Google Penalty and Google Sandbox

    Sites that don’t play nice when it comes to search engine optimization may end up getting a Google Penalty. When your site gets a Google Penalty, you will need to make major repairs and undo the unwanted methods you have employed before. After this, you need to resubmit your site URL to Google, and wait for their approval. In some cases, if a penalty is repeated, the site may no longer be accepted after resubmission.

    What are the things you do that can get you a Google Penalty? According to Bob Sakayama of Growler.com, there are a number of things to avoid so you won’t find yourself or your site receiving a penalty from Google.

    For one thing, Google is watchful against sites that may pose a threat to homeland security. This may include posting of material related to selling of fake documents like passports, ID’s, chemicals for explosive making, and the like.

    Also, a site may get penalized by Google if it is promoting the selling of drugs, non-prescribed erectile dysfunction meds like Viagra, and also pornographic material. You may report a spam to Google or Yahoo if you receive links or materials on adult sites, when it was not included in your search query in the first place.

    If a site contains duplicate content, or it appears as duplicate sites with varying domain names, that site will also be a candidate for the Google Penalty.

    Furthermore, as discussed in Black Hat SEO techniques and SEO mistakes, as well as in the chapter on SEO guidelines, you must totally avoid creating content that is not meant for visitor viewing. In short, do not hide anything in order to fool the spiders.

    Included in this unforgiving practice is hidden links, hidden text, hidden content, small fonts, and others. There are some Black Hat SEO firms that place very small fonts with links on them, so that they can trick the spiders into following the link.

    Also, in the HTML codes, the comment tags and meta descriptions are sometimes used as receptacles for tons of keywords. They may not be included in the keyword density of the human-viewed content, but search engines can now find ways of getting around them.

    Aside from those penalties, avoid using doorway pages, as described earlier. Try not to be redundant with your content, and make sure your redirects and links are in good working condition.

    Moving on with the discussion, what is the Google Sandbox? According to the same source from Growler.com, this is the term used to describe the penalty imposed on a site that is less than six months old, and that is attempting to perform SEO. According to Web Pro News, this may be Google’s way of placing a younger site under probationary status.

    In some cases, if a site has been detected to be a part of mass link building, such as in link farms and the like, then that site might be placed in the Google Sandbox. According to other sources, this is only a way for Google to prevent spam, as a supplement to other anti-spam methods the major search engine has been employing.

    Wikipedia has also mentioned that the Sandbox has created several problems to web masters before. There are instances wherein a site appears on the listings of Yahoo, MSN, and other search engines, but not on Google. When this happens, it is advised that at link be submitted again.

    The web master should also check to be sure that his link is not seen in sites that are candidates for penalties. He should also look into other avenue wherein his link may be posted, such as on forums or web rings that are ranked well in results pages.

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