| As soon as you register your domain name, submit it | | | | if the site has no content. By the time you've built your |
| to Google! Even if you haven't built your site, or thought | | | | site and developed your content (and written your |
| about your content, submit your domain name to | | | | business and marketing plans), Google will probably |
| Google. In fact, even if you haven't fully articulated your | | | | see no need to sandbox you. |
| business plan and marketing plan, submit your domain | | | | If you wait until launch day to submit your site, you'll |
| name to Google. | | | | spend a month or two (maybe more) sitting in the |
| Don't wait! | | | | sandbox watching potential customers spend their |
| There are two reasons for this. Firstly, getting on the | | | | money elsewhere. |
| search engines has always taken a long time for a | | | | How to submit your site to Google Don't waste money |
| new site. Even assuming you do everything right, it | | | | by paying someone else to submit your site to Google. |
| takes months before your site is even indexed, and | | | | It's easy! |
| more months before it starts to rank well. As a rule of | | | | Simply go to enter your URL (domain name) and a |
| thumb, never expect to rank highly within 6 months of | | | | few comments or keywords to describe your site. |
| submitting your site to Google. | | | | Then click 'Submit'. That's all there is to it. You only |
| The second reason is a recent phenomenon called | | | | have to do it once, and only for your top level page (i.e. |
| 'Google Sandbox'. Many SEO experts believe that | | | | Home page). |
| Google 'sandboxes' new websites. Whenever it | | | | Google's robots will then crawl your website the next |
| detects a new website, it withholds its rightful ranking | | | | time they're out and about. Of course, they don't |
| for a period while it determines whether your site is a | | | | guarantee that you'll be included in their results. |
| genuine, credible, long term site. It does this to | | | | IMPORTANT: As mentioned above, it takes quite a |
| discourage the creation of SPAM websites (sites | | | | while for your site to appear in the search engines. |
| which serve no useful purpose other than to boost the | | | | This is partly because the search engines are big and |
| ranking of some other site). | | | | slow - especially when it comes to new sites. It will |
| By submitting your domain name to Google as soon | | | | take a minimum of 6-8 weeks before your site is |
| as you register it, you're establishing a site history even | | | | indexed. |