The effing Google sandbox is a pain in the ass isn’t it? Is there anything more frustrating and disheartening? I have two, month old Blogger blogs that I have really been working. There isn’t anything special about them but I’ve pushed them to the head of the class to see how far I can get with them. I am trying to generate affiliate sales from them. No Adsense. I’ve written three articles and submitted them to directories. I’ve submitted the links to over a hundred, maybe two hundred directories. I’ve bookmarked them across maybe 5-6 profiles. One a week. On different IPs even. I’ve made comments on blogs. Nothing spammy. I don’t even see how the head assholes at Google could fault what I was doing.
But no. Their algorithm has caught my little sites. Just when I was making inroads to top 10 glory. My sites are taking a break at the beach while the visitors I had yesterday are clicking someone else’s links.
Then again maybe the sites have been banned. Maybe Google has decided that they aren’t worthwhile after all. Maybe I got too many links too quick.
I sniped a keyword. I had an article, a Blogger blog, Wordpress.com blog and a Squidoo lens all ranked in the top 10 at one point. 300 searches a day. 323 to be exact if you believe nichebot. I had over 500 page views last Monday on one of those blogs. Traffic is already looking to be at least half of that today. By Friday I’ll be lucky to have 20 people visit those blogs. The article listing, WP blog and lens are all still hovering around the top 15-20. But not the Blogger blog.
I don’t know what the formula is to keep your sites from taking the beach vacation. Not all links I add to directories and blogs count. I mean, some are no follow. Some directories won’t get around to adding your listing for months. It seems like the thing to do is jam as many directory submissions as you can because your eventual inclusion, if at all, could trickle in over the course of months. So the hundred, two hundred, submissions I’ve done really only amount to what, 30 actual listings right now? Maybe bookmarking is a bad idea. Maybe 5 different profiles with the same URL is bad over a month. I doubt it. I hide my links. I even got off my lazy butt and wrote up new articles for submission to EZine and GoArticles just yesterday. I almost never do that.
Whatever. I’ll keep adding posts. I’ll keep adding comments. I’ll keep submitting my links to directories. Hopefully the vacation will be short. It’s not like am the only one who feels the pain. And I bet the damn things will be listed by the end of the day. It’s just how Google does. And this is just how I whine.
14 responses so far ↓
Splork Fan // Jul 2, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Hi Splork,
Google is doing the best it can. I’ve seen really shit websites copying my articles with only a little rewrite, and I’m not sure what is the right thing to do. These are new sites made by a new breed of copiers. Should I just file a DMCA and wipe them away? *angry*
Now if you were me, what would you do? Especially if the site is your own hard work, and these guys go around copying your stuff?
At least, you’re working based on original effort. It is this thing, we hope Google can see. That’s why they have sandbox and all that. But in my opinion, it’s FAR from adequate.
I hope your sites take off soon. But I don’t wish the same for these copiers. I guess the rules are there to make sure people toe the line. Unfortunately, honest folks get caught for them too. And Google is not doing a good job at combating spam, actually.
Splork // Jul 2, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Yep, I know what you mean. I was using Frank’s tool to find some link luv to post to my blogs. Imagine my surprise to find my articles that I submitted to EA and Go Articles on blogs, without my resource box attached. They were flat out stealing my content. That shit pisses me off too.
Dave // Jul 3, 2008 at 1:15 am
I submitted an article to article marketer a month and a week ago using the free service. After numerous problems I’m still waiting for my article to get accepted.
Now get this. It’s already on the web in 5 directories complete with another anchored text link to wedding invitations and camping gear. My niche is so damn far from camping gear it’s not even funny.
I emailed article marketer and they’ve yet to respond. I don’t see how the copier could have gotten a hold of my article before it was released. Furthermore he didn’t even change anything. There is even a text link to my site but then the anchored links right below it.
Dave
Dave
Frank C // Jul 3, 2008 at 9:45 am
You just never know what Google is going to do. I have one self-hosted WordPress blog that has good content in a small niche area that’s been around about 2 months that Google just won’t index for some reason. I also have a 1 month old Blogger blog that is pretty much junk but it ranks well for almost of of its keywords.
There are probably a few hundred variables that go into sandboxing a site and there is no way we can tell exactly how to avoid it. It sucks but that’s the way things are.
Vinny Lingo // Jul 3, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Here’s a link to a couple of posts that do a good job of summing up why a lot of the techniques prevalent among internet marketers are probably not working as well as promised.
http://www.tellinya.com/tags/link-farming.html
The guy is a black hat, but his posts on link farming/building are fairly straightforward. I’m starting to believe, more and more, that link builders should think of themselves as snipers. Especially if you want the ranking to have any longevity. An artillery blast might blow your site to the top of the SERPs, even for competitive terms. But it will be gone in a day. A week at most. Spray and pray link building (like a front line grunt) is just that. You’re throwing shit sites and shit links against a wall and hoping something sticks. And it’s a bitch to see sites you put work into doing jack all in the SERPs.
So try being a sniper and figuring out where you can get links that actually count for the niche you’re trying to rank in. A couple hundred random directory links is a clear artificial link building tactic, and it as well as similar tactics seem to be getting shut down by Google.
Speaking of Google, and what Frank said about never knowing what to expect from them… They do still have problems with spam and people gaming their algorithm. So these sorts of tactics might work in one niche, but not another. But I strongly feel that any site promoted with these tactics is essentially flagging itself for future trips to the google beach.
Dinheiro // Jul 3, 2008 at 7:21 pm
Keep your force and work splork, the sandbox it’s a condition we always must count. Sometimes (rarely) we can pass the sandbox quickly, other no way. Just keep doing your work, the sites will go out of the sandbox, soon or later, we just have to wait and continue the work on that sites.
Dinheiro // Jul 3, 2008 at 7:22 pm
P.S: I had once a site that took 1.5 years to come from the sandbox, but normally my sites stay between 5 to 8 months in there.
Splork // Jul 3, 2008 at 8:58 pm
Yea, I’m not sure what to think about directory submissions. My thinking is that it can’t hurt. If Google thought directories listings suck then why bother indexing them at all? My thought on them is that the links I submit seldom get instant listings and many times take up to three months. So what’s the problem with submitting to a hundred within a few days? I bet for the Blogger blogs I built I’m complaining about after a month there are probably no more than 50 links pointing to each. The trickle of directory submission acceptances comes in and I keep doing commenting so it grows rather naturally. Maybe 2-3 a day at most. At least I think it’s natural. I don’t think 50 links after 4-6 weeks is that worrisome. And the directories are legit.
As far as link farms. The stuff that I build to link to my “money site” are all legit. They are all hosted on sites that supposedly control spam. Well most. I’ve started using Weebly and Blinkweb to build mini sites. But Blogger, Wordpress.com and Squidoo all supposedly control the spam. Google should like them especially if I bother putting relevant and good content on them.
I was thinking after I built my 5 sites today: I built a lens, a Blogger blog, Wordpress blog, Blinkweb and a main site. All with original content except for link luv and videos on the blogs. I decided not to link the auxiliary sites to the main site for a few weeks. I don’t link the auxiliary sites to each other anyway. I’m going to get them aged. Get them indexed and ranked separately, for what it’s worth. Then point links to the main site. Maybe they’ll appear less like a feeder system, especially after all the other links that I’ll start getting from RSS directories, bookmarks, etc.
I dunno, it just seems that it shouldn’t matter if the content is real and right. And they are.
Dinheiro // Jul 4, 2008 at 7:03 am
It’s a mad game this one! Some say it works, other say it won’t work, but the reality is only G knows what really work. There are no gurus or people that really know what they are talking about. Some knows a little, but it’s really a little, and a really very little. My experience tells me that i must continue to produce, every single day, and i need to produce things that people would read, not things that people click away in 2 seconds. Don’t get me wrong, yes i want them to click, but i want them also to come back and see if there is anything new that worth their clicks.
Mark // Jul 4, 2008 at 9:35 am
I’ve heard that building TOO MANY back links TOO quickly can get a site penalized, as the Search Engines view it as an unnatural occurrence. I wonder if the speed or consistency of link building is not the problem. For example, if you get 1,000 links on day 1, you should try to get 1,000 links every day thereafter. Obviously that’s not realistic, so I would consider starting with a number that you think you could consistently get each day. Just try to stay consistent. You can taper off after awhile, but don’t get 1,000 links on day 1 and then 0 everyday thereafter.
Also, it appears Google is working on “behavioral” ranking. Google is watching if a visitor leaves Google’s search page to view your webpage. If the visitor doesn’t spend time on your website and quickly returns to Google’s search page to click on a different search link, Google will know you didn’t have quality content related to the search phrase. Is your internet marketing head beginning to spin?… I know mine is… LOL
Splork // Jul 4, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Yea, I guess I just say to hell with the penalization. At some point the damn engine has to figure out the site is for real. If I spend time promoting the site and adding content, I don’t see how I can be penalized forever. If I am screw it. I’ll just work another one. Thinking about all the variables just makes my head spin. It’s how I got frustrated and spent money chasing bullshit in the first place.
Dinheiro // Jul 4, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Exactly that splork
And never forget yahoo and msn, they are not the top but they send traffic when you’ve lots of backlinks. When i still think if google see that your site have good content, and other sites link to it (besides the links you made with BMD, directories, etc.), you’ll come out of the sandbox. I’ve no doubt on that!
Internet Marketing Badger (Jennifer) // Jul 6, 2008 at 10:13 am
Google is a mystery wrapped inside a freakin’ enigma (or whatever) so much of the time.
I have a Blogger blog that’s over four months old - I was primarily using it to build backlinks to a new site of mine, but everything on it was original content. Anyway, it still isn’t even listed in the engines. Even though I created links back to the Blogger blog (not many, but for example I linked to it from a high quality Squidoo lens.) And I pinged the heck out of the thing and bookmarked it some places.
I mean at what point is the link building thing just this endless, fruitless, masturbatory process? That’s what it feels like most days - without the payoff of an orgasm! And I’m wary of sites like linkvana or 3waylinks which are supposed to be helpful - because at what point does Google sniff the imprint or whatever and devalue those links? I dunno.
Anyway, link building sucks, and Google is a big pain in the butt. No doubt about it.
Trying to please Google is like trying to satisfy a schizophrenic - you never know which personality you’re dealing with, and you never know what that personality is going to demand of you. Even sticking to providing extremely high quality content doesn’t seem to work.
Jennifer
Splork // Jul 6, 2008 at 11:41 am
Hey Jennifer. That’s a good analogy. It is a jerk off dealing with the whims of Google. God knows I don’t have the answer. The only thing that I can suggest is about what you’ll get from everybody else in the gallery: Just keep getting links and keep adding content. I’m traveling the same road. I have no idea what works anymore. Nothing is consistent it seems. I just keep trying.
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