What happened to Cointelegraph?

[robelneo]

P.S Update
I did deep research today about Cointelegraph and its effective removal from Google. Cointelegraph partnered with Clickout Media to manage the iGaming section on the website. Cointelegraph took advantage of its website's ranking and published third-party pages to abuse the search rankings of Clickout Media. Cointelegraph didn't become a victim of Google's algorithm update. Most likely, Google enforced Site Reputation Abuse violations against Cointelegraph through manual actions.

Despite the fact that they quickly removed iGaming from their website, they are still punished by Google.

Thanks for digging deep on this. Many website administrators will learn to avoid this kind of action if they do not want to be punished by Google.
If you're business is not respected by Google, and they are punishing you, you will lose a lot of your reputation. It's better to appeal to have the punishment removed.
Now they have to rely heavily on their followers and subscribers for their traffic, and they need to be included in the search results to gain organic traffic.

[Zwei]

they fucked around with all the gambling affiliates spam shit and found out.
and if my memory is not failing me, last year google went after authority websites that were gaming the ranking by sposored articles filled with affiliates links.

this entire thing should remind people whose business model depends on google traffic, you are 100% at their mercy, one algorithm update or a penalty and you are fucked.

Which crypto casinos were they promoting? Btw aren't all of the crypto casino review websites full of sponsored articles filled with affiliate links? I checked casino guru and a few other similar websites, they aren't banned in the Google search engine.

the deferent is that those are 100% affiliate websites, they post their own affiliate links, that their main business model.
what other authority websites like cointelegraph and a bunch of other did, is they sold sponsored articles/listicles for like $1~3k that a third party writes and have their affiliate links.

2 years ago or so, if you would search anything on google like best casino, best vpn, best whatever, the top results would have always been from a big authority websites, and google didn't like that so they put a stop to it with a spam update.

[shield132]

Today I decided to have some fun and get to know who is Cointelegraph's CEO. This is the guy - Muhammad Usman Hassan. According to his profile, he works in Cointelegraph as a SEO specialist since 2021. I wonder what's his job right now since the website hasn't been in Google for months.

Btw when I asked multiple AIs what are the best websites to access cryptocurrency news, all of them suggested me Cointelegraph in their top 5 list but later I'll try to test whether Cointelegraph's AI SEO is affected or not. Besides a normal SEO, AI SEO is also a very important part of the job today.

[NotATether]

Today I decided to have some fun and get to know who is Cointelegraph's CEO. This is the guy - Muhammad Usman Hassan. According to his profile, he works in Cointelegraph as a SEO specialist since 2021. I wonder what's his job right now since the website hasn't been in Google for months.

Does this link work? I'm getting "Page Not Found" from LinkedIn. I'm also not logged in and am using a VPN, if that helps.

It's strange how he wrote SEO Specialist instead of Cointelegraph CEO though, given that is (was?) his position. It definitely feels like the website being delisted for months has basically killed it.

[shield132]

Today I decided to have some fun and get to know who is Cointelegraph's CEO. This is the guy - Muhammad Usman Hassan. According to his profile, he works in Cointelegraph as a SEO specialist since 2021. I wonder what's his job right now since the website hasn't been in Google for months.

Does this link work? I'm getting "Page Not Found" from LinkedIn. I'm also not logged in and am using a VPN, if that helps.

It's strange how he wrote SEO Specialist instead of Cointelegraph CEO though, given that is (was?) his position. It definitely feels like the website being delisted for months has basically killed it.

I don't know why that link doesn't work but try this one - https://www.linkedin.com/in/muhammad-usman-hassan-0970a298/
Sorry for the typo, he wrote SEO, not CEO. I made a mistake. Btw when you follow a LinkedIn link, it asks you to sign in to your LinkedIn account to view the profile. The website being delisted cost them more than 50% of their internet traffic. I think that they'll be financially in a terrible situation.

Coindesk added a Cointelegraph tag on their website. When I type Cointelegraph in Google, Coindesk appears on the first page with the following text - Not finding Cointelegraph? New to CoinDesk? Try our award winning news coverage on BTC, ETH, XRP, SOL and prediction market.

[Rashlyowl]

Sorry for the bump I made broski!



I just wanted to bring up the discussion regarding Cointelegraph which is now back on the air on Google, Cointelegraph is available on Google not as cointelegraph.com, but under ct.com. Finally, after so long, we are seeing this big name back in the default search results, without having to input the link manually.

[FinneysTrueVision]

Sorry for the bump I made broski!



I just wanted to bring up the discussion regarding Cointelegraph which is now back on the air on Google, Cointelegraph is available on Google not as cointelegraph.com, but under ct.com. Finally, after so long, we are seeing this big name back in the default search results, without having to input the link manually.

Their articles, however, do not appear in Google search results unless it is through syndication on third party websites and social media posts.

Just days ago their competitor Coindesk published a story saying they were for sale, which Cointelegraph has denied. I’m sure they were severely impacted when they were penalized by Google, but with all the different ways in which news can be delivered to consumers, search engines are becoming less relevant.

https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/10/07/crypto-news-site-cointelegraph-seeks-buyer-after-web-traffic-plunges

[ABCbits]

Sorry for the bump I made broski!



I just wanted to bring up the discussion regarding Cointelegraph which is now back on the air on Google, Cointelegraph is available on Google not as cointelegraph.com, but under ct.com. Finally, after so long, we are seeing this big name back in the default search results, without having to input the link manually.

It feels like they decide to bypass google restriction. But if their AI or worker ever notice this bypass, ct.com also could be delisted from google search. But i wonder how much money they spend to buy ct.com domain.

Just days ago their competitor Coindesk published a story saying they were for sale, which Cointelegraph has denied. I’m sure they were severely impacted when they were penalized by Google, but with all the different ways in which news can be delivered to consumers, search engines are becoming less relevant.

https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/10/07/crypto-news-site-cointelegraph-seeks-buyer-after-web-traffic-plunges

Sorry for going off-topic, but i can't help but share this ironic statement, considering they sometimes use click-bait title or turning X post into "news".

“We welcome scrutiny, but we will not stay silent when speculation is presented as fact. If manufacturing controversy is your strategy for attracting readers, selling events, or keeping your business afloat, that says more about your business model than it does about ours,” the post said.

[Rashlyowl]

It feels like they decide to bypass google restriction. But if their AI or worker ever notice this bypass, ct.com also could be delisted from google search. But i wonder how much money they spend to buy ct.com domain.

I don't know about SEO things. However, it seems they don't have ct.com solely to bypass Google's restrictions. Based on the fact that they have owned the domain name since 2018.



Information regarding the domain acquisition by Cointelegraph also appeared on NamePros that year: https://www.namepros.com/blog/ct-com-acquired-by-crypto-news-site-cointelegraph.1104470/

As for the price, I don't think we can assume the short name is only priced around 6 figures, at least 7 figures is reasonable.

[Taskford]

Sorry for the bump I made broski!



I just wanted to bring up the discussion regarding Cointelegraph which is now back on the air on Google, Cointelegraph is available on Google not as cointelegraph.com, but under ct.com. Finally, after so long, we are seeing this big name back in the default search results, without having to input the link manually.

It feels like they decide to bypass google restriction. But if their AI or worker ever notice this bypass, ct.com also could be delisted from google search. But i wonder how much money they spend to buy ct.com domain.

Just days ago their competitor Coindesk published a story saying they were for sale, which Cointelegraph has denied. I’m sure they were severely impacted when they were penalized by Google, but with all the different ways in which news can be delivered to consumers, search engines are becoming less relevant.

https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/10/07/crypto-news-site-cointelegraph-seeks-buyer-after-web-traffic-plunges

Sorry for going off-topic, but i can't help but share this ironic statement, considering they sometimes use click-bait title or turning X post into "news".

“We welcome scrutiny, but we will not stay silent when speculation is presented as fact. If manufacturing controversy is your strategy for attracting readers, selling events, or keeping your business afloat, that says more about your business model than it does about ours,” the post said.

I think they didn't bypass the situation, because result may turn the same. When google find out that counteraction they have done.

But as what I read online they choose to move on new domain, then eliminate those gambling contents or any related to it. So google will allowed them to comeback on searches.

I don't know if there are people would got an interest to buy their old domain. Knowing that its been heavily affected by google search restriction. Aside that the buyer will inherit the penalty and maybe operating it will cost a lot to them.

[NotATether]

I think they didn't bypass the situation, because result may turn the same. When google find out that counteraction they have done.

But as what I read online they choose to move on new domain, then eliminate those gambling contents or any related to it. So google will allowed them to comeback on searches.

I don't know if there are people would got an interest to buy their old domain. Knowing that its been heavily affected by google search restriction. Aside that the buyer will inherit the penalty and maybe operating it will cost a lot to them.

They should not sell the old domain for any reason.

There are many links to cointelegraph everywhere, and if a malicious scammer somehow acquires the domain, they could cause a lot of damage to unsuspecting users.

They should just use it to redirect all pages from the old domain to the new domain so that links don't break.

[PrivacyG]

I think they didn't bypass the situation, because result may turn the same. When google find out that counteraction they have done.

Google may still be used by a lot of people and it would affect traffic, but on the other hand a very well known domain is still a much better start than trying with a new one.  Particularly for people with interests like the ones NotATether described!