Publications linked to Clickout Media are laying off staff amid suspected Google manual penalties. The cuts began after one of the network's sites reportedly received such a penalty in September 2026. Google has not publicly confirmed sanctions against these properties.
In recent weeks, several Esports Insider writers have also lost their jobs or freelance contracts. The site now publishes under a shared “ESI Editorial Team” byline instead of the names of the journalists who previously wrote the pieces. Clickout Media said it does not own Esports Insider. Several employees said the company managed the site.
Visibility problems started earlier. In March, Esports Insider and Videogamer reportedly disappeared from Google search results. Other possible recipients of manual penalties include CasinoBeats, Gaming America and the Dutch site PlaySense.nl, but how much each one's visibility dropped has not been established.
Former employees put the company's network at up to 300 sites. Its exact size and recent acquisitions, including a possible purchase of Gamereactor.se, have not been independently confirmed.
Since August 30, manual actions for site reputation abuse have affected search results outside the European Economic Area. Inside the zone the restriction does not apply, but Google may evaluate the affected section separately from the rest of the site. Whether the sanctions against Clickout properties are tied to this violation is unknown.
