CNN Underscored Potentially Facing Shutdown Amid Google’s Affiliate Policy Crackdown

An anonymous email suggests that the news outlet's affiliate wing will wind down by end of November.

In a recent post on LinkedIn, Chris Long, VP of Marketing at Go Fish Digital, shared an email from an anonymous source announcing the unexpected end of a CNN Underscored contract, as part of the shutdown of the brand’s affiliate marketing operations by the end of November.

CNN Underscored, a branded content division of CNN, publishes product reviews and recommendations, largely funded through affiliate commissions from partnerships with retailers.

This announcement follows a challenging period for CNN Underscored, with Long estimating that the publisher had lost around one million monthly organic sessions. He attributes the sharp drop to Google’s recent algorithm changes, namely the site reputation abuse policy, which has aimed at clamping down on certain kinds of third-party affiliate content. While unverified, he speculates that a similar outcome may be on the way for Forbes Marketplace, which might also be impacted by Google’s crackdown.

This news also arrives shortly after the closure of Giant Freakin' Robot, another affiliate-based publisher, which ceased operations on its site this week after reports of plummeting Google traffic.

While this might appear like Google’s war on affiliate sites, people in the comments were quick to counter this narrative.

Many expressed scepticism about platforms like CNN Underscored, arguing that Google’s policies on site reputation and affiliate content are fair. They argue that these platforms may prioritise SEO manipulation over user value, creating a disconnect between the content and the publisher’s core editorial mission.

Others suggest that the solution lies in refocusing on user-centric content rather than solely optimising for algorithm performance.

It’s really hard to say. Google’s new policies and updates have seemed to sweep across the entire online publishing industry and many have been impacted without appearing to have done anything wrong. It does not seem to be smoothing out anytime soon. But on the other hand, there are still publishers performing well in search results. We advise continuing to experiment and closely monitor what works best.