GSC new website

Hello
If a new fresh site publishes a subpage with the most unique, comprehensive and long content and it ranks very low is this normal? (Behind spammy content and everything else)
The site has no other problems, it is fast (99 PSI), as well as no indexation problems.
The keywords this site is targeting are niche, weak with low competition.

Despite the fact that the content is by far the best and most specialized the site performs the worst on this keyword because it is new and has some sort of transition period?
After what time does the "sandbox" period in Google search console end?
I have read that it is about 3-10 months from when the site is indexed?

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Originally Posted by dannyx

Hello
If a new fresh site publishes a subpage with the most unique, comprehensive and long content and it ranks very low is this normal? (Behind spammy content and everything else). Despite the fact that the content is by far the best and most specialized the site performs the worst on this keyword because it is new and has some sort of transition period?

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I would say yes, it's to be expected. As a new site, it has no trust factors/indicators yet (aside from the quality of the content, and what matters most there is not your view of that quality or even its actual quality, but a robot's view of it.)

If it is good quality content (and/or the quality of competition is low), then it may rise without other factors kicking in. But probably wise not to hold your breath.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dannyx

After what time does the "sandbox" period in Google search console end?I have read that it is about 3-10 months from when the site is indexed?

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How long is a piece of string? No one would be able to answer (except Google, and they won't). If 'sandbox' still exists (or ever did, in the way the word implies), it's probably changing all the time. I don't believe that there is a figure set in the algorithms (but concede that is total guesswork). Logically there couldn't be, because too many other factors are involved that can have major influences. Again, lots of variables could be playing a part.

Anticipating 3 - 9 months sounds like a sensible start point to me, though I have recently seen (highly regarded) SEO people saying that it can be even longer going by their tests. In fact, in the absence of other trust indicators, it's entirely possible that a strong page would never go higher now. That's unlikely, though, because (theoretically) one of G's jobs is to surface strong content that answers queries.

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I think the underlying factor here is in volumes and technical capabilities (and cost).

G just can't do what it used to in the old days.

Either technically because every day millions of new pages are created that all need crawling, rendering, indexing, sorting etc
Or technically because something somewhere is busted
Or deliberately because they increased the necessity for appropriate levels of trust
Or because all that crawling etc costs money, and they deliberately limited what's being done to save costs

Add to this that a lot more people know how to play the game a lot better, and a lot more people are in the game and entering. So, the competition is higher and increasing.


Very likely a combination of all those (and possibly others, too)

Thanks a lot for the long comment.

So basically you just have to do your own thing and the first results in GSC or rather the conclusions will be drawn in these few months.

As for the sandbox, it's just here on the forum that I've seen the term a few times for the first few months, but it's nothing to be sure of.
It seemed possible to me, especially since competition is probably high as you say and Google has to separate those valuable sites from the spam for that initial time. But I don't know myself.

The sandbox term goes back about 12 years-ish maybe and used to be talked about more in those days then it is today.

The term did not originate here but on seo type forums where many seo's wanted a term to tell their clients when they suddenly realized that their spam techniques had lower results on new sites.

I do think there is a bit of things going on with new sites or newly redesign sites with a lot of fresh content where they go through a period of the algo monitoring them a bit watching for click thru rates on various keywords before landing in the spot where the algo thinks they should be.

I have also seen cases where fresh sites or freshly redesigns (with new content) can also get a boost for a few days then go thru the above process. If the site that was redesigned had a decent or semi-decent rank previous, they can sometimes settle in higher spots after the fresh boost.

Rick
Universal4

...and, ofc, you don't fully just have to sit and wait, Dannyx. Acquiring a few well/carefully chosen links spread over the next month or two is likely to help and highly unlikely to harm. As is continuing to add strong content and building up your site structure. By keeping going and adding stuff, you're sending out the early signals that you're here to stay and you intend it all to be good - the very early stages of building your authority, and with that comes some of the trust.

The average position dropped by as much as 40-60 places for almost all passwords in a week. Interestingly, there are almost not that many results for these keywords and it still took a dive.

This is the first months of this site so I won't worry about it.
I will do as you say, but mainly focus on content and ux.

The "sandbox" is a myth. It takes time to build authority.

Please let me know what kind of site it is.