Debate still continues on whether Google has a "sandbox," the idea that new sites simply can't rank well for anything that perhaps their own names until a set period of time has passed. Now rumors and talk of a Yahoo sandbox have begun. Barry rounds up some forum discussions here, and Threadwatch has some talk here. We also have a forum thread here, Yahoo Sandbox?
Sadly, I find clarity in all this gets lost by the fact that "sandbox" has now become a synonym for "I don't rank well in Google." In other words, say someone was ranking well and there was an algorithm shift that made them move from the first to second page or further back.
Happens all the same. Has happened long before we had a sandbox notion at Google or elsewhere. But I've seen people say, "Oh, that's the sandbox" when it clearly does not fit the traditional sandbox notion. This type of mistaken assumption pollutes real understanding of how any Google sandbox may be working.
Sandbox - IN or OUT? at our SEW Forums has lots of background info on the Google sandbox concept and see also New Google Patent May Give Sandbox & Inner Workings Info from the blog recently.
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