<\/div><div class=\"quote-info clearfix\"><div class=\"quote-photo\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Eric Sachs\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Eric-Sachs.png\"><\/div><div class=\"extra-box\"><span class=\"quote-author\">Eric Sachs,<\/span> <span class=\"quote-author-job\">CEO <a href=\"https:\/\/sachsmarketinggroup.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Sachs Marketing Group<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"small\"><div class=\"quote-content\">\n<p>Absolutely.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, launching a new brand and new website is an opportunity to do great PR and link building. Here are just a few things that can happen on \u201cLaunch Day\u201d to trigger links, shares, subscribes and a better chance of ranking sooner\u2026<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Publish a set of articles on related blogs.<\/li>\n<li>Interview a relevant influencer and make that the first post on your&nbsp;blog.<\/li>\n<li>Ask friends with email marketing programs to add your site to the bottom of their emails that week in a \u201cPS campaign\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Host an event and invite local influencers to come for short live social media videos.<\/li>\n<li>Publish a new piece of original research on the new site, then reach out to podcasters to ask if they\u2019d like to have you talk about it on their&nbsp;shows.<\/li>\n<li>Create a pro bono donation for non-profits that starts accepting applications that day. Let the media&nbsp;know.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The final set of tips on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.orbitmedia.com\/blog\/website-launch-checklist\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">our website launch checklist<\/a>&nbsp;includes a few other ideas. There are a million little ways to turn the birth of your new website into a little bit of news, attention, links and traffic.<\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"quote-info clearfix\"><div class=\"quote-photo\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Andy Crestodina\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/andy-crestodina.png\"><\/div><div class=\"extra-box\"><span class=\"quote-author\">Andy Crestodina,<\/span> <span class=\"quote-author-job\">Co-founder <a href=\"https:\/\/www.orbitmedia.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Orbit Media<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/blockquote>\n<p>Wrapping it up, just do all the quality <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/white-hat-seo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">white-hat stuff<\/a>&nbsp;we\u2019re advocating on our&nbsp;blog&nbsp;\ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n<h2>Over to&nbsp;You<\/h2>\n<p>This post has expert opinions from Bill Sebald, Edward Sturm, Eric Sachs, and Andy Crestodina. It highlights Google\u2019s take on the new websites. But what it is definitely missing is our readers\u2019 experience with new websites.<\/p>\n<p>It would be so great if you could share your thoughts and experience with Google sandbox in the comments below!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Google Sandbox has never been officially confirmed by Google. But many SEOs are confident in its existence, as they see sandbox-like effects when trying to rank new websites. So what\u2019s the truth? Does the Google Sandbox exist in 2018?<span class=\"ellipsis\">\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more\">Read more \u203a<\/div>\n<p><!-- end of .read-more --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":116,"featured_media":22008,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[335],"tags":[],"coauthors":[356],"class_list":["post-21840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-seo","odd"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Google Sandbox: Does Google Really Hate New Websites?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Google Sandbox refers to an alleged filter that prevents new websites from ranking in Google\u2019s top results. But how do you avoid and\/or get out of it?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/google-sandbox\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Google Sandbox: Does Google Really Hate New Websites?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Google Sandbox refers to an alleged filter that prevents new websites from ranking in Google\u2019s top results. But how do you avoid and\/or get out of it?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/google-sandbox\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SEO Blog by Ahrefs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Ahrefs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"nick.churick\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-07-05T08:22:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-10-31T08:46:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/fb-google-sandbox.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"520\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nick Churick\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@nickchurick\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ahrefs\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/google-sandbox\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/google-sandbox\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nick Churick\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f1e225898abcef1c1f7525ae6462663f\"},\"headline\":\"Google Sandbox: Does Google Really Hate New Websites?\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-07-05T08:22:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-10-31T08:46:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/google-sandbox\/\"},\"wordCount\":2908,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/google-sandbox\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/fb-google-sandbox.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"General SEO\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/google-sandbox\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/google-sandbox\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/google-sandbox\/\",\"name\":\"Google Sandbox: Does Google Really Hate New Websites?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/google-sandbox\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/google-sandbox\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/fb-google-sandbox.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-07-05T08:22:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-10-31T08:46:55+00:00\",\"description\":\"The Google Sandbox refers to an alleged filter that prevents new websites from ranking in Google\u2019s top results. 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