Traffic

[#1]

Has anyone noticed that he last three days traffic on Etsy has been significantly reduced. My Seo is on point but last three days my traffic went from 250-300 visits down to 14-15. 

I have sales and coupons, I have high quality listings, Seo is on point, but what’s going on? 

[InkSplashDesign1 · Accepted solution]

I googled the term you used and it makes sense but also doesn’t ( just because it’s the first I’m hearing. I implemented AOSOP.) I’m hoping it’s just anomaly and next week is better. I did a short sale on Father’s Day items so hoping it helps. 

[CBGWorkshop]

@InkSplashDesign1 The random variable is a bit god-like. It giveth and it taketh away

[PrairiePrimitives]

@InkSplashDesign1 Only the last 3 days? How about the last 3+ months!

[InkSplashDesign1]

I’ve had tons of traffic.28.6 total views  

[InkSplashDesign1]

I should say this 28.600 views. 

[NapkinNook]

I'm going to weigh in here on the AI discussion.  I do not use AI to do my descriptions on Etsy or for anything else on Etsy, but having said that, I take advantage of a feature on my website.  Wix has offered something called an AI marketing manager.  Now, if you post to social media you know that to be effective you should be posting weekly.  I now use the AI marketing manager to generate my social media posts.  I'm notified when a post is available for my review.  I then have the option to go in and edit the post if I so desire, or to choose to ignore the post completely.  I also get posts generated for my blog.  In this instance I generate blog posts, but also use the posts that the marketing manager generates for me.  Perhaps it's just me, but generating fresh, new ideas on a weekly basis that will engage social media followers can be challenging, and the bottom line is AI is going nowhere, and utilizing it to promote my website has been nothing but a positive experience for me.

[InkSplashDesign1]

I will have new product to push out in a few days. I have a domain and have signed up for wix just haven’t developed the website yet. I work a full time 9-5 job on top of my side hustle my job also has robots in place for one aspect but everything else is done by humans. I use AI for social media posts and we will be driving traffic from my Pinterest store which has 335,000 views and should be a million by end of summer. I should also add that 270k of those views were solely from ads. I have over 150 listings I could understand not using AI if you have smaller store but AI in eccomerce isn’t new 

[GroundZeroCreations]

@NapkinNook 

I am curious regarding what you are using for your social media posts. Would you be willing to share the name of the program or AI you use?

[InkSplashDesign1]

@PrairiePrimitives I checked my google analytics and today’s customers have mainly been from USA, in the past it’s all Canadian customers. Mainly from Ontario m. On a good day I see 300 views, daily follower and daily likes. I am adding new product to the store in a few days but also pushing out new products help but last three days almost nothing. On a good day I maybe get 50 views from USA but given the tariff I can understand why USA buyers aren’t interested. 

[RusticTableAntiques]

You're not interested in learning what you may be doing wrong, which is a bit of a shame since I guarantee you, no one knows how Etsy's algorithm works more than people on this forum. With the possible exception of Starla Moore (youtube) no one outside of this place gets it. That's mostly down to a lot of us just being here every day, keeping up with developments, analysing Etsy material. This site has an insaaanely complex algorithm. Even the SEO here is different, and I do see issues with your listings there but again, you're not interested in that, so I won't make this post any longer than it is now LOL 

Instead, I will try to offer suggestions that fit under the 'what is the system doing' umbrella, then you can find ways around it. 

Because of the complexity of visibility here, a listing can have the finest SEO on the whole internet, but you're going to sink in search if no one clicks on your listing when they see it - if they see it at all. Etsy will float listings that get clicks, and more-so that get a heart, a cart, a purchase and/or a review after the click. A click will only last so long, but it's sales that keep listings afloat. Any listings that don't convert in those ways tend to sink, either because the AI gave up showing it, or - in more competitive searches - better converting listings just crowded it out. 

POD also has a bit of a problem with false traffic, since there's people looking to get into the game every day and you'll get a lot of 'researchers'. There's also an extremely high browsing rate among the customers who are looking for the best deal, easy-to-understand listings, sales and coupons etc. Both of those visitors can run up your empty clicks. If they've come from search, that's not great. A click from search is only as good as the engagement that comes after. A listing that gets a lot of clicks and not much else might even be dumped by the AI which considers it irrelevant. 

Also as mentioned earlier, there's a 'honeymoon period' for new shops - the AI boosts them in search, gives them more visibility in the hope that the right spot for them can be found. But the listings have to 'earn' that spot with the conversion clicks. Once that honeymoon is over and the conversion hasn't been earned, things get real tough.

Competition is fierce. Looking around your shop, you seem to be targeting very popular niches, while offering shipping to the whole entire world. (issues there but no critiquing!) It might be an interesting experiment to try closing down to everyone except Canada. Doesn't have to be all your listings - maybe just the niche that Canadians are drawn to most. Etsy has recently started prioritising local traffic for US and Canada (I think Ca has always had it) so it makes sense Canadians are your bulk visits. If you're only shipping to Canada, you don't have to compete with US sellers for US traffic. You can offer cheaper/free ship to Canada and the benefit of being local, which might convince customers to choose you over a US seller. 

You keep saying you get a ton of outside traffic, esp from Google and Pinterest. Which is great - it shows you understand how to get seen there. But if it's not resulting in sales, there's a disconnect. You'll have to figure out what's going on there for that traffic to be of any use. (they say >50% of traffic online is fake so there's that to ponder too)

But all that traffic won't help you on Etsy - the algo here only cares about the engagement you get from search results. 

Short version: your listings are in searches that are too big for you - they didn't earn their place and are now drowning. Try either smaller niches or more unusual products. Look in your stats - what keywords are bringing the most visits from 'Etsy app and other pages'. Then take those keywords and make more stuff. As a general rule I'd target popular niches with low-supply items (teacher desk mat or note pads vs shirts) or smaller niches with popular items - eg instead of just generic teacher shirts, target math, biology, music, etc. Most of them are probably well stocked but some less than others. Once you rank well for 'art teacher shirt' your 'teacher shirt' ranking will improve. Crawl before you can walk, yknow?

[InkSplashDesign1]

This is not POD these are physical products and I do and I got plenty of views from Etsy and other pages. Today it was 58 I do also have mentor who has 3 Etsy stores and has helped plenty of new sellers. She even made point of saying that this week views/ visits orders as a whole have dropped significantly and I’m not the only one is noticing these changes. Since I’m not doing POD not going into mats, there isn’t a ton of sellers using direct to film on clothing it’s usually someone selling a prints or selling wraps for pens or selling tumblers. I just checked the analytics and my Etsy search is bringing traffic. 

[RusticTableAntiques]

If you're doing it all yourself that's a good point of difference, but you're still in competition with others who are using POD, and your methods don't appear to be any different in a way that sets you apart once you're found. 

Again if you're getting a ton of traffic that's good, but it's not leading to sales. I'd strongly recommend asking for a critique. You seem to be of the opinion you're doing everything right, and no one in this thread has agreed on that so far.

There comes a point where seo and traffic funnels fade out and a human buyer has to want your stuff. The 'man of strength' shirt for eg - who wants a shirt where 'protector' is spelled 'pdtectctor'? What even is BNDD? If your Etsy mentor hasn't pointed that out, I'd be wary of how exactly they think they're helping. 

[InkSplashDesign1]

@RusticTableAntiques 

 I didn’t even notice that so thank you for mentioning that. To be fair the people who have viewed my site aren’t based in Canada almost all my traffic comes from Canada.  Today’s views are all US and I’ve only sold 1 product to US. I am getting traffic from Etsy and I think the issue is my website is not crawling on google. Yes I do get traffic from Etsy it’s maybe 30-40% of my traffic the rest all comes from google and social media I have done shop critique and implement pretty much everything recommended to me, and even some that most sellers don’t even know and digital marketers have no idea. The marketing funnel is advanced Seo and works better on apps. I also never said I wasn’t getting sales. I am and have had sales this week multiples and multiples per day. My post never even mentioned sales. The listings that need work are probably gonna be phasing out tomorrow as they are made with no product research and no demand. Yes POD does do the same thing but you also pay higher prices and have to pay out someone where I can buy in bulk making it cheaper all around, plus everything I do is local I can get 9/10 designs for $9 making my overhead cost almost nothing. The only thing that is slightly more expensive is hoodies but that’s due to larger sizes being more expensive . Plus me not POD I can often change clothing distributors who may also be cheaper and my turn around is close to 36hrs. 

in Canada there is lots going on with our economy, government and even shipping ( our postal service is nearing strike for the 2 time in 8 months). tariffs etc. for all we know this is just small blip and things can change. It also cost almost $15-$20 for basic shipping in Canada. Yes I am little worried but don’t think we have enough data to really say it’s based on my Seo. The majority of my traffic has always been google. That could be because I did backlinking early, but if it’s Etsy algorithm there isn’t much I can do about it. Yes Seo will help but I would 80% of my listings are between 93-100 . The ones that don’t have a lot of photos and no views will be removed and turned into something that can and will sell based on what etsy users are wanting vs just making random designs and hoping they will see even through there is no way demand. 

[InkSplashDesign1]

@RusticTableAntiques I just checked out printify Canada and I get my tshirts for like $2.50-$3( almost all distributors have no minimum needed) and with Tranfer it maybe comes to $6-7.50. Printify is selling them for$15 which Means if you ad $20 for your mock up that it’s like $35 I sell mine for $23 with no sale and if on sale between $13-18 maybe even less. So my prices are way cheaper then POD 

[InkSplashDesign1]

It looks like this is just blip. As my views went back up and had a sale too.