Any law firm looking to optimize a new website for Google, will undoubtedly hear about the "Google Sandbox Effect." According to Wikipedia, "[t]he Sandbox Effect is . . . the theory that websites with newly-registered domains . . . are placed in a sandbox (holding area) in the indexes of Google until it is deemed appropriate [for] a ranking [to] commence." In other words, there is supposedly a period of time (generally thought to be several months) during which new websites are placed on "probationary" status by Google, and the website will not rank well in Google (at least for certain competitive keywords) until Google determines that the new website is legitimate and worthy of a high ranking.
There is debate in the SEO community as to whether the "Google Sandbox" is myth or reality. Representatives of Google itself have publicly debunked the notion of a "sandbox." However, based on their experiences working with new websites, many SEO experts claim that nearly all new websites are subject to a "sandbox" effect of some kind on Google. And indeed, it does appear that new websites wait longer for a higher ranking in Google than in other search engines.
Here's a well-written article summarizing the "sandbox" effect, explaining the reasons why Google might have instituted such a mechanism, and providing advice to webmasters about the sandbox.
Since the "Sandbox Effect" is related to establishing trust with Google, here's another solid article about steps webmasters can take to build trust with Google.
Google's own webmaster guidelines for getting indexed and ranked properly can be viewed here.
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