How long is the sandbox lasting for you nowadays?

[blinggam]

I have some new sites that are ~2.5 months old, all of them are still sandboxed. I can tell through various means, I.e, mismatch meta description on brand search, etc.

My last projects from early 2018 took 3 full months and ~20-25 links before escaping the sandbox.

Just trying to see what you all have experienced lately. I’m talking about the “initial sandbox” for new domains homepage ranking (also happens on expired domains that have been turned into MS). The one that will prevent you from ranking anywhere until it’s passed.

How long is it lasting for you?

Note: I know some people don’t believe in the sandbox, but well, in competitive niches it most certainly exists. I’m hoping for responses from people who actually build and rank sites, not generic “it doesn’t exist” responses.

Thanks

 

[nakamura]

The sandbox is weird thing, but in my opinion it definitely exists. For some websites I experience the sandbox and for others I don't. Even if I am in the exact same niche and target the exact same keywords.

How long does it take?
I think it takes at least 30 days. I would even say it takes 60 days nowadays or sometimes even longer.

Here are some of my keywords on two different websites, which got very weird movements in the serps. Some days they are on #1 and the other days they fall back on #40.





Here is another extreme example:



It seems the website is totally out of control, actually totally fucked up and useless, but then....someday.....it just jumps into the Top 3 for all the keywords I am targeting.

 

[SepticFish]

Mine was 6 months, but I started adding a lot of pages and content quickly (it was a tube site)

 

[mainceaft]

I experience sandbox a lot recent years but on 2013 I rank a new domain in less then two weeks I guess I work on it very early bough links for it I put it link on my other website that have same niche , I bring ~ 700 visitors

 

[rhinocervs]

Its hard to say exactly since its not publicly available data... Shadowbans/sandbox certainly exists and time frame relates to the penalty/ies that was triggered.

What I experienced concretely is-3 months, exactly to the day. (duplicate content/bad translation/too many inbound links in very short timeframe)
But thats just 1 example.

What's important is that it usually - disappears / ends. Unless you do some very risky (pesky) type of website/business, lol.

 

[blinggam]

Its hard to say exactly since its not publicly available data... Shadowbans/sandbox certainly exists and time frame relates to the penalty/ies that was triggered.

What I experienced concretely is-3 months, exactly to the day. (duplicate content/bad translation/too many inbound links in very short timeframe)
But thats just 1 example.

What's important is that it usually - disappears / ends. Unless you do some very risky (pesky) type of website/business, lol.

That was my experience on my sites in early 2018. At almost exactly 3 months, they came out of the sandbox. I tested with and without exact anchors, with and without keyword anchors in general, and nothing seemed to make the sandbox period any lower.

My new sites now are at about 2.75 months, so I’m hoping they come out soon. I’m sure it varies between niches, but from what I’ve seen, it’s about 3 months.

 

[blinggam]

The sandbox is weird thing, but in my opinion it definitely exists. For some websites I experience the sandbox and for others I don't. Even if I am in the exact same niche and target the exact same keywords.

How long does it take?
I think it takes at least 30 days. I would even say it takes 60 days nowadays or sometimes even longer.

Here are some of my keywords on two different websites, which got very weird movements in the serps. Some days they are on #1 and the other days they fall back on #40.





Here is another extreme example:



It seems the website is totally out of control, actually totally fucked up and useless, but then....someday.....it just jumps into the Top 3 for all the keywords I am targeting.

How many anchor text links; whether exacts or partials etc did your sites have when they initially popped into the top 100? I’ve tried both with and without keyword anchors and can’t get anything out of the box in under 3 months.

My links are also 30-40% relevant, I’ve tried lower and higher, everything stays in for at least 3 months. For the niche I’m in, I’m thinking that’s just the given timeframe.

 

[soa0611]

it varies, 1-4 months

 

[blinggam]

I experience sandbox a lot recent years but on 2013 I rank a new domain in less then two weeks I guess I work on it very early bough links for it I put it link on my other website that have same niche , I bring ~ 700 visitors

In 2013 I was ranking every payday loans keyword in under 48 hours. Sadly, those days are long gone.

 

[spectrejoe]

I have a 1 month old site (turning 1 month old on the 14th) and it's on an international google (think germany google, holland google, spain google etc) and it's still sandbox, the homepage has been indexed but not ranking anywhere for 0 competition keywords, It's been a while since I built a new site so I was taken back when I saw that it wasn't ranking at all.

I then remembered one of my amazon affiliate sites took ~2 months to get out of the sandbox.

 

[Psh]

The sandbox is weird thing, but in my opinion it definitely exists. For some websites I experience the sandbox and for others I don't. Even if I am in the exact same niche and target the exact same keywords.

How long does it take?
I think it takes at least 30 days. I would even say it takes 60 days nowadays or sometimes even longer.

Here are some of my keywords on two different websites, which got very weird movements in the serps. Some days they are on #1 and the other days they fall back on #40.

https://www.directupload.net

https://www.directupload.net

Here is another extreme example:

https://www.directupload.net

It seems the website is totally out of control, actually totally fucked up and useless, but then....someday.....it just jumps into the Top 3 for all the keywords I am targeting.

Interesting.. did you read https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/site-remove-from-top-100-was-5-6-no-manual-action-in-search-console.1075574/? Maybe there's a correlation somewhere, seems like we're a lot of people in the same boat. I've had one of my main keywords go from #7 > #60 > #5 > #N/A top 100. Absolutely insane dances. It's been gone from top 100 now for about 4 days.

The site is exactly 3 months old this week.

 

[soa0611]

From my exprience you can shorten it by launching a site that has already a shit load of same niche articles (140 posts in my case)
Google see the obvious relevance.
In such case it works much faster, i noticed it twice.

 

[Nut-Nights]

There is no such thing sandbox. /thread

Just my opinion.

 

[blinggam]

There is no such thing sandbox. /thread

Just my opinion.

You don’t “/thread” with an opinion. I rank in extremely competitive markets, and say with 100% certainty there is a sandbox. It’s not a theory, it’s a fact.

Maybe not for small markets or low competition keywords, but I’m competing against the big boys of SEO.

 

[spectrejoe]

You don’t “/thread” with an opinion. I rank in extremely competitive markets, and say with 100% certainty there is a sandbox. It’s not a theory, it’s a fact.

Maybe not for small markets or low competition keywords, but I’m competing against the big boys of SEO.

Im pretty sure competition is irrelevant. As mentioned i got an international site on a dead google for a 0 comp keyword and still on sandbox after a full montg

 

[mickyfu]

You don’t “/thread” with an opinion. I rank in extremely competitive markets, and say with 100% certainty there is a sandbox. It’s not a theory, it’s a fact.

Maybe not for small markets or low competition keywords, but I’m competing against the big boys of SEO.

A sandbox would suggest that a site will not rank for x amount of time no matter what. Not a time that suits the time it takes to rank a site.

It's bullshit anyway. Can't even be arsed getting into it to be honest. Believe what you like.

 

[spectrejoe]

A sandbox would suggest that a site will not rank for x amount of time no matter what. Not a time that suits the time it takes to rank a site.

It's bullshit anyway. Can't even be arsed getting into it to be honest. Believe what you like.

If you send plenty of good links it basically forces google to 'remove' the sandbox but if you try to create a brand new domain(not expired) and try to rank for 0 comp keywords you'll see that u wont even rank top 100 even after sending some decent pbn links. At least thats what ive ALWAYS experienced

 

[blinggam]

A sandbox would suggest that a site will not rank for x amount of time no matter what. Not a time that suits the time it takes to rank a site.

It's bullshit anyway. Can't even be arsed getting into it to be honest. Believe what you like.

That’s the thing about competing where I do. I don’t have to believe anything. I have dozens of money sites in various highly competitive markets. The sandbox is real.

You can call it “the time it takes to rank,” that’s fine... but when your meta description is mismatched on brand search, you’re in the sandbox. Once you search your brand and meta is right, even if title is “domain.com” you’re usually out.

During this time of being in the box, your meta will usually be the first sentence on the page instead of the proper description.

 

[blinggam]

If you send plenty of good links it basically forces google to 'remove' the sandbox but if you try to create a brand new domain(not expired) and try to rank for 0 comp keywords you'll see that u wont even rank top 100 even after sending some decent pbn links. At least thats what ive ALWAYS experienced

Yep, exactly. There is some time limit that G implemented so we don’t spam like it’s 2013.

Also there’s a secret that no one talked about during the time... when Penguin 4 first launched, and Fred wasn’t here yet, you could rank a site top 10 in a matter of weeks... even in competitive niches.

Then Fred rolled out, which despite idiot white hats thinking it’s some on-page nonsense, it’s actually a link sandbox more or less. It tries to stop link juice from passing. There is also a relevancy aspect with Fred. I discovered what it was after testing various recoveries and successfully recovering from it many times.

You could say Fred is the anti-BHW algorithm because it’s main target is irrelevant changed content PBN homepage links. Links that G can feel confident should not be passing juice. These links often times will “pass” this sandbox test in a matter of weeks, although, it can take months, some never leave the sandbox at all. I know this from studying in great detail my “long anchors” from these types of domains. They ranked top 10 before Fred, and nowhere after. Changed them to brand/url and bam, Fred recovery within 1 month.

That being said, it’s a wildly random algorithm, you could have irrelevant changed content homepage PBN links that pass juice, and others that don’t. Fred is bad at its job, but good enough to prevent spammers from ranking quickly on real time Penguin.

 

[Nut-Nights]

All these SEO gurus, I just love them.