What factors / methods lead to sandbox filter?

All types of SEO type link building will lead to sandbox filter.

a. Reciprocal link building:-

Reciprocal link building is one important method which will lead to definite sandbox / aging filter. When a site starts off with reciprocal link building, definitely their site will be sandboxed. It is because first of the reciprocal link building is not the way to build trusted links. Sites which are trusted / hand edited for approval do not have to trade links with other sites, they would rather voluntarily link out to other sites. No one can force them to link out or trade with them for a link. Most of the sites involved in reciprocal link building are very weak themselves. So if a site is involved in reciprocal link building they are not going to get trusted links. So if a new site grows with untrusted links they will be placed in the aging filter. We don't blame reciprocal link building, in fact we do it all the time for our clients, but reciprocal link building by itself, doesn't add any value to the end users, Plus reciprocal link building is built purely to manipulate Search engine result pages. So Google is not the one to be blamed to come out with such an amazing algorithm which can fight aggressive link building so effectively. For a new site we don't recommend reciprocal link building immediately, first build a trust for your site then do reciprocal link building, there are no issues that time. So how do you know you have built trust with google's algorithm? It is proved by ranking. If your site is ranking well for competitive and non competitive terms definitely you can assume that you are not in sandbox any more. We are talking about a minimum of 1 month ranking, not a day or week ranking for good terms.

b. Buying links: -

This is another most important method which will definitely lead to severe sandbox filter. Our experiment proved buying links for new sites will hurt the site badly when it comes to Google. When you start a site don't immediately go and buy lot of links. Buying links are not the best way to gain trusted links. Most of the sites were you buy links are monitored by Google actively. Even if you buy link from a great site in your field still it won't be considered a great trusted link. Especially site wide links (links which are placed throughout a site) are very dangerous for a new site this type of links will definitely delay the ranking of a site to a great extent. Even if you happen to buy link from great sites make sure you just get link from only one page, Also make sure that link is not placed in footer, it should be placed somewhere inside the content to make it look more natural. It is not worth buying links to for new sites. Give time for the site to grow up with naturally gained backlinks.

c. Directory submission: -

Directory submission has proved worthless when it comes to avoiding sandbox, though directory submissions don't directly cause sandbox but those links will definitely affect the reputation of a site especially when the site is new. As discussed before it is important to gain trusted links when the site is new. But when you do directory submissions as the first step to building links we recommend avoiding it because when search engines see those links, they will place your site into the aging filter. Most of the directories are newbie and start up directories. We can name just 4 or 5 directories which are trustworthy to gain. Ask yourself whether you will go to a directory to find relevant sites today? I am afraid no, Directories are a thing of the past and people use search engines to find all information. That is why search engines don't prefer to list directories in their listings, 2 directories which are an exception are the dmoz.org and the yahoo directory.

If you get a link from dmoz.org think you have got the best trusted link on internet, but dmoz takes up to 15 months to list a site, even they hold a site to grow to certain quality level. Yahoo directory is not as powerful as dmoz most possibly because it is paid and most of the paid information on internet is corrupted. Next to dmoz, yahoo directory is a safe and trusted place to get a listing. Other than that we don't recommend any directory whether it is paid of free.

We don't deny links from directories but it is not recommended to get link from useless / spam / unworthy directories especially if the site is new.

d. Links from comment spam / blog spam / guest book spam / message board spam:

If you are an aggressive SEO and has been using bad tactics, then you are not the people for Google, or at least not for the new Google. You are going to wait for ever to get top rankings in google with a new site if your initial links are coming from spam sources. These link tactics still work with yahoo and MSN but not with google anymore. If you launch a new site and take this path I would expect a sandbox period of about 2 years and by that time your site my be caught in some other sort of more severe penalty. Better don't do this with google.

e. Links through article reproduction:

Links through article reproduction have always been a good way to build links, but not anymore for good sites. Google has started being very brilliant in finding duplicate copies across the web. If you rely on article reproduction as backlinks then you are dealing with links from duplicate copies of the article. When Google thinks it as unworthy to its index, take a good article snippet and search google, you will see apart from 2 or 3 main copies and all the other copies will be supplemental results. This is one way to find whether the article is being deemed as spam. If you are getting links from these duplicate copies it will no way help the trustworthiness of your site. So it is better avoid doing article reproduction but make people link to a good article of your site from other sites.

f. Links from a network of sites you own.

Always avoid this when you run a new site. Some people especially SEO companies tend to connect a new client site to an existing network of other active clients plus the sites they own or have tie-up with. Just avoid this anymore for new sites. It just doesn't work for new sites and it only delays the sandbox process. The network you might have access to, doesn't have the trust to vote for a new site. So better avoid linking from your own network.

g. Don't participate in co-op link networks like digital point ad network or link vault:

Almost all the sites involved in these ad networks are not-worthy. Yahoo is very severe with these types of networks. Google also has good algorithms to identify these links. These links never work for new sites and it just delays the aging filter. Better avoid these types of link networks.