I hate to oversimplify the sandbox, or the solutions required to escape, but Andy's got a good working theory and hopefully we can all put it to the test with our new sites. From Andy:
How to beat the sandbox
- Acquire highly trusted links, OR
- Acquire somewhat trusted links and let them age
The first option is faster, the second option is more realistic for most sites.
Let's hope he's right... and that by trusted sites, he doesn't mean Mosaic.
>I think that if this theory is correct, then the link must truly be a from a great, trusted, website.
There ya go. I mean trusted as in *TrustRank*. And yes, Mosaic WOULD fit the bill ;-)
>But... I think that a lot of what people are calling the sandbox is really some of the filters that we started to see first with the "Florida" update.
definitely!
From my experiences with the beach, it seems like this advice is going to help bury some sites for a longer time.
Optimizing a site a little over a year ago, we got a lot of links right out of the gate, and the site took over 14 months to get out of the sandbox. Another site that I was a little more conservative on took only 6 months or so to get out, while trying to rank for much more competitive terms. I think that if this theory is correct, then the link must truly be a from a great, trusted, website. Apart from that, it will still take time to get out, hopefully just less time.
This fits what I have seen on the few new sites that I have launched. I've had two dodge the box, IMO. Both got just a couple starter links from my own sites and not all at once. Then they received a few more natural links from good sites. My sites that have hit the box hard received a nice number of links early on.
But... I think that a lot of what people are calling the sandbox is really some of the filters that we started to see first with the "Florida" update. IMO some folks will not escape the box as long as current filtering is in place - or unless they change their site strategy.