August 15, 2005:
Why won't my site show up in Google? It's been online
for months. It appeared right away in Google, but then it disappeared.
- Rebecca K., [removed]@ameritech.net
Ahh, a question about the dreaded Google "sandbox!"
This phenomenon has been widely discussed on several Webmaster
forums. Essentially, after a new site is listed in Google, Google
moves the site into an area separated from other, older sites
in the index. This area has come to be known as the sandbox.
It's a tool Google uses to sort out spam, template, and heavily
keyword-laden sites. How long sites stay in the sandbox is unfortunately
up to Google. Some users report being removed from the sandbox
in 3 months -- others have been in it for over six. The good
news is that once your site is removed, you'll resume enjoying
rankings in Google.
Got a question for the webmaster? Email
it to askthewebmaster@newramp.com!
Ask The Webmaster is written biweekly by Jill
Cataldo, Senior Web Developer for NewRamp.com. She has been
working in web development since 1996. Articles are copyright
©2005 NewRamp and may not be reproduced without permission.
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