CCN Shuts Down After Major Google Search Update

Cryptocurrency news site CNN.com is shutting down after experiencing a 71% fall in mobile traffic due to a recent update to Google’s search rankings. Founder Jonas Borchgrevink posted the news on his site saying:

The site began its life as a cryptocurrency-focused news source and, as evidenced by internal charts posted by Borchgrevink, enjoyed high traffic and solid organic search activity. This all came crashing down after what Google called its June 2019 Core Update, an update that Google claimed was “designed to improve our results.”

“Most have little noticeable change but help us continue to incrementally improve search,” wrote Google’s SearchLiaison on October 11, 2018.

The update apparently also dinged sites like the Daily Mail, leading Borchgrevink and others to speculate that CCN’s conservative posts led to the reduction in search activity.

Borchgrevink wrote:

We have reached out to Borchgrevink for further comment.