Google PageRank Sandbox: Myth or Reality â?? Proof

Whether or not the Google sandbox is real has been debated over and over again without a definitive answer with proof of whether the sandbox really exists.

What is the Google sandbox?

The common definition of Google Sandbox is the situation in which Google does not allot a PageRank value to a new website until after six (6) months. This situation is purported to serve the purpose of giving new websites time to develop, create content and stabilize or disappear altogether.

What is Pagerank?

PageRank is a score that Google gives to every web-page to signal how much of an authority the page is in its field (focus). Based on this premise, pages that are part of a site such as Microsoft.com or Sybase.com are given a very high PageRank because they are authorities and useful resources in their respective fields of expertise. There are a number of factors that come into play in the attribution of a PageRank value including the domain longevity, and SEO considerations.

Getting out of the sandbox

Google has not clearly stated if the Sandbox is a reality or just a myth that is the making of Search Engine Optimisers. This document is a follow up to [Search Engine Indexing Experiment - Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask.com]. In the earlier document are details of an experiment to establish what effects various search engine optimisation techniques in increasing the number of pages that are indexed, how high they rank for their subject keywords, and how relevant they are in search results. This is proof that the Google PageRank is not a myth. As predicted by many people including Mr-Seo (in his podcast), it takes at least six (6) months for the sandbox. After being online for exactly six months (12th February to 13th July 2006), www.cmsproducer.com was allocated a PageRank that was visible in the Live PageRank display in Firefox.

If you have your own story that proves or disproves my assertion that the Google sandbox is a reality should be taken into account.

Points to note:
MSN search and Yahoo do not seem to have a sandbox for new websites and MSN is notoriously known to index new websites as quickly as it re-indexes pages from established websites.