Overnight 90% decrease in Views since last Wed-Thu. What has happened??

[#1]

My daily views have been fairly consistent. But last week, like overnight, it was like a light was switched OFF. My views have plummeted... up to 90% down from what is normal. Aside from all the crazy tests and horrible search function, I'm struggling to find what the cause is? I don't think I use any "shadow-banned" words (I mean, c'mon... I sell buttons... I don't think there's nothing offensive, sexual or otherwise no-no-ish about buttons). I know etsy has changed the search filter function regards categories (another crazy test??). But I don't know when that happened or if that has anything to do with it.

I've been here over 10 years and NEVER seen a sudden change like this. Has anyone else seen their stats fall off a cliff like this? 

[cindylouwho2]

@TarotByMokko Internal links have nothing to do with Etsy search. That's for outside SEO. Etsy is pushing outside SEO because they want better ranking in Google Shopping. Feel free to ignore that if you don't want Offsite Ads fees. @NancyNicoleArt 

[BriarMoonBeads]

The fact that this thread is from early December of last year only proves this happens regularly. Sudden 'lights off' has been reported by shops for well over a decade; for old-timers like me it's just a part of the Etsy machine. If you get traffic from other sources like ads, social media etc, then you shouldn't have to worry. It's only when you rely entirely on Etsy to bring your visitors that you have problems.

[hopeandjoystudios]

Get another shop. I am going back to Shopify. I was there in the very beginning and it was not for me. I didn't have any social media accounts and their shipping was super clunky. Now I can pay for an app and import my entire Etsy shop there and if something sells either place it is removed from live inventory. And they appear to have updated their shipping. And I have SM and plan on doing a larger in person push in a couple areas and want someplace to send customers that is not Etsy. Views bad here? Go elsewhere.

[DreamyTimesShop]

Let us know how Shopify is going.

[DesertRoseFarm]

Are you allowed to give us more info on what app you use to manage multiple shops on different platforms?  Never knew that existed!

[FloridaMinerals]

Zombie post

[propshopboutique]

14 years on Etsy.  I have been on a steady decline since my peak of 2018, during which time I had 2 employees.  Major hit 2020-2021 (covid).  Took nearly a year off due to personal stuff in 2022, however,  2023 seemed to be on the uprise.  2024 comes along...steady downhill starting Jan then *sharp* decrease from March to now.  I've always had the "light on/off" with Etsy, but now my shop is dead-dead.  The only thing keeping my afloat at this point are loyal return customers, which thankfully, I've gained many over the years.  But without the continual new customers, my shop is dying a slow death and I'm about to call it quits & close up shop.   I'll admit- I haven't always kept up with the latest seo's...many of my listings need major work and my shop could use a good overhaul of outdated items, etc.  But the past year I've put a good deal of effort into select listings- which paid off & did extremely well last year,  listings that should have also done very well this year.  Now, I'm flat out not being seen.  I've watched just about every tutorial (paid & free), tips, tricks, etc- I have many "test" listings in my shop- seems the harder I try, the worse it gets.  I'm truly not understanding how brand new shops that have been around a mere couple years can gain hundreds of thousands of orders just like that, it's beyond frustrating.

[LBclothingStudio]

I am in the same sinking boat unfortunately.  Two years ago this shop had about 65 orders PER DAY then 2022 it declined to about 35 per day...2023 another decline and now some days I get 15-20 and other days less than 10.  It has nothing to do with SEO and economy.  There are days that it is very obvious my shop is NOT visible at all.  I think the only sales coming in are from customers who had it in their cart or favorited and coming back to finalize.  

I am a single mom with 3 boys and to go from so busy I could't take a breath to overnight have dramatic change in revenue has me feeling....SCARED.  

Any other large shops feeling this...

[DesertRoseFarm]

To everyone that is struggling in 2024; do you sell on multiple platforms?  I do, and I find that sales are coming and going in waves simultaneously.  If it's a dead day or week, it is on all platforms.  If sales pick up, they do across all platforms.  I've noticed this for at least 2 years.  So I was under the impression this was an issue of economy, more than something Etsy specific...  Everything has been on a downward spiral since covid.  Not many people have $200 to casually dump into gifts or treats, like they did 10 years ago.  Now, it seems, folks don't want their online orders to exceed $15-20.  And with the rent and housing chaos in the USA getting steadily worse, there is less and less money to be spent on anything that's not food, housing, meds, insurance, and debt in most households.  That's how I've been seeing it, at least... 

If it IS an SEO thing, why wouldn't Etsy make that known?  I admit, I'm slow on the SEO uptake.  I did a re-do of my tags over a year ago and started rationing new listings each day, and doing everything I read to play the algorithm.  Has it helped?  Not really.  And I don't fancy having to constantly change them if the algorithm keeps changing.  I didn't change my setup much for 10 years and everything was stable and predictable, until 2020.  It's been a slow and steady crash since.  I've dump annoying amounts of time into researching and playing Etsy's algorithm.  Sometimes I think I see a difference, but then it goes dead again.  So unless I'm supposed to update tags and algorithm relationship on a weekly basis, I'm not convinced that's the problem   I rely primarily on repeat customers and my own generated interest now. 

Etsy has moved into the background in my life now as "passive income", because it's not worth the amount of stress and grief they seem to demand if you want to be seen, if you want to "take Etsy seriously".  It's like a fraying tapestry, and I'm sick of grabbing at the threads, trying to hold it all together.  Like others, I used to have an extremely reliable sales volume, upward of 10-15 orders per day.  Which sustained me just fine at the time.  2020 was a rollercoaster, with massive sales spikes when covid relief money was sent out, and huge rushes for health related products, but unsettling dead periods as well.  In 2021 it chipped down to 3-5 orders per day and I tried revamping algorithm crap but it didn't seem to help.  2022 chipped down to 2-3 per day with more and more dead days.  2023 was rougher still, with 1 order per day average, though the holidays were strong by comparison.  I sold out of most of my items in the course of a few weeks before Christmas.  January this year stayed strong, following December.  I had my hopes up.  Then February hit and it was suddenly dead.  Which, Feb has often been my worst month, so I though "ok, Feb is always rough, March will see a comeback".  Nope.  April?  So far, nope.   These three months have seen 0 orders most days, with occasional weird spikes and flushes of orders that get my hopes up. 

But again.  Is it economy or algorithm?  Because it's been the same on all platforms I use.  Has each platform mirror the others' algorithm changes?  It's been the same story and same timeline on other venues for me.

[LBclothingStudio]

I am a very experienced and seasoned seller here and what is happening  is not even close to the normal ebb and flow I am familiar with.  I am down 87% TODAY. 

[cindylouwho2]

@DesertRoseFarm as with almost anything involving selling, the answers will be different for different shops. Etsy absolutely changes the algorithms almost every week, and that has been killing shops here for a decade or more. But other things can also do the same, such as competition, Google, social media etc. We can't rely on any one channel or method of driving traffic to a channel. 

"If it IS an SEO thing, why wouldn't Etsy make that known?" They do. Etsy has been telling people to change their SEO for years now, and some sellers are finally being caught by their own refusals. Thing is, the way Etsy's algorithms work mean that there might be an almost imperceptible slowdown for a while, then sales fall off a cliff. Many sellers refuse to believe that they have any responsibility for this, though, since "my keywords worked fine last month!". They don't realize that they have been slowly losing traction over a longer period of time, and that one last change in the algorithms finally tanked them. I see sellers here with descriptions that were a bad idea years ago, with photos that were too small a decade ago, with numerous Google Shopping violations even though they expect to get Offsite Ads traffic, etc., complaining that this is all Etsy's fault, when this should not be about blame. It should be about fixing what could be hurting you. 

Mind you, there are a lot of things we can blame on Etsy: they really don't want sellers with lower-priced items as much any more. They are trying to remove handmade violations and are catching tons of legit sellers. They send mixed messages by combining their good advice with pushes to give them more money. They have abysmal support. I could go on, but this little box isn't big enough and you get the idea LOL

My revenue is only down 10% on Etsy this year, despite visits being down over 50%, and my shop having about 40% fewer items than last year. Really, the sales should be down a lot more! (There does appear to be a change in stats causing most people to see reduced visits, even if their sales are up.) Some long time sellers are reporting increased sales this year. It's clearly not an across the board change in Etsy traffic causing shops to drop 90%, as the OP saw. 

Meanwhile, my website has been kind of slow for a month or more now, which is odd. While a few old blog posts have dropped traffic from Google, likely due to the numerous Google updates, my product pages & sections are still getting consistent visits. The sales are just not there right now. Of course, if I spent more time listing product and less time helping Etsy sellers, I might have more sales LOL

I hope things pick up for you soon! 

[WalkingPineDesigns]

Your analysis may be spot on as far as the economy. We all should take a look at our own shopping habits and we might notice we are all pulling back from unnecessary purchases.  This has to do with greed flat ion I think as the costs of living have spiraled out of control.  I haven’t shopped for supplies myself let alone extras lately because making ends meet has become a huge challenge for everyone but the top dogs.  Sad state of affairs.  And competition from dirt cheap sites like temu seriously add to the problem.  I guess this is how capitalism works but  it’s not going to work much longer if the greater portion of the population has no money to spend. 

[DesertRoseFarm]

@cindylouwho2thank you for the reply.  Etsy has been telling us for years to pay attention to SEO's, yes.  But it has not been made apparent to me that we need to update our tags weekly, if that's the case.  I suppose it loops back to "too much grief to bother with".  I'm not going to invest hours every week into researching tags, watching videos, reading blogs and posts, and fighting with tagging my items, just to try and win the popularity game.   Yes, that's my choice.  But a ton of sellers are in the same boat.  We have too many other things to do, and it's unfortunately that case of "Well, we never had to do this before, and everything seemed fine until recently".  It's not entirely rational, but it is human habit to think that way.

And of course, what we sell is a large factor in our overall success.  I have noticed that a lot of shops I see on Etsy that seem to be thriving have high-dollar items.  Lots of artisans who can sell extremely nice handmade goods for hundreds of dollars seem to be doing well.  Or sellers with thousands of goods for sale, not just 40 or 400.   But the little dogs who used to make a living off $5 and $10 items, and large volumes of sale with lower order totals, seem to be hurting.  And that's a huge bummer

To me, it's felt more like Etsy wants their site to feel like "elite handmade goods at an unbelievable bargain", with the way they push free shipping, extremely high percentage sales, and pressure to lower the cost of your items.  I don't think that model is going to pan out well...

[cindylouwho2]

@DesertRoseFarm "But it has not been made apparent to me that we need to update our tags weekly, if that's the case." Nah, they've not said that. In fact, keywords are worth less than they used to, although they are still important. The shops I have seen with issues in that specific area have been doing the wrong  thing for years; they haven't worried about changing every month. 

"But the little dogs who used to make a living off $5 and $10 items, and large volumes of sale with lower order totals, seem to be hurting." Etsy has done several things that make me believe they'd like to have fewer shops selling low-priced items, so I would expect those shops are suffering more on average - no way to be sure, though. Ever-increasing shipping costs are a compounding factor, as is increased competition for low-priced items online. But there is going to be a large variance in these shops' success rates, and that will be based not only on product but on things like marketing plans. 

[SaltwaterVillage]

You have pointed out an interesting observation that perhaps smaller shops with lower priced items are getting hit worse by the decline in views. That suggests a very good metric for Etsy to publish along with periodic advice; specifically, the number of sales by price tranche (and perhaps by category). It would be clear if customer spending was changing over time. $29.99 used to be a magic number. What range is most likely to sell in today's market?

Currently, my sales are split in the lowest and highest ranges of my offerings. It's the middle ground that seems softest to me. If I knew that the majority of customers were looking in the $15-$20 range, then I could plan my listings accordingly.

A related metric would be the annual sales based on shop size (e.g. listings count). This would answer the question if it were a meaningful use of time to add listings. What is the “optimal” number of listings? Has that changed? Does it matter at all?

[cindylouwho2]

@SaltwaterVillage I don't think there has ever been an optimal number of listings, or an optimal price. There are too many variables involved. 

Etsy has made it clear that customers have been looking for discounts the last little while. I've been writing about that for over a year. 

[BriarMoonBeads]

@SaltwaterVillage  I do not believe that to be the case. In my shops and my booth I have actually found middle ground to be dead - my sales are mostly in the under $25 or over $55 (aus dollars, all vintage) Anything I price between those usually sits. I can't move something at $45 but it'll sell at $55... 

Perceived value there probably, it's also been my experience that raising a price on something will sell it before discounting. I really think it's down to the market you target  - are they looking for bargains? Most 'proper' vintage shoppers are not, and some will pay more because it makes them feel it's a valuable piece. It's a case often where I have something listed that other people have - same condition, etc. I price it between the mid and highest price, and it sells before cheaper ones do.

Etsy never trying to push the cheap guys out, but they have build a system where charging 'decent' prices means you can cover things like offsite ads, gift wrapping services, express post etc. and still remain competitively positioned. Makes sense that they'd prefer a shop who makes them more fees than otherwise, but then cheap stuff might sell in larger quantities. You can look at 'top 10 etsy shops' to divine that!

[ArtCollectioVonErika]

Hi, I'm in the same situation, I had my shop in vacation mode for over a month, due to the move. It's been more than 1 week since I reopened the store and I have incredibly few views, before I moved it was much better, also 0 point sales.

[BriarMoonBeads]

@ArtCollectioVonErika  it's well known to many that vacation mode will 'kill' things, since your listings are removed from search.

You may have to do some refreshing of tags and titles. I strongly recommend you ask for a critique in that section of the forums, there's things you could do to boost your visibility.