Escape from the Google Sandbox ~ BitterSweetLife

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Escape from the Google Sandbox

Google Finds This Blog’s Popularity Hard To Fathom

Aidan and Ariel

I’m about to take my last Aidan make-up exam, and in order to do so, I obviously need to write a quick post.

I thought I’d note that this blog has apparently managed to escape from the dreaded Google “Sandbox.” You would think that playing in the sandbox would be a good place for any blog to be, but what you learned in childhood doesn’t apply here.

From what I’ve heard, the Google Sandbox is the place where up-and-coming web-pages go to die. The Google team keeps an index of sites they suspect of having illegitimately gained a lot of incoming links, which would wrongly boost Page Rank. These unlikely “popular” sites are shoved facedown in the Sandbox where they wait on time out until Google has a chance to investigate.

I find this whole story intriguing for its slightly fantastic tone. Getting out of the Sandbox seems a little like escaping from a feudal dungeon. There’s that same chivalrous, romantic aura. Not to mention the bragging rights…

“Yeah, my blog was in the Sandbox a while back. It’s out now, of course, but for a while there…phew. Tough going.”

“Was your blog ever stuck in Google’s Sandbox? NO? Mine was.”

“Aidan’s not old enough for a sandbox yet. But speaking of sandboxes…”

Seems like you would start looking for creative ways to introduce sandboxes into conversations.

The allure of the situation is increased, at least for me, by my total inability to confirm any of the details. The whole thing could be a clever fantasy invented by Google (they are geniuses, after all) to deter would-be hackers. But anecdotal evidence seems to suggest the opposite. Just consider:

Mere weeks ago, the (very few) search engine hits BitterSweetLife got were from MSN and Yahoo. Today? Dozens of Google hits every 24 hours. This blog has, in a matter of days, managed to stake out real estate in such notable searches as
  • Spiritual journey
  • Kansas Jayhawk Basketball
  • Smack talk
What’s not to like? With a story like this, I have no choice but to be a firm believer in the Sandbox. Not to mention what it implies:

Google finds the relative popularity of this Indie-style blog hard to fathom.

Ha! Well, BitterSweetLife has always cherished its underblog status. We will take this
slight, pin it inside our locker room, and run with it.

Look for BitterSweetLife in next year’s Final Four.



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2 comments:

ninjapoodles said...

You are totally the George Mason University of the Blogosphere's NCAA Tourney.

AJ said...

That may just be the comment of the week, if not the year. And from a NCAA-dissing mother and poodle-raiser, no less. Amazing.

 

Culture. Photos. Life's nagging questions. - BitterSweetLife