Understanding your new Web site’s ranking on Google

Often, to new Web site owners, the movement of your site in the search engine results on Google doesn’t make much sense. For example, when Google first finds your Web site, it tends to rank relatively high for some of your keywords. Then, after a few days, the ranking drops significantly, even if your content has not changed! The reasons for this phenomenon are explored below.

The Fresh Factor

What is it?
In addition to the main crawl that Google uses to spider and index Web sites and Web documents, Google has a “fresh crawl”. (The “fresh crawl” and the freshness it gives Web pages are also referred to as freshbot, freshcrawl, freshrank, and minty fresh.) About once a day, Google’s FreshBot finds new Web sites or pages. These pages are given a boost in rankings for their “freshness” and as a result are often seen ranking high on search engine results pages. After a few days, the pages are no longer part of the “fresh crawl” and may be picked up by the main crawl. At this point, the freshness bonus is gone, and the page’s placement in the rankings will likely be lower.

What is the purpose?
The Freshbot keeps Google’s index up to date on many of the latest Web pages on current events or other timely news. Newly posted Web sites and Web pages typically start out with few links to them and this enables people searching on a topic to find some new information. The freshness boost can be thought of as a bonus for people to find your new Web site or a new page on your site.

What can I do about it?
If you regularly update your Web site you can use this to your advantage for increased visibility! Posting news, regularly adding products to your store, or frequently writing new articles in your blog are a great way to get your latest pages (and therefore your Web site) in the fresh crawl. Google increases the frequency of how often their spider visits your Web site if you update it frequently.

You may also want to consider using a Google Sitemap to make sure all of your latest information is indexed by Google. With a Sitemap created in xml, you can tell Google if any of your Web pages are updated or newly added. (You can find more information on Google about their Sitemaps, or ask for your Webmaster’s help in getting one set up for your site.)

The Sandbox Effect

What is it?
The Sandbox or “sandbox effect” is a phenomenon that appears to affect new Web sites by not listing them or listing very far down in search engine results for competitive keywords. However, these new Web sites are ranked well for non-competitive keywords (such as the name of the organization or the business owner/founder’s name). This sandbox effect, thought to last for anywhere between two and six months, appears to be a time in which a new Web site experiences “dampened” results in search engine rankings.

[Note: There is some contention between professional SEOs about whether or not Google specifically created a filter that would target new sites in this way. Since no one but the engineers at Google know the search algorithm, it’s all speculation and educated guesses. Recently, Matt Cutts, one of Google’s engineers, said that there wasn’t a “sandbox”, but the algorithm might affect some sites in a way that a webmaster would perceive as being sandboxed.]

What is the purpose?
While we believe that Google did not specifically create a “sandbox” filter, their ranking algorithm does take into account the age of a Web site, age of links pointing to it and various other factors. Google wants their algorithm to deter “spam” Web sites from being indexed and to push high quality Web sites to the top. (Spam sites are Web sites that offer no original content and are used as a source of online ad revenue. Typically they are created quickly, posted to the web quickly and discarded quickly. )

What can I do about it?
If you haven’t launched your Web site yet, you may want to consider some preparations.

1. Get it out there! Register your domain name right away. Then create an introductory version of your our web site and launch it promptly. The intro Web site might simply be a couple of pages, such as your mission statement, your contact details, your logo and some background information.

If you think your new Web site is currently suffering from the “sandbox effect” (or poor rankings) there are some important things you can work on.

2. Work on acquiring links from other Web sites to yours. Ask other Web sites in your niche if they’ll link to your site. It’s best to ask for links from sites by hand with an original email. Directory style sites that focus on your target market are a great place to start. The quality of your inbound links make a big difference! Many experts believe if you get too many links too quickly it can negatively affect your site’s ranking.

3. Write original content for your Web site and regularly add more. If your Web site is experiencing low rankings, you probably need to work on your content. Some great types of content for your Web site are original articles, products with unique descriptions or news items about your organization. Plan on building a quality Web site.

Watching your Web site fluctuate up and down in the search results can be frustrating. As you continue building fresh original content, getting new inbound links from quality Web sites and employing other good Web practices, you will see your efforts push your Web site up in search engine rankings.

If you’d like more information on designing and building a high-ranked Web site, get in touch with us >

Sources & Additional Reading

More detailed info on the Freshness Filter>
An in-depth look at Google’s sandbox filter>
Learn about Google sitemaps>
Q&A on Google called “Site missing from Google” discusses FreshBot>
Matt Cutts (google engineer) on the Google Sandbox>
The sandbox: About as real as PageRank is vital.>
Some Sandbox Clarifications>
Goodbye, SEO Push. Hello, SEO Pull>