Among the most popular SEO-related urban legends are numerous theories about search engine “sandboxes” and other filters.
Some sandbox theories suggest that major search engines may penalize new domains on a site wide basis, while other suggest that search engines may penalize new online content, even when published to established domains.
Despite considerable testing, the search engine optimization community has yet to discover exactly how search engines treat new content. This is due, in part, to the ever-changing nature of search engine algorithms.
Because of this phenomenon, publishers never know exactly when or if a new article will be indexed or how it will fare over the long run. When timing is important to a niche topic, designers and publishers are faced with the dilemma of whether to publish content upon completion, or to wait until the moment is right.
Timing can affect niches such as seasons, holidays, travel, current events, and others. A question that publishers often ponder is “How far in advance should I publish content?”
In the last few years, industry analysts have suggested that the time between publishing context to search engine indexing can vary from a few days to weeks or more.
The complexity surrounding search engine indexing reinforces the need to plan ahead. Despite an ever-changing search engine environment, producing quality content never goes out of style.