The Google Sandbox and Old Sites

A recent thread over at SEO Chat provides some insight into the sandbox in discussing old sites:

Even if they arent sandboxed now, if you start doing major work on it the domain could get sandboxed again. It is not a once and your out for life type of deal. Just be aware of this as you proceed. I would hate for you to expect easy sailing and then run smack into the wall of Google’s friendly sandbox.

He’s right. People talk about the sandbox as if it were for new sites only. It helps to think of the sandbox as a filter that targets excessive SEO strategies, link building in particular. It just so happens that aggressive link building tends to look most unnatural upon the launch of new sites.