It’s such a great title for this rant, I couldn’t resist (at least I’m amusing myself, right?). For the majority of you that don’t get it, “The Mystery of Chess Boxing” is an old school kung fu movie as well as an old Wu Tang Clan song off of 36 chambers.

Ahhh…the Google Sandbox. A topic that never gets old (OK, maybe it does). Sandbox coverage highlights thus far:

• Google Sandbox Defined
• 2005 Analysis Of Google’s Sandbox
• Confirmation from Google that the Sandbox Does Exist
• Get Out of the Google Sandbox Free Card
• Ending the Year with a Google Sandbox Re-evaluation
• Oh Ye of Little Faith
• Google Sandbox Exists – So Says Google
• A Google Sandbox Roundup
• Screw the Sandbox – Buy An Old Site
• Is There A Google Sandbox?

It exists, it doesn’t exist. Does it only apply to new sites, links, sites that build links too quickly, unnaturally, all of the above, or is it a figment of your imagination? Personally, I think it’s an indicator that you’re going about it all wrong and haven’t focused your efforts in the right place.

Let me explain. 🙂

The Google Sandbox only exists if you’re trying to game the search engines. If you or your client have a true resource, best shopping site, new buzzworthy service, or whatever the case may be, you’re obviously going to aggressively promote it. Search engines will NOT be your focus, you would market the website through any and every feasible method available (and do so as if the engines don’t exist). Word of mouth, referrals, and other forms of “natural buzz” is what would deliver the real traffic, and search engines would only serve as a supplemental form of traffic (sorry for using the “s” word to all of you stuck in supplemental hell).

If it’s more than your own personal bias or paid endorsement feeding the frenzy over a website, the engines will definitely notice the natural patterns of increasing traffic and linkage to your site. Thus, in the eyes of the engines, you’re not gaming at all and the site really must be worthy of immediate inclusion/rankings in order for them to continue to provide the most relevant results possible for their users.

So what’s the solution? Be a true resource (duh)! Think outside the sandbox. Don’t think about how you’re going to artificially inflate your site’s or your client site’s rankings, instead think about how you can add value and make the site better. Boring, right? I know, nothing “blackhat” or sneaky to it at all.

Am I oversimplifying things here? Probably, but IMHO if many internet marketers put the same amount of time/effort into websites as they put into trying to game and outsmart the engines, I think they’d be amazed at the positive results.