Google Sandbox positioning/indexing problems

The Google Sandbox is supposed to be a filter placed on new websites which is proving controversial. It is alleged that a site fails to receive good rankings for its rich keywords and keyword phrases. Strangely, even websites with well presented content, plenty of incoming links and strong Google page rank, are adversely affected by the Google Sandbox effect. The Sandbox acts as a deterrent for sites, possibly to discourage spam sites from rising quickly, getting banned, and reappearing.

The Google Sandbox may perhaps be deemed as a new website that is put on probation for proper behavior prior to being given full value for its incoming links and content.

Many believe that Google created the Sandbox new site filter, to arrest spam-related sites adding numerous purchased links, and getting ranked high for their keywords, right from the day they are launched. Google understandably considers a high number of links pointing to a site right from the start as suspicious. There is the distinct possibility that spam sites would use various undesirable tactics to get to the top of the search results and profit from heavy sales even prior to being banned. The danger also lurks of spam sites then repeating the process continually. Therefore, new sites are now subject to a form of probation by the Google Sandbox.

The controversy arises from the fact that not all agree that the Google Sandbox exists as a separate filter from other alleged Google filters. There are analysts who believe that the phenomenon merely results from the already existing Google algorithm calculations, and the Sandbox effect is nothing more than an illusion. But the one redeeming news is that Google has nearly admitted that the Sandbox filter is real.

Whereas all types of sites can be placed for scrutiny in the Sandbox, it is more of a threat to the new websites seeking rankings for highly competitive keyword phrases. For those who are anxious to know how long does the site stay in Sandbox, the answer is it varies from one to six months, with three to four months being the normal duration. The simple rule is the more competitive the usage of keyword, the longer the site spends in the Sandbox.

Some people are under the erroneous impression that by joining programs like Google Adwords and Google Adsense they can influence the duration of their website stay in the Sandbox. Please understand that participation in the various Google advertising programs will not keep your site out of Sandbox, or shorten your stay.

Many people wonder what to do when their sites are caught in the sandbox. They should know that it is the ideal time to continue to add fresh keyword rich content and new incoming links to their sites. It is also the right time to add more theme relevant content to the website. Concentrate on adding more keyword rich pages to both on page and off page factors. It is preferable to add a site map and make sure that all pages link properly to one another with appropriate link anchor text. Thus, when the sandbox filter is lifted, your improved site will rise rapidly to its proper place at the top of the search rankings.

Interesting post in webmasterworld on how punctuation in keywords affect results

"Various punctuation characters have a noticeable impact on search results - mostly from a searcher perspective. As a webmaster, you may find that your users include punctuation in some keywords, and so it can be of use to know what the effect on the results they see is. And besides, knowing how to search Google is one step towards understanding how Google works. This is a spot check of the current handling of punctuation by Google.
Indexed punctuation
Key_word
Underscores are treated as a letter of the alphabet, which is why you can search for an underscore directly. Use underscores in content if your visitors include an underscore when searching (e.g. if you had a programming site).
Key&word
Ampersands or 'and symbols' have fairly unique handling. They're both indexed and also treated as the equivalent of word "and". If there are no spaces separating the symbol and the adjacent letters, the search results are an approximate equivalent of combining results for ["key and word"] and ["key & word"] (note the phrase matching). Use ampersands in copy as is natural for your target audience.
Explicit search operators
Many punctuation characters are explicit search operators, with a documented effect on results. Search operators are not indexed (or at least, they can't be searched for) and so are usually treated as word separators when found within website copy:
Key¦word
An (unbroken) pipe character is the equivalent of boolean OR: a search for [key OR word]. It can be a handy shortcut when conducting complex queries.
Key"word
A double quote triggers an exact or phrase search for the proceeding words (whether you include a closing double quote or not). So in this instance, it's the equivalent of a search for [key word] since a single word can't be a phrase. ["key word] is the same as searching for ["key word"].
Key*word
An asterisk is a wildcard search for zero or more words: [key ... word]. Putting numbers on both sides will trigger the calculator. Occasionally, Google delivers (strange!) results if you search for an asterisk directly.
Key~word
A tilde triggers Google's related word operator - in this instance, a search for both 'key' and 'word', as well as other words related to 'word' - like 'Microsoft', 'dictionary' and others.
Search operator oddities
Key-word
A hyphen (as is probably consistent with language use) returns a mix of results for the words both used separately, and joined together - somewhere between [key word] and [keyword]. It's the preferred word separator within website URLs, since other punctuation characters that are treated as a word-separator have specific functions within a URL.
Others
A few punctuation characters have a strange impact on results - returning far fewer results than for either separated or concatenated words. They are neither known search operators, or indexed characters. These are . / \ @ = :
As far as I'm, aware, all other punctuation characters are treated as simply a space or word separator.
So, do I have too much time on my hands? Probably. But why not confuse whoever looks at Google's search logs by trying a few punctuation searches yourself? ;)
Do you know any punctuation with an effect on results not discussed here, or more about the effect on results of the punctuation above? "