It is always enjoyable to sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labour, even if they come through 3-4 months later. :p
In spite of the currently ongoing Google, Yahoo! and MSN dance (and mind you they're still dancing like 3 teenagers on E!) we have managed to notch up a load of top 10 ranks for competitive keywords.

Interestingly enough, the timing and the rankings are vastly different.

Whereas most of the sites started getting ranked by MSN and Yahoo! 1-2 months after creation, Google took its own sweet time to come around. My first question therefore is: Do MSN and Yahoo! have a "sandbox", and if so, is it a lot more easy to get out of than Google's or does Google just have much more criteria that require fulfilling before it ranks a site?

Also, once the sites are listed on Yahoo! directory and start ranking on Yahoo! and MSN they seem to get picked up by a lot of other directories. However, these new links did not seem to have any impact on how long Google "sandboxed" the sites.

The big question on my mind, now, is whether search engine marketing excellence is solely a function of rank (and hence number of visitors), or does bringing your site out of the sandbox asap also figure in there?
.... If it does.... any fresh ideas on how / what might help?

Thanx :)

I have been getting new content into MSN on an almost daily basis. Google takes about a week. I'm not sure about Yahoo! any more.

About a month ago, I created a new fan site for an up-and-coming actress. Google and MSN spidered it and included it in their indexes. It's currently ranking in the top five (occasionally first on both) for the actresses' name.

Yahoo!, on the other hand, has indexed every other page I have which MENTIONS (and links to) the site, but I cannot get the site to come up in the search results.

So, do YOU think there is a sandbox?

The only thing I can think of, and I'll just go test it now, is that when I first released the site, I included a background image and set the font color to white. I forgot that the background color was still white, too. So, Google didn't pick up the page for a week until I fixed the problem.

I think I'll just resubmit the site to Yahoo! and see what happens....

I have been getting new content into MSN on an almost daily basis. Google takes about a week. I'm not sure about Yahoo! any more.
Are you refering to new websites (with a unique domain name) or new content on an existing website / domain?

About a month ago, I created a new fan site for an up-and-coming actress. Google and MSN spidered it and included it in their indexes. It's currently ranking in the top five (occasionally first on both) for the actresses' name.

So, do YOU think there is a sandbox?
I do think that Google has some sort of system whereby it holds new domains back and prevents them from being listed for more competitive keywords. In your case, if the actress was not too well known, her name might not have been sought after enough to be considered a competitive keyword.

PS: At the end of the day, most of the Google theories are speculative / circumstancial and can't be backed up unless someone from Google actually did speak up :rolleyes:

Are you refering to new websites (with a unique domain name) or new content on an existing website / domain?

New content on an existing domain. A new domain name will be rolling out in a few more days. I will be interested to see what develops with it.

I do think that Google has some sort of system whereby it holds new domains back and prevents them from being listed for more competitive keywords. In your case, if the actress was not too well known, her name might not have been sought after enough to be considered a competitive keyword.

I think we're both getting a little confused here. For my part, I thought this discussion was taking place in the Yahoo! forum (since you asked if MSN and Yahoo! might have sandboxes).

That particular site is now ranking very well on Google. I have no problems with Google, except that no matter what I do, I get even more referrals from them than before.

I was just asking if you feel Yahoo! has a sandbox.

New content on an existing domain.
The frequency with which existing domains get spidered is almost directly proportional to the frequency with which you add new content to it. Over the past month Google has been spidering content much more frequently than normal (leading up to the update) and so it is no surprise that your new content got indexed in just a day or two.

I would be interesting in hearing how long it takes for your new domain to get spidered... do keep us posted.
I was just asking if you feel Yahoo! has a sandbox.
I wouldn't go so far as to say Yahoo! has a sandbox like Google's. However, I will say that getting listed in the Yahoo! directory does have a very positive impact on getting your site up there in the Yahoo! SERPs.

By the way, has anyone been able to conclude whether or not Search Engine Advertising positively impacts rank or not?

I have noticed more IBLs everytime we launch a new ad campaign for a new domain. However these efforts have never been isolated, so it's tough to say wether they also contributed to rank rising, or if the rising SE rank was owing solely to optimiszation and other (non-PPC-ad) IBLs.

The frequency with which existing domains get spidered is almost directly proportional to the frequency with which you add new content to it. Over the past month Google has been spidering content much more frequently than normal (leading up to the update) and so it is no surprise that your new content got indexed in just a day or two.

My domain has been active since 1997, and it has had more content in the past than it presently does. Since December, however, Google has been adding new content to the index on a weekly rather than monthly basis. MSN has been updating on a daily basis.

I would be interesting in hearing how long it takes for your new domain to get spidered... do keep us posted.

I will try to do that. No idea of how long to wait before deciding if it gets sandboxed.

I wouldn't go so far as to say Yahoo! has a sandbox like Google's. However, I will say that getting listed in the Yahoo! directory does have a very positive impact on getting your site up there in the Yahoo! SERPs.

I recently submitted the site I referred to above (about the actress) to the directory. So far, it has not been listed. The site includes substantially more content than several of the sites they have listed, so presumably it is only a matter of time (but you never know -- they may not like something about it).