Listings disappeared from search, sales down, ads not working

[ResplendentAurora]

I need help! My sales have dropped off a cliff in the past two weeks, even with my ads still turned on.

I just checked search in an incognito browser and none of my memory box listings (of which i have 100's) appear in any of the first twenty pages of search, from generic searches like "memory box" to more specific, like "baby memory box" or "wedding memory box". You would think maybe 1 or 2 would appear somewhere, especially as some of the listings were bestsellers, and I've sold hundreds of them. I don't understand why they would suddenly disappear?? I've checked and my shop and listings are still online, but the past week my stats have plummeted:

traffic in the past week:

Etsy app & other pages -56%

Etsy search -76%

Etsy marketing & SEO -84%

I was consistently spending $50 on etsy ads and getting great returns, now they're not even spending $15. It's like etsy suddenly decided to blacklist my shop. Is this fixable in any way? Is it a technical issue? Any suggestions welcome!!!

[Angrymonkeys]

You arnt on your own ,so many shops mine included are going the same way and tbh nobody has an answer maybe as we all have said just may be that the cost of living is so high maybe ppl are cutting back on their spending 

[Casedoit]

I think no. This happened after an Etsy update. Until July 8, the statistics were growing and sales were growing. And judging by past years, the season should begin in my niche in August

[Casedoit]

I have the same problems. All keywords have been dropped from the search algorithm. I think it was because Etsy updated it.

[1838plantation]

My sales have also dropped off a Cliff! Zero sales for an entire month since Etsy updated Seo.  I am seriously considering doing business elsewhere.  I was doing quite well up until the change then suddenly nothing. I don’t think it’s a coincidence 

[MyWestCoastVintage]

Context Specific Ranking- is killing my business.

I put in a seaarch and etsy no longer matches results based on exact search. They now do what's called Context Specific Ranking."Etsy's search results can change after you type in a search because of Etsy's Context Specific Ranking (CSR) technology, also known as personalized search. CSR uses machine learning to analyze your search history and show you results that Etsy thinks you'll like.

"So they are no longer indexing what the searcher types, instead what they think they might like. 

I presume that's why I see a huge drop in traffic. If I didn't run ads, I'd get zero traffic.

[BagmakerSupply]

@ResplendentAurora: There are less buyer dollars to go around, plus continuing changes to Etsy search mean that those dollars are being distributed differently.

It is difficult to know if Etsy is blacklisting shops, but the fact that you have an entire section of merchandise where you are not including YOUR licensing information for the trademarked and copyrighted names and images is not helping you. Perhaps buyers (and Etsy) are concluding they are counterfeits. Including your licensing information will show that you are not selling those items illegally.

"I just checked search in an incognito browser ..." Using an incognito browser does not stop a web site from knowing it is you. Due to "personalized searches" there are many many factors that affect listing placement and the relative weight of each factor probably changes constantly. Even exact word matches to your title no longer ensure that you will appear on page 1. Etsy is proud of the fact that they provide search results which they think you will actually purchase regardless of what you actually searched for.

The drop in ad spending can mean that your listings are not showing up in appropriate search results.

[Casedoit]

this would have been true a month ago. Now it doesn't work like that. Keywords have been removed from the search. If you open the listing statistics, you can see that the keywords last month and the keywords now are radically different. Now listings are issued for random irrelevant keywords, while a month ago and in previous months everything was fine and the keywords were relevant

[ResplendentAurora]

@bagmakersupply Hey! Thanks for the reply but I’m a bit confused about this…

“but the fact that you have an entire section of merchandise where you are not including YOUR licensing information for the trademarked and copyrighted names and images is not helping you. Perhaps buyers (and Etsy) are concluding they are counterfeits.”

What should I be doing differently? As far as I know Etsy doesn’t have anywhere I would put licensing info? Or should I be saying on every listing that the designs are mine?

[BagmakerSupply]

@ResplendentAurora: Whether or not you are designing the items is irrelevant. If you read the licensing agreement you have to use the Dungeons and Dragons trademark to sell your products you will no doubt see that there is a section that specifies what attributions you need to make within any sales materials (and that would include each individual listing).

[TheCraftyLittleBug]

@BagmakerSupply I doubt she has licenses for this stuff. So it's counterfeit.

@ResplendentAurora you need to read this and take the necessary steps to make your shop above board.

Intellectual Property Policy - Our House Rules | Etsy

You can't sell D&D items without permission...You can't use the Barbie font without permission. That goes for Disney, Pixar, any video game, TV shows, movies...

This might be why you dropped off the face of the earth. You got away with it for a while but if Etsy finds this stuff they block you from searches and may eventually shut down your shop. And if the copyright holders get a whiff of your sales, you'll lose your profits and a lot more by the time their high priced lawyers are done.

[quiltpanelsforyou]

Poor reviews factor into your overall shop quality score and can reduce your visibility in search.

[SpottedOctopusShop]

A couple of weeks ago Etsy made another switch. They changed to four categories. These changes cause drops. And there have been a series of major changes. Hopefully things will level out and things will start going again. Negative reviews also seem to have more of an effect these days.

[Natalya1905]

Your shop location is UK, but you do not accept returns. As far as I know, UK shops must accept returns within 30 days.

Out of the three SS badges, you only have one for shipping. No badges for messages and reviews. This downgrades your shop in search.

Several items I checked (a wedding spoon, for example) are labeled as "personalized", but personalization is optional and doesn't give any option to actually personalize. Shoppers can only choose quantity (800+). When personalization is optional, to Etsy bots it means you sell blank mass produced items. You may want to read Etsy policies on personalization to be sure.

[KarlasCrafts]

Same thing is happening to my store. Poor reviews did not cause it to happen to my store. I am a star seller with all of the badges. Like you, when I did a search for my night lights, I could not find any of my items in the first 20 pages (I have over 900 listings, so you would think I would find at least one or two of them). I did end up finding a couple of my listings, but they were even farther back, near the end where no one will ever find them. I have decided to just let my Etsy store die and not renew any of my listings. I am not going to keep spending money on it when I am not getting sells anymore. I am going to put my energy into my other stores that is not on Etsy. 

[StinsonPaperCompany]

Your ghost nightlight came up on page 1 for me, about half way down. It's difficult because with personalized search we're never going to know where, when, or if our stuff is going to show up. I understand your frustration and disappointment, though. I'm going through the same thing.

[BagmakerSupply]

@KarlasCrafts: Keep in mind that if everyone on this forum searched for the exact same phrase they would all get different results. Because of "personalized searches" you can NOT rely on anyone's search results to define how your listing is ranked. There are many many factors that affect listing placement and the relative weight of each factor probably changes constantly. Even exact word matches to your title no longer ensure that you will appear on page 1.

Etsy is proud of the fact that they provide search results which they think you will actually purchase regardless of what you actually searched for.

[StinsonPaperCompany]

Actually the search results were pretty interesting. First I tried cute nightlight, because @KarlasCrafts has many cute nightlights. Nothing from her on the first three pages, but the preponderance of results were for Halloween and fall-themed nightlights. Sometime back Josh (or someone else?) mentioned that seasonality was a factor in search, and this was the first time it really stuck out to me.

[Elleandtribegifts]

My sales dropped off a cliff too. From getting £1000 per week to £200. That is a drastic change and I suspect it’s because Etsy has made some changes again. It’s really hard to stay motivated on this platform. I’m severely disabled and it’s ruined me in all honesty.