Recent drop in views and sales? It's not Etsy.

[Former_Member]

The Etsy front page changes would not make a difference in views or sales since most sales on Etsy come as a result of Relevancy searches.

Around the same time that Etsy's front page changed, Google made a few big algorithm changes that would affect Etsy's ranking in Google searches for many popular keywords used on Etsy. A drop in rankings in Google can mean a big drop in shoppers.

In the past few years, Google has targeted low quality content and Link Spam. Some Etsy sellers know that backlinks add to a web site's popularity on Google and other search engines. But they do not know enough to stay away from Link Spam.

Last year at this time, Google penalized the Etsy.com Web site with a loss in rankings and views as a result of Link Spam unknowingly generated by Etsy sellers. There was a lot of the same confusion and blame and questioning Why in the Etsy forums.

Since Etsy sellers continue unknowingly generating link spam, Google very likely posed another penalty against Etsy. Google penalties usually last several months before the problem is cleaned up by Etsy SEO Admins and Google lifts the penalty.

[EllieMarieDesigns]

So what is link spam?

[DenimandRuffles]

How many links will be link spam. I wish Etsy would educate all sellers on the proper way of adding links and How many to add.

[MariasWorkshop]

I just learned something. After reading the OP I did a search and found this:
http://www.tizish.com/what-are-spam-links-and-how-they-affect-your-seo/

[MaxplanationPhotos]

thanks for all of the updates, I wish someone would explain this in the forums because everyone is posting that they are not getting sales. I had a feeling the changes with google had a lot to deal with it and not all of the other hypothesis that everyone keeps saying ;)

[Former_Member]

Links that point to or lead to your Etsy shop from another Web site, such as your own blog or another blog or Web site are backlkinks that can, if they are considered natural add value to your Etsy shop and can move your shop and listings up in Google search results. Web sites that rank very high in Google search results always get a lot more Internet traffic (visitors/shoppers) than those that rank lower, just like on Etsy.

Backlinks that are placed on Web sites and blogs that Google considers "bad neighborhoods" , or spam Web sites, can bring your Etsy shop down in the rankings, far away from all the shoppers. Even one link from a well known Spam Web site can do a lot of damage in Google rankings until it is removed.

For a very large Web site such as Etsy, with so many sellers who know very little about SEO, especially Google SEO, bad backlinks are rampant and bring a large part of Etsy down. For SEO newcomers, buying backlinks in the hopes of boosting rankings, sounds like a good affordable idea. Buying backlinks is ALWAYS link spam. Don't do it. There are ways to build backlinks that will help and not hurt your Etsy shop on Google.com.

[Former_Member]

Here is what Google has to say about Link Spam:

https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/66356?hl=en

Any links intended to manipulate PageRank or a site's ranking in Google search results may be considered part of a link scheme and a violation of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. This includes any behavior that manipulates links to your site or outgoing links from your site.

The following are examples of link schemes which can negatively impact a site's ranking in search results:

Buying or selling links that pass PageRank. This includes exchanging money for links, or posts that contain links; exchanging goods or services for links; or sending someone a “free” product in exchange for them writing about it and including a link
Excessive link exchanges ("Link to me and I'll link to you") or partner pages exclusively for the sake of cross-linking
Large-scale article marketing or guest posting campaigns with keyword-rich anchor text links
Using automated programs or services to create links to your site

Additionally, creating links that weren’t editorially placed or vouched for by the site’s owner on a page, otherwise known as unnatural links, can be considered a violation of our guidelines. Here are a few common examples of unnatural links that may violate our guidelines:

Text advertisements that pass PageRank

Advertorials or native advertising where payment is received for articles that include links that pass PageRank

Links with optimized anchor text in articles or press releases distributed on other sites. For example:
There are many wedding rings on the market. If you want to have a wedding, you will have to pick the best ring. You will also need to buy flowers and a wedding dress.

Low-quality directory or bookmark site links

Keyword-rich, hidden or low-quality links embedded in widgets that are distributed across various sites, for example:
Visitors to this page: 1,472
car insurance

Widely distributed links in the footers or templates of various sites

Forum comments with optimized links in the post or signature, for example:
Thanks, that’s great info!
- Paul
paul’s pizza san diego pizza best pizza san diego

Note that PPC (pay-per-click) advertising links that don’t pass PageRank to the buyer of the ad do not violate our guidelines. You can prevent PageRank from passing in several ways, such as:

Adding a rel="nofollow" attribute to the <a> tag
Redirecting the links to an intermediate page that is blocked from search engines with a robots.txt file

The best way to get other sites to create high-quality, relevant links to yours is to create unique, relevant content that can naturally gain popularity in the Internet community. Creating good content pays off: Links are usually editorial votes given by choice, and the more useful content you have, the greater the chances someone else will find that content valuable to their readers and link to it.

If you see a site that is participating in link schemes intended to manipulate PageRank, let us know. We'll use your information to improve our algorithmic detection of such links.

****************************************************************************

MY NOTE:
PageRank is like a Quality Score that Google assigns to every Web page on every Web site. Backlinks from Web sites with high PageRank are very valuable and add greatly to Google search result rankings

[MaxplanationPhotos]

any updates on what Etsy plans to do to improve this issue? sounds like if it takes a few months it won't be fixed in time for the holidays :(

[Former_Member]

P,

Why don't you post a link to this thread In the Open forums.

A Google Penalty is usually not removed quickly. I think the last penalty took about 9 months to be removed.

[maydaylabels]

So do you have evidence of lower overall site traffic to Etsy? I would think a significant penalty (something that affects more than say 1-2% of traffic) would be pretty big news, right?

Or is this just speculation?

My views are not down, sales are not down.

[Former_Member]

Yes, what is your evidence of this?

I have to say I see no evidence of this. My google views are the same. My Other views (which are mainly redirects from Etsy's Market pages that show up in Google search) are up 50 Percent since January. this is generally true of many of the sellers I know too.

I think most people in the forum are complaining of a decrease in Search views from Etsy. This would not be affected by any changes in Google..

[Former_Member]

IM new to etsy I've been building my shop for almost a year and I noticed as soon as etsy changed things it cost me 74.oo for one month and made no sales can't keep doing this anyone else having a hard time financially

[Former_Member]

Matthew and Sara,

Etsy did not talk about the Google Penalty last year and I don't think Etsy will say anything about a Google Penalty now. There were a lot more complaints about drops in views and sales last year than this year and I was asked about it by a number of Etsy sellers. I learned about the Google Penalty for Link Spam from Etsy's in-house SEO person whos job it was to clean up the link spam so that Google would lift the penalty.

The timing of Google's update to both Panda (low quality content) and Penguin (bad links/link spam) points to the reason for a drop in views for a part of Etsy.com. Unless Google imposed another penalty Google has been imposing so many link spam penalties against so many Web sites, both large and small, in the past 2 years that a Google penalty s no longer news.

For most of the last 12 years, it did not matter which Web sites linked to any other Web site. Then Google made the very large algorithm update, called Penguin, suddenly making who-links-to-your-web-site very important.

Many large web sites were caught unawares and lost their rankings on Google. How or why would they know if link spammers were linking to their web site? Something like that can happen without the knowledge or cooperation of the Web site owner

[Former_Member]

Felisa,

Not every Etsy shop is affected by a Google penalty at one time. Most Etsy shops do not seem to be affected but many are.

[Former_Member]

I'm still unsure this is a problem for most sellers. Very few sellers in the forums have high google views to start with and nearly every thread is discussing Etsy search views being down not Google.

So far what I see is a theory that you're putting forward. Is this just a theory or do you have something more concrete to support it?

I'd say it is a plausible theory, but I really think the real problem with the decrease in views has more to do with shops that have not updated their SEO effectively.

[organzasoaps]

Thank you all. I have a huge drop in etsy sales and I was wondering what is happening. At least now I know what is going on. Thank you all once again:)

[Former_Member]

Felisa.

Most Etsy searches originate with searches that start on Google. shoppers find Etsy either through Google Shopping or from searching for something on Google.com

It is not a theory that Google updated an algorithm having to do with link spam. It is not a theory that Etsy some Etsy sellers do get into link buying schemes and buy bad backlinks. It is also not a theory that Etsy has been hit with Google penalties in the past and might easily be hit again.

I followed up with research the last time and found the source of the drop in views and sales. My 12 years of SEO experience, outside of Etsy with my small business, my SEO Team on Etsy (https://www.etsy.com/teams/11352/relevancy-and-seo-for-all-etsy-shops) and all the SEO work I have done with Etsy shops, this is my educated guess. My instincts tell me this is the most likely reason today for the drop in sales and views that some Etsy sellers are asking about. I have learned to trust my instincts about SEO.

[Former_Member]

I wasn't saying that Google's update was a theory. I was asking if it was a theory that the supposed recent drop in views and sales is due to a penalty. To me it is a potential theory, but one that doesn't jive with what I have observed.

There are plenty of shops doing well on Etsy so if this were true, why aren't they feeling the effects of a penalty? It doesn't make sense to me that Google would penalize Etsy as a site but that the penalty would only affect certain shops. I would expect a Google penalty against Etsy to affect most shops if not all. Can you give me a more detailed explanation of why Etsy only penalizes certain shops? If the penalty can indeed affect only certain shops, then what are the certain shops doing that increase their susceptibility?

Also, Etsy's overall sales are also up significantly over last year. To me this indicates that people are indeed finding their way to Etsy for sales which seems to cut against the theory that people are not finding their way to Etsy via Google now.

I do think that Etsy's market pages have been a very effective traffic source driving Google traffic into Etsy. Etsy is almost always on the first page of Google searches I have tested with a market page. Almost everyone who I have asked has seen a drastic increase in Other views this year. The market pages show up in stats as the main component of "Other" for most people. To me this is another indicator that more people are finding their way in to Etsy via Google.

What my instincts and observations tell me is that the drop in sales was largely due to increased competition and mediocre SEO. I have watched many searches grow exponentially in the last year in the number of relevant listings. In jewelry alone, there are easily over 50,000 items renewed or listed each day. That makes it very difficult to be found if you don't have great SEO.

I checked tons of shops in the forums that complained of sudden low views. Every single one of them had less than optimal SEO Single word tags. tags and titles did not match. Lack of good keywords. Not once did I find a case where I thought, hmm, with those tags and titles they should be found.

Their SEO was okay sometimes but never as good as it could be. But when faced with competition of 100s of new listings that were optimized for the large generic phrases, they were losing out and buried.

If you check the threads regarding successful sellers, they either have very good SEO or they appear to have good social media/external traffic sources.

In reality, there are probably a multitude of factors weighing in one why one shop or or another shop has low views. Each shop that has had difficulties has different reasons.

Personally I am very fact based. I don't see evidence of a site wide Google problem right now. But then my shop is thriving right now, so I could be wrong since I am not in a struggling shop's shoes. But I also have learned to question theories and try to understand both their strengths and weaknesses. At this point, time will tell.

[FrenchVintagePrints]

Thanks Mary, your advice is always very helpful.

[maydaylabels]

I guess I just can't figure out the math: if Google has penalized Etsy to the tune of say 1-2% less traffic, how is that affecting some sellers not at all and other sellers (the ones complaining) to the tune of 50%, 70%, 90%? If you're saying that google has penalized Etsy to the tune of something more significant, say 20% of traffic, surely it would have *some* affect on almost every seller, and surely Etsy would say something like "stop using link builder sites" - because they would be really concerned about a drop like that, right? Then *their* revenue drops 20%, which would be a big deal, and not hideable (and I don't know why they'd want to hide it? Surely the best thing to do would be to try to prevent that kind of problem in the future by educating sellers).

So you must be talking about a minor penalty, which is I suppose possible, but doesn't explain someone getting 70% less sales than last October.

Like Felisa, I have not yet seen a single complainer (and I look at most of their shops) who is truly optimized for Etsy's relevancy search. The vast majority have terrible tags and titles. Very few have even looked at their stats beyond "sales are down 50%," so even they have no idea what is happening.

I see no value in telling people not to worry, it's not your fault - it might not be their fault, but it is generally not out of their control. Blaming Etsy for some sort of conspiracy to reward certain types of sellers over others, or for a messed up search, is counter-productive - blaming google is just as bad.

[MaxplanationPhotos]

I shared this thread in the forums. I think looking at a variety of factors helps. I don't think there is just one answer to a shop's decline but any info folks can provide, I am going to use it to make my shop even better ;)

[Former_Member]

Thanks so much for clearing this up! I was getting so tired of people saying "It's all etsy fault!" and stuff like that! Its so offensive, i really don't understand why they weren't banned.... I knew it wasn't etsy, why would they hinder themselves on purpose? After all, that's their business and how they make money! lol! Thanks so much! Your amazing!

[Former_Member]

Do you really think people should be banned for pointing out a potential reason for low views if someone is complaining about low views? I simply don't understand that.

I would much rather know it was something within my control and work on it. If someone posts about low views and has only single word tags, I am certainly going to suggest that they should look at their SEO and tags/titles as a way to fix their low views.

This is the exact reason I no longer give SEO advice in the forums. I know if there was something wrong in my shop that could be improved upon, I would want to know. Especially if I was struggling... But apparently most people in the forums don't feel that way.

[Former_Member]

It's not that they were complaining, simply complaining, it's that they were accusing etsy, being very rude, and using the wrong wording where it simply wasn't necessary... I just didn't like it(:

[Former_Member]

Well that's another reason to avoid the forums in my opinion. You can disagree about something but people do tend to get carried away there...