Webbers Corner

So the forum is a week old and the first newsletter is about to launch. At this stage I would like to congratulate David and Justin on what they have created and wish them every success for the future of their (our!) site.

As part of the strategy to make the forum a success regular newsletters are going to be sent out with a feature on either an aspect of the web or one of computing.

This week I have the pleasure of supplying the first Webbers Corner article and as I have been asked about the Google Sandbox so much lately I thought it would be good to get us sharing our experiences on the matter.

So come on guys and gals, lets spill the beans and get to the bottom of the probation period imposed by the internet courts known as Google.

Have you switch to black hat as a result?
Have you had grief from clients that can not grasp the concept?
Has it stopped your spam practises?
Do you think it is a myth created as an escape clause by SEO companies?

Full article can be seen at http://www.castus.co.uk/articles/the-google-sandbox.htm

The newsletter has been sent to everyone

Love the article and thanks for writing it chris.

I have heard a lot about this sandbox where google hold you back.  It is quite annoying for website designers and for sites like this we could be missing out on hundreds of hits from google because we are not being listed yet.  The thing is google totals over 50% of all internet searches so you have no choice but to wait for it to add you.  I could understand a couple of weeks but months are just a joke.

There has been a lot of talk with SEO being bad with large sites spilling millions into it just to get them top of the searches.  For smaller sites such as webbers corner it will probably be near impossible to get anywhere near the top especially with the competition.  Because a few have started the internet SEO craze everyone has to jump on the bang wagon to improve their search postition.

I can understand google doing, after all the final result is good search results and once you are on it is all good.

SEO is one of thoses frustrating things in life where however much you do, you still have to just let time take its place for something remotely effective to happen.

To all users we will be covering SEO including tips on improving you SEO in later newsletters.

I have a PR5 site, and I can tell you it's a pain in the rear to get a site there and keep it there.  It'll pop up to a pr6 for a while, then drop to a pr3 without warning.  I don't think I've ever been sandboxed, though.

I think everyone goes in the sandbox but it varies in time so if there are not many sites similar to your you may have only been there for a few weeks.

pr5 is nice.

this forum is new so have 0 at the moment and my design site is a poor pr2.

i really should learn more about SEO lol.