Google’s John Mueller was asked on Twitter if there were any limits for a new page ranking at the top of the search results. John Mueller said no, there were no fixed rules, and then he explained why this is the case.
### Background of a Ranking Limit on New Sites and Pages
There is a longstanding belief in SEO that Google has an automatic block preventing new sites or web pages from ranking, often referred to as a sandbox. This “penalty” is commonly believed to apply to new sites.
New pages are commonly believed to be at a disadvantage for ranking, much like new sites. A common hypothesis is that Google blocks new pages from ranking if they are on new or younger websites.
The sandbox concept began about fifteen years ago when some publishers noticed it was increasingly difficult to rank new sites and web pages. The SEO community hypothesized that new sites and pages might be held back from ranking to prevent spam.
A related hypothesis speculated that older sites could rank new pages more easily due to having more trust (a topic recently addressed by John Mueller).
### Google Denies Existence of a Sandbox in 2005
For fifteen years, Google has consistently denied the existence of a sandbox for new sites. Matt Cutts, formerly head of the Web Spam team at Google, stated in 2005 that a sandbox did not exist. A conference attendee reported that Matt said there wasn’t a sandbox, but the algorithm might affect some sites, under certain circumstances, in a way that could be perceived as sandboxing.
Another attendee commented that the mention of a “sandbox” led Google to analyze their algorithm. Once studied, they decided they liked the resulting effects.
An explanation for this occurrence was that the algorithm was updated to better catch manipulative behavior. For instance, in May 2005, Google announced using statistical analysis to catch spammy link profiles, effectively identifying many manipulative tactics in use at the time.
### Fixed Rule on New Pages Ranking Denied
The question asked on Twitter was if Google imposed a limit on how new pages ranked:
John Mueller responded that Google uses many factors for crawling, indexing, and ranking. It’s possible that in certain situations, some pages show up quickly, while others take longer. There’s no fixed rule or timeline.
Certain situations where new pages rank well could relate to the topicality of a web page, particularly if a topic is trending. A new page might also address a topic so well that it becomes popular, prompting Google to display it. Signals of popularity could come from links to the site.
The important takeaway is that John Mueller clearly states there is no fixed rule or timeline for the ability of a new page to rank.
The sandbox concept has been revived, but the notion that new pages (and by extension, new sites) must “age” to be “trusted” before they can rank has been disputed by Google for fifteen years.
John Mueller’s response is one of many confirming no such rule or timeline exists.
