Got Hit By Google Sandbox. What to do now?

[Vegit]

Hi,

This is my website: http://goo.gl/fl5a5

I am competing for high competitive keyword : Hemorrhoids Treatment

But i started my link building slowly. Like i started with social engagement first. Getting Facebook likes about 500 and tweets i got about 700 retweets in a month. Later i went for building links, i personally wrote 2 squidoo lenses, and wrote about 4 articles for high popular article sites like ezine, amazines, apsense etc. and got approved. And now, i wrote a press release and submitted to prweb, sbwire and pressdoc website. Got 3 press releases. And now, i submitted my site to 2 web directories botw.org and v7n directory and got approved in them. Later i submitted my site to 10 social bookmarking sites manually. Thats it in 1 month. In the mean time, i used to rank for the term Hemorrhoids Treatment on 7th page. Now i am not even in 50th page, completely out of index for that term in the search. But i am still ranking for other keywords.

My site has 100% unique content, i built my links with extreme carefull and got quality links only. I have varied my anchor text as much as possible. Still i dont understand why i am not even in top 50 pages atleast. Am i hit by Google's Sandbox?? If so, could someone help in getting out of sandbox?

Will be waiting for your answers.

[AREA203SEMTeam]

Just checked something that has not been mentioned here, and that is that your domain name was only registered October 28th of this year. Less than 2 months old.  Matt Cutts has said not to worry about domain age that much, BUT yours is almost pristine new.  Keep on putting relevant content, and don't do anything against Google guidelines, and you will get those rankings.

[RuthBurrReedy]

The indexing behavior you're describing does sound like you may have been hit by a penalty, but from what you're describing I don't know why you would have been.  It's starting to sound like you may need more consultation than we can really give over Q&A - I suggest hiring an SEO consultant to look into this more deeply.

[Vegit]

Thank you very much for your suggestions.

But, i got a few links only about 15 links maybe, in that i got about 7 links for "Hemorrhoids Treatments". But they are good links only, not spammy links. And i haven't received any warnings from Google in my webmasters central. So, if the problem is due to high matching of my anchor text, shall i dilute the anchor text now with doing more links with broad match keywords. I think it will dilute my anchor texts for my domain. What do you think?

• I have submitted to only two directories, which are quality ones, botw.org and v7n directory.
• No warnings from Google.
• Ya, i will do that thing, will get more quality content for that keyword
• You mean competitors links research? Suppose check this site: www.hdtreatment.com link profile. He got a press release from prweb and few directories. Yet he was ranking good. My link profile is far better than him. But i was completely out of index and not in the results for that keyword anymore.

I can get more quality links, but whats the point of getting links when i am not even in the index anymore. I dont understand what might be the problem.

Yesterday, i used to rank good for "Home remedies for hemorrhoids" earlier, now i am out of index for this keyword also. It was frustrating for me, as my hardwork was getting wasted and not worth even. If this is the case, how i can put more effort on it, when i dont see any positive results. I done no spammy work, still i got hit by a penality, where check this site link profile: www.greencowseo.com he hacked thousands of websites and placed his link there, and now he was ranking on top for the most competitive keywords like Seo Company etc. But Google cant catch these guys who are employing spammy techniques, where here i am doing pretty legal ways of link building and following guidelines, and writing my own content, yet i was under penality...Hmm

[RuthBurrReedy]

It could be a lot of things.  If all or most of your inbound links to that page have "Hemorrhoids treatment" as their anchor text, you may have been hit by a Penguin penalty for that keyword. Have you received an unnatural links warning in Google Webmaster Tools?

Getting tweets can be good for being quickly indexed, but links from tweets don't have much staying power.  Here's what I would try:

• Remove directory links from any directories that aren't human-curated.
• Check Google Webmaster Tools for any warnings or errors.
• You could also try creating a new page targeting the keyword, since the existing page is no longer ranking.  Some fresh, high-quality content and concentrated linking could do the trick.
• Regardless of whether you create a new page or use the existing page, try to target other websites on related topics for links and shares - don't just rely on social media, social bookmarking and press releases.  You might start by looking at the pages that do rank for that term and seeing if they have links from sites that might be good targets for you, as well.

[Vegit]

Hi Burr,

Thanks for your suggestions. You gave me breath really..I am really struggling hard to rank my website for those keywords. But for my current link profile, atleast i should be in the index for they keyword "hemorrhoids treatment" searched. But i am not at all in the top 100 pages. This makes me worried. Earlier 1 week back, i used to be on #7 page for the keyword "Hemorrhoids Treatments". I thought i might need more strong links, for that i tried getting more retweets. Within few days, i was out of index for that keyword. I am not even in 100 pages. So i thought i was hit by sandbox.

Do you have any idea, on why this has happened? A reply would be appreciated.

[RuthBurrReedy]

Honestly, the sandbox isn't something Google is doing much now.  It was more something they did several years ago before they had the power to quickly crawl and index new sites.  You say your site has been indexed - you used to rank for your target term and you're still ranking for other terms.  That means you are not in the sandbox.

Again: you are not in Google sandbox. If you were, your site wouldn't be in the index at all.

It sounds to me like you're not ranking for this term because it's very competitive.  The link sources that you mention (squidoo, article marketing, press releases, directories, social bookmarking) are all relatively low-value.  I would suggest creating some new content for this term.  Take a look at the pages that are ranking well for the term and figure out how you can provide a resource that is different from them while still being useful.  Then try to get some links from related sites - maybe doctors, medical/support communities, pharmacists, etc.  The best way to do this is to create a resource that would be useful for these target audiences and then reach out to them to see if they will link to or share it.

Ranking for a very competitive term is hard and takes a long time, and a ton of work.  It can definitely be done but you may also want to see if you can rank for less competitive, more specific terms - like "homeopathic hemorrhoids treatment," "hemorrhoids treatment over the counter," etc.  This would probably be faster and you would need to get fewer quality links to rank.

[Vegit]

Yes, i built links to directories, web 2.0 links, article sites, press releases. But all these things kept me under Sandbox. Ok, i will extend my domain to another 4 years, but do you think it will really help me in getting out of sandbox? And lastly, i only left with guest posting, i know it is hard, but i will try to approach people in my industry and ask for guest posting.

[BlueprintMarketing]

The only way to make your domain look Safert Google is to register for a longer period of time and by doing that you can simply add going to where you purchase your domain and add years if it's a business like yours I would add five years because you wanted to exist right I'm glad I've been of help to you. All the best, Thomas

[Vegit]

Hi,

Thanks for providing a lot of valuable information above. Yes my domain is fairly new, just 1 month old, so i think i am under google's sandbox. But how long Google will keep my site under sandbox. Is there any way to get out of it quickly.

Ok, i will try for guest posting then, maybe i will get in touch with skyrocket guys also.

[BlueprintMarketing]

nice pick using Genesis it is a great framework for WordPress. If you want to get the G off of the favicon you can simply use a great Genesis plug-in under Genesis favicon.

Your in the sandbox for approximately 3 months because you bought a domain name and only registered it for one year the only thing you can really do to help yourself in the situation is register your domain for a longer period of time like 5 years.

| Expires On | October 28, 2013 |
| Registered On | October 28, 2012 |

I can see you to not have any links right now I would go about building them in a manner that you know is safe if you're going to use directories don't use a lot of matter what use the ones that SEOmoz recommends

sincerely,

Thomas

[BlueprintMarketing]

just a quick heads-up I was very reluctant to check out your site because you put it in a URL shorter. I can see that you might have had your reasons however it does not. Help inspire confidence and clicking on it

[BlueprintMarketing]

1st off let's address sandbox. Sandbox is when Google decides to wait and see if your going to do anything malicious or not like when you buy a new domain for  one year or really any new domain at all Google put you in the sandbox because it is very inexpensive to purchase a domain these days for $2 and go off and do something very nasty on the web.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandbox_effect

Okay now to answer your question about links. The best way to get links and I don't know what you're page rank is but I will look. is go out and offer to guest post a blog on somebody in your industries website. You'll be giving them free content and it will link their site back to you. I don't feel it is gray hat or black hat to ask your friends for a link however only if the link is relevant should you do this and do not abuse it I don't mean people you've heard of I mean your friends. The number 1 way to get a lot of great links is to blog to it a minimum of 20 times a month 300 words or more and you will get a higher page rank if you mix this with successfully get your wonderful blog out there on twitter, Facebook, Pinterest any social networks or PrWeb, PRNewswire press releases are great ways to get links.

Blog here on SEOmoz you could get quite a few people following you very quickly if you write a very clear comprehensive blog that is helpful to the community. I'm not saying it's easy but that all depends some of us are better at some things than others I for one am not a good writer. Take a look at skyrocket SEO they do some outstanding link bait articles and you can pay people to create link bait on your website.

I hope I have been of help let me know if I can help anymore.

Sincerely,

Thomas

[Vegit]

Hi Thomas,

Thanks for suggestions. I will stop writing content on article sites and also stop directory submissions also. But what type links should i get now? I dont find any other sources for getting links..Can you give me some examples so that i will proceed further..

But, btw, you didn't tell yet, whether i am hit by sandbox or not, if so, how long it will take and how do i get out of sandbox?

waiting for your update on this.

[BlueprintMarketing]

by the way don't go web directory crazy you mentioned you put some in web directories I honestly would not do that and I also would take care to make sure Google does not think looking at it your site is some sort of spoof anyway I realize it is not and just would take care to be very professional.

Sincerely,

Thomas

[BlueprintMarketing]

number 1 just so you know you can't really get hit by Google sandbox it's something you do to yourself when you buy a new domain.

Number 2 I believe that you set yourself by using squidoo & ezine their both horrible do not create content on them pointing to your site.

"i personally wrote 2 squidoo lenses, and wrote about 4 articles for high popular article sites like ezine, amazines, apsense etc. and got approved. And now, i wrote a press release and submitted to prweb, sbwire and pressdoc website."

PRWeb is a great company I really don't have enough experience with the others to tell you if they're good or bad.

I would remove your links from squidoo & ezine

I hope I have been of some help,

Thomas