Five publications linked to Clickout Media show steep declines in estimated organic search traffic amid reports of Google manual penalties and newsroom cuts.
Press Gazette’s October 26 investigation named Gambling Insider, Esports Insider, Gaming America, PlaySense and CasinoBeats as sites believed to have received penalties.
Ahrefs charts covering November 3, 2025, through November 2, 2026, show different patterns. Gambling Insider and PlaySense fell sharply from late August. CasinoBeats had already suffered a prolonged decline, while Esports Insider saw repeated falls and partial recoveries.
Gaming America lost 95% of its estimated search traffic during July and August. It recovered strongly in September and October, then fell sharply again near November.
The reporting also details newsroom cuts. Gambling Insider staff told Press Gazette that cuts followed a September Google penalty. At Esports Insider, employees described writers disappearing from company Slack channels.
Former Esports Insider writer Ben Touati also said 28 casino articles appeared under his name on its German-language pages. They displayed update dates from May 15 to July 14, after his access was revoked on March 9 and his employment ended on March 23. He said he had not written or worked on them.
Responding to Press Gazette, Clickout Media denied owning Esports Insider. Employees told the publication that it ran the site.
#Gambling #newscrypto
Press Gazette’s October 26 investigation named Gambling Insider, Esports Insider, Gaming America, PlaySense and CasinoBeats as sites believed to have received penalties.
Ahrefs charts covering November 3, 2025, through November 2, 2026, show different patterns. Gambling Insider and PlaySense fell sharply from late August. CasinoBeats had already suffered a prolonged decline, while Esports Insider saw repeated falls and partial recoveries.
Gaming America lost 95% of its estimated search traffic during July and August. It recovered strongly in September and October, then fell sharply again near November.
The reporting also details newsroom cuts. Gambling Insider staff told Press Gazette that cuts followed a September Google penalty. At Esports Insider, employees described writers disappearing from company Slack channels.
Former Esports Insider writer Ben Touati also said 28 casino articles appeared under his name on its German-language pages. They displayed update dates from May 15 to July 14, after his access was revoked on March 9 and his employment ended on March 23. He said he had not written or worked on them.
Responding to Press Gazette, Clickout Media denied owning Esports Insider. Employees told the publication that it ran the site.
#Gambling #newscrypto
