Google sandbox (Google penalty) is real or not?

Question

Most of the SEO analysts are saying that Google Sandbox (Sandboxing or the sandbox effect or the Google penalty) is still available but when I searched Wikipedia I found that, Google didn't conformed it yet and there is no proper evidence or official announcement.

If you searched Google Sandbox on Google search engine you would find more results from various sites and not from Google but would find some results from Google which would be pointing to other theme not about Google penalty.

I want to know whether Google sandbox is real or not? If so how could I check my site's presence inside that sandbox (I don't need other sites link but only need Google sandbox tool)?

Answer 1

The "Google Sandbox" was a specific penalty that Google gave to new sites. You used to be able to get this penalty by changing your site's domain name. Now with "site move" tools in Google Webmaster Tools, you don't have to start over in the sandbox when you change the domain name of your website.

There is no "Google Sandbox Tool" or anything like it.

Websites may lose Google rankings and traffics for many reasons. Google doles out manual penalties for many reasons such as spamming or buying links. These are called "manual" penalties because a person a Google imposes the penalty. If you get such a penalty, you would generally get a notice about it in Google Webmaster Tools. Once your site is cleaned up, you can file a reconsideration request with Google.

A site might also lose rankings and traffic because an algorithm at Google decides that it should be so. There is generally no notification from this type of penalty and no appeal process. The only thing you can do is change your web site and wait for the algorithm to re-evaluate it.