Google SEO Sandbox, Trust Rank, Jagger Update – Tying it all together

The Jagger update appears to have combined the aging factor and TrustRank factor into one, creating a new age for Google.
In other words, sites have to reach a certain age AND acquire relevant links from authoritative sources. Furthermore, those links must also be aged before they are attributed to your site.

As you can see, Jagger is quite the update, forcing not only quantity but quality.

You need to have both a sufficient number of high-quality, aged content pages and an adequate number of properly aged, relevant links. Jagger is doing what Google has been striving for ever since the Florida update 1 year ago. That is to make the index more relevant than ever.

By forcing sites to endure an aging delay (also called the “sandbox”), it is attempting to ensure that a site is indeed worthy of being included in its regular index.

Also, it assumes that sites related to each other will want to link to each other without requiring reciprocal links. In other words, you will want to link to another site because it offers more relevant information to your site visitors, and not because it will help artificially boost your rankings. The update also ensures that your site is up to date. It assumes that only those who link to you will do so because it’s deserving.

How to work in this new age of Google

Obviously, a new site will probably take much longer to get out of this age-delayed “sandbox”. There are ways to make the delay shorter, however. Those include building links from highly authoritative, relevant sites. Now, before you say, “How the heck do I find those?” remember that there are a couple of directories that Google still considers crucial – Yahoo! and the Open Directory Project, also known as DMOZ.org.

Granted, there are issues with both. With Yahoo!, you have to pay to get reviewed, but that doesn’t guarantee you’ll be included. You could spend $300 and never get your site into Yahoo! Directory.

The ODP also has its problems, ranging from a slow update schedule to corrupt editors.

Granted, the group is trying to clean up its image, but I’ve found in the past that unless you know someone on the inside, it can take months, if not years, to get included. Finally, even when you are included in these and other related directories, you are still subject to that aging delay. Aging occurs when Google finds the link, not when it is added to the directory page.

In other words, it may take a few days or weeks for Google to discover the link after it is added.

On the content side, you also run into similar issues.

While it’s great to have an always-growing site, you must architect your navigation so that new content is discovered sooner, helping it overcome the aging delay.

I know this sounds like an overwhelming task, and it can be particularly troubling for an e-commerce site, especially when bills begin to pile up and your site still hasn’t been found in Google. Butt remember that Google isn’t the only engine out there. Granted, it can account for between 35% and 50% of your traffic, but the other engines combined will account for the other 50% to 70%.

Yahoo! and MSN BING are much less picky about who they allow in the index.

So, if you handle your content development and link building properly – that is, staying away from link exchanges and link farms- your site will eventually get out of the “sandbox” and into the index. Also, keep an eye out for related sites. Perhaps you’ve written an article on something new or provided commentary about the current state of your industry. You could always submit that article, or a link to it, to other industry-specific sites.

Consider reviewing industry blogs as well. They can be a great source of links.

Finally, ensure that the site continues to evolve and improve. A growing site helps increase your internal links, which has a positive effect on link popularity, PageRank, and TrustRank.
Also, ensure to keep building those links. Even if you aren’t entirely sure of a link’s quality, take the time to request it anyway.

After all, if it isn’t relevant, Google will filter it.

# Google SEO Sandbox