The Sandbox Effect-Understanding Google Ranking
I'm certain many premium members within the hallowed walls of Weathy Affiliate wonder why it's taking so long to earn money from all those affiliate links interspersed in your posts.
It could well be because new sites can take anywhere from three months to a year before they start ranking in Google. The reason for this delay is called the Google Sandbox.
WHAT THE HECK IS A GOOGLE SANDBOX?
The sandbox was formulated by Google to prevent spammers from tossing up new blogs to rank for the biggest keywords and make a fast profit. This was something that worked years ago, but not anymore.
You can do every single thing right as far as Search Engine Optimization, but the sandbox is consistent for everyone. It goes with the territory and is something every new blog has to go through.
If those who spend months working on a new site don't understand the sandbox effect they will be very frustrated when they don't see any results.
THE GOOGLE SANDBOX IS A GOOD THING
Most of us committed to Wealthy Affiliate realizing that it was not a get-rich-quick scheme. From the very beginning we were told that it would take dedication and hard work.
We should be thankful for the Google Sandbox. It means that Google will reward those who work diligently on creating blogs that are among the top in their niche. Their content is written to provide relevant information to their visitors.
The images, links, Category and Terms Of Service boxes, keywords, and meta tags, are all properly installed to catch the eye of Google when the time is right to vault into the first page of Google search.
KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE PRIZE
Instead of worrying or complaining about not seeing any monetary or Google ranking results from all our hard work, we should respect Google's intentions with the Sandbox. They are preventing spammy sites from jumping into line ahead of us. In fact, they will pretty much totally ignore a website that is obviously trying to scam the system.
Be proud of the fact that your website will eventually grow into something bigger than you ever imagined. Don't fuss over traffic and rankings.
The most important thing to do is stay motivated. Stick to the strategy that has so carefully been laid out by Kyle and Carson. Trust that the SEO and blogging strategy we are using works.
IN CONCLUSION
Absolutely the most reliable way to gain repeatable, consistent traffic for your blog is proper use of Search Engine Optimization. Just be sure you realize that it's entirely normal for a blog to take up to a year to hit it's full stride before seeing the really big traffic numbers.
It could also be three months, four months, or six months. It all depends on if you have been paying attention to detail or simply rushing through posts in order to have hundreds of them. You will be further ahead if you create 75 or 100 posts fully optimized properly then you will be if you write 300 posts at breakneck speed without paying attention to detail.
If you know how to use social media and community sites you can get instant traffic if you do things right. However, these traffic sources will die out quickly and you will soon be back where you started. There really is no quick way to circumvent the Google Sandbox. Even trying for instant traffic can put you on Google's radar and you don't want them thinking you are anything resembling a spam site.
Trust the system. Focus on SEO and publish the highest quality content possible. Don't forget to build strong inbound and outbound links. Do things right and you will eventually see rankings and traffic start to grow and surge with each passing month.
Recent Comments
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Thanks for this interesting post. It’s good to have realistic expectations for what we are doing here. I regard the early stages of my blog creation as a learning experience rather than a money making exercise.
Hi Dave
Thank you for your comment. I agree that it's very important to learn things right the first time around. Otherwise, one day you could find yourself going back and having to correct dozens or hundreds of pages because you got it wrong.
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I really needed to hear this right now. I'm still in the building stage and am focusing on content rather than money or traffic. Thanks for the encouragement.
Hi Cal! Glad it was of some help to you. This entire business is quite the learning experience.