Google search algorithm update caused cryptocurrency media CCN to shut down, CoinDesk and The Block were also affected

Following a recent core upgrade, Google is sending significantly less traffic to cryptocurrency-related websites than to other sites, leading to the permanent shutdown of CCN, a well-known media site in the industry.

Google released its “core upgrade” on June 3, which is designed to overhaul its search algorithm and provide users with more “relevant” content. Although these upgrades are intended to improve search quality across the board, nearly all cryptocurrency sites have reported a significant drop in referrals from the search giant.

A company spokeswoman who spoke on condition of anonymity said she couldn't discuss specific sites or how they fared in the upgrade, but shared with us a series of tweets from Dan Sullivan, Google's head of search communications, who wrote that Google adjusted the ranking of sites based on the "relevance" and "quality" of their content.

A Google spokesperson acknowledged that some sites may not be performing as well as they originally did, and claimed that others may be performing better.

If there are indeed some cryptocurrency sites that perform better due to upgrades, we can only say that we have not seen this phenomenon yet.

In fact, most cryptocurrency sites are seeing double-digit declines, with six-year-old CCN appearing to suffer the most. Earlier today, the company issued a press release announcing its impending closure, writing that, following algorithm changes, its advertising revenue was no longer sufficient to cover the size of its team.

Jonas Borchgrevink, founder of CCN, said:

“CCN’s Google search traffic dropped more than 71% overnight.”

A Google spokesperson said the sites may have been "penalized" because they violated certain guidelines for where traffic should go.

The SEO violations listed by Google include posting “auto-generated content,” adding “hidden text or links,” “loading the page with irrelevant keywords,” “engaging in link spoofing,” “creating pages with little or no original content,” and “self-directing” — in other words, a pretty good description of many of the sleazy cryptocurrency sites that have proliferated during the recent bubble.

However, it is unclear whether or which of these rules CCN violated. The company did not respond to a request for comment, and Google declined to provide details.

Citing data from Sistrix, CCN said other well-known sites, such as Coindesk, a must-have for cryptocurrency users, and media upstart The Bloc, also experienced traffic losses (The Block's Mike Dudas confirmed that its traffic was slightly down, while Coindesk did not comment). In fact, the source site of this article, Decrypt, also suffered a significant drop in traffic.

So we have to ask the question: Why does Google hate cryptocurrency?