Well, it’s pretty obvious that one of my sites was in the Google sandbox (theoretical) for about 12 weeks. It’s pretty clear that I’m out now and it’s great. They shouldn’t worry about that site for a long time, which feels good.
I did do a 301 redirect of a page that I thought was the problem. It got me some income, which helped. I’m not sure if it helped me get out of the sandbox – I don’t think so though.
What I’ve Learned:
- Diversify! Get more posts / sites ranking so that a hit like this doesn’t affect things so much.
- Strengthen the next level down. Point links to the first level of sites linking to me – start with the ones already sending some traffic.
- Google Webmaster Tools is the best thing ever – even before sliced bread! I’m really tempted to learn some WP plugin programming so that I can integrate the two.
- Just keep going. Don’t let sandboxing slow things down – you’ll get out.
I think the timing was actually ok. Summer is pretty slow on the Web anyway and once things get cooler, people will stay in and use the Web more. I’m glad this didn’t happen in the Fall or Winter.
-T
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