Will's Blog This is why you have internet filters

Sandbox Part 3

So let's see, still in the sandbox.

Added links from:
- Trusted article sources
- Wikipedia
- A number of local search sites
- Social (micro-blogging and ugc)

Additional site content added:
- Added a Blog (up to 10 entries right now)
- Added +100 words of additional rich content to a number of subpages

Still nothing, ranking 140 for the main keyword, top 50 for second tier keywords and top 10 for third tier keywords. This is what really sucks, my site has better content and links than my competitors but Google is taking a while to figure it all out. I did find one really good link opportunity that I think will be the shove that pushes my site over the edge and into relevant ranking land but I'll let you know how that turns out.

Sandbox Diary Part 1

I am trying to see whether the Google Sandbox is a myth and only exists because people don't know how to build links or whether it is a legitimate phenomenon. If it does exist? What does it take to get out? Here is where I am as of 5/15/2010.

Site: Brand new domain, live on 3/1, 15 to 20 competitive sites for the keywords I'm targetting, main keywords are in the domain name, .com tld

- Confirmed in Webmaster tools, domain registered until 2013

Link Building:
Blogs - Two blogroll links on relevant sites (150 links total)
Directories - Yahoo Directory
Articles - 10 articles on 5 different services using varied anchor text
Press Releases - 1
Social Media - Twitter account, Identi.ca account, Facebook fan page
Others - Aboutus.org (nofollow not the dofollow paid service)

For the top tier keywords, the site ranks around 150 to 200, for second tier keywords 20 to 40, and for third tier keywords first page and in some cases first overall.

This week I have tentatively planned for 10 new articles, one or two directory submissions and some social bookmarking. Let's see what happens.