Are Etsy Traffic Stats Accurate? What To Watch Out For.

If you’re looking at your Etsy stats as a new seller, you might be confused by them because the information doesn’t seem right.

Etsy traffic stats can be very inaccurate based on a few things. They’re not updated in real-time, so you might see traffic that seems low or is reading zero when you know that’s not true. Etsy also may or may not filter out bot traffic, which can throw the whole thing off. And because the stats don’t record all of the visits from every source, the numbers might be way off.

You’re not crazy, those stats just aren’t 100% right, so read on to see what to watch out for and be aware of.


Are Etsy stats accurate? What to watch out for

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Before getting started, you might want to read this article about what’s included in Etsy stats to get a better idea of what each section actually means: Etsy Stats: What’s Included?

It’s part of a series I wrote about stats and how to use them, so it’s a good basic foundation to understand what you’re dealing with.



Are Etsy stats reported in real-time?

Etsy stats are not reported in real-time, which means that you’re going to see big gaps in data when you’re looking at the daily stats. There’s often a 4-5 hour delay, so when you look at the daily report you’re going to see no activity for the most recent timeframe, even though that’s not true. You should come back later to see more accurate data.

Image of the notification of Etsy saying when the stats were last updated.
Etsy telling you when the stats were last updated

At the top of the stats age on desktop, you’ll see a little clock next to the date range, and it will tell you the last time that stats were updated.

Even when you do come back later, though, you won’t be seeing a 100% accurate picture of your Etsy traffic.

Etsy will often go back in and adjust the stats after the fact, so it’s better to wait and look at a larger timeframe instead of trying to see a one-day window.

Most stats programs are like that, though, Etsy isn’t unique in going in and changing things, it’s just how stats work.

Things get adjusted and changed over time, so it’s always better to look at a wider range of time instead of a narrow one, just to get a more accurate idea of what’s going on.



Does Etsy include everything in its traffic stats?

Etsy doesn’t include everything in its traffic stats, it’s missing some data because of the way that some traffic is tracked. Etsy didn’t include Android traffic for some time, but that notification on the stats page is gone, so that might be included now.

There’s never any way for any service to report 100% of traffic, though, so the numbers on Etsy are likely missing information.

In addition, sometimes Etsy filters out bot traffic and sometimes they don’t seem to, so there can be days when your Etsy visits and views looks unnaturally high because of that.

Just be aware that you should be looking for overall trends in your traffic over time, and not focusing on the one or two days that the traffic looks like it went crazy one way or the other.

That could be a reporting error, like this next photo shows.


Click to watch the video

What do spikes or dips in Etsy traffic mean?

Large spikes in traffic can mean that your shop was featured somewhere, so a lot of people are coming from a direct link.

Large dips can mean that people aren’t shopping because of a holiday, your shop has been deindexed, or any number of other reasons. If the changes are drastic, it could be a reporting error, too.

Traffic stats from Etsy search showing probably reporting errors.
Traffic stats from Etsy search showing probably reporting errors.

This chart from my Etsy traffic stats shows three places in the last 30 days where my traffic was supposedly zero visits from Etsy search.

This can’t be true, so I’m assuming that it’s a reporting error, which just means that all of the data isn’t being reported.

I checked, and on the days that the stats say that I had zero visits from Etsy search (which is people searching on the desktop version of Etsy) my other stats were normal, and my sales were consistent with the rest of the month’s daily sales.




I have to assume that on the days it said I had zero visits from search, something wasn’t working and the visits weren’t being reported.

The other side of this is that you might see some days when you get HUGE spikes in traffic, but nothing else seems different.

That’s probably bot traffic, which is just computers coming onto Etsy for whatever reason. It’s not real customers, and Etsy usually filters those spikes ut.

However, in the last year there have been a lot of days when Etsy didn’t filter that bot traffic out, so people were left with big spikes in traffic that had no explanation.

Chart showing spikes in Etsy traffic
Spikes in Etsy traffic

This chart shows one month where I had some traffic spikes. If I was really concerned about it, I could go back to see if those were days that I had a lot of sales, or if I had posted a link that brought a lot of people to my shop.

This isn’t such a big deal, but remember that if the traffic is artificially high, it will affect your conversion rate stat and make it look worse than it is!

I tend to ignore the traffic stats in general other than to check to see if overall traffic is remaining steady or declining, so the dips and spikes are things that I don’t pay too much attention to.

I want to look to see that I get a relatively steady amount of traffic on most days, and I ignore the outliers!

Always check to see what’s going on across the board when you’re looking at your stats, because one spike or dip might mean something, but it’s more likely that it’s just a mistake.


Etsy stats have to be taken with a grain of salt because of all of this.

If you’re a new seller (or an experienced one) don’t freak out if you see one day of weird data in your shop.

Look at a larger time period to make sure that you have a good sample of data, because looking at one day at a time won’t give you the full picture, especially with Etsy stats being as wonky as they are!

Kara Buntin

Kara Buntin has run a profitable home-based business since 1999, and has a background in art, theater design, and cake decorating. She's a top Etsy seller with over 51,000 sales on Etsy and her own website, and helps other home-based business owners with their business goals and SEO. She founded the Artisan Shopping Directory website to promote the artisans who are members of her EShop Success marketing program.

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