# Why did my site traffic decrease after updating my theme? **URL:** \ **Category:** Shopify Discussion\ **Tags:** troubleshooting, shop-performance\ **Created:** [December 19, 2023, 2:41pm UTC](https://community.shopify.com/t/why-did-my-site-traffic-decrease-after-updating-my-theme/278582 "2023-12-19T14:41:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1 ## AI-generated summary Sharp traffic drop and analytics anomalies after upgrading Shopify’s Dawn theme to 12.0. Daily visitors fell from ~100 to single digits post–Dec 10 update; screenshots show odd metrics (e.g., 7 orders from 8 visitors; 2 orders while conversion rate displays 0%). Context and sources: Store targets UK only; traffic mainly organic from Google. No ads. Site shared (combatica.co.uk). Comparisons of 10 days before/after show a clear decline. Troubleshooting explored: Requests for 6‑month session data and referrers. Hypotheses raised include DNS issues (Domain Name System misconfiguration), cache effects, loss of referrer listings, or Shopify analytics/tracking behavior changes tied to the theme. Suggested rollback not possible (no backup). Shopify support focused on cookie consent, which the merchant says is already implemented. Wider impact: Other merchants report similar declines after updating Dawn (one on 15.0.0 says traffic halved). This hints at a broader theme or analytics-related issue rather than an isolated site problem. Status and next steps: Unresolved. Key open questions: whether Shopify Analytics is undercounting sessions post-update vs. genuine traffic loss. Suggested actions: Shopify to investigate tracking, verify DNS and referrers, test with prior theme or alternate analytics to cross-check counts.
**Author:** ![COMBATICAUK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/54ee81/32.png) [@COMBATICAUK](https://community.shopify.com/u/COMBATICAUK)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2023, 2:41pm UTC](https://community.shopify.com/t/why-did-my-site-traffic-decrease-after-updating-my-theme/278582/1 "2023-12-19T14:41:33Z")
Hi all So basically been using the same theme (Dawn) since i opened my store however decided recently to update to Dawn 12.0 as i wanted to use the slideshow feature. I’ve worked hard over the past 2 years to get like 100 site visitors per day but now Suddenly all progress has been lost and now im back down to single digit visitors per day ever since i updated the theme. And its not the cookie bar issue like the shopify support have tried to tell me as i have the cookies ![Screenshot 2023-12-17 104420.png](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/shopifyforum/original/3X/7/2/7238e09cfcc89b84e73227a33a40dacdaa79f10e.png) Another issue is that if you see in the below screenshot, i had 8 visitors 5 days ago but 7 order which is just a crazy conversion rate so something is definitely wrong. ![Screenshot 2023-12-17 104520.png](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/shopifyforum/original/4X/0/4/0/0400b3879867a9c77caecaeebed6f08f5888fdd0.png) Any help or clarity on this matter would be greatly appreciated. If you need any other info to diagnose the issue let me know ---
**Author:** ![elgobbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/45deac/32.png) [@elgobbo](https://community.shopify.com/u/elgobbo)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2023, 3:39pm UTC](https://community.shopify.com/t/why-did-my-site-traffic-decrease-after-updating-my-theme/278582/2 "2023-12-19T15:39:46Z")
Hi, can you please share the picture Analytics \> Sessions over time over 6 months, showing some months before your change, some months after the change and give the exact date of the change ? That’s really strange. ---
**Author:** ![COMBATICAUK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/54ee81/32.png) [@COMBATICAUK](https://community.shopify.com/u/COMBATICAUK)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2023, 5:14pm UTC](https://community.shopify.com/t/why-did-my-site-traffic-decrease-after-updating-my-theme/278582/3 "2023-12-19T17:14:25Z")
Hi, thanks for the reply. The change happened on 10th of this month. also below is the screenshot of the 6 months before ![Screenshot 2023-12-19 211023.png](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/shopifyforum/original/4X/5/2/5/5251726652fddc22cd003e27931b0f9e15ae11bb.png) ---
**Author:** ![elgobbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/45deac/32.png) [@elgobbo](https://community.shopify.com/u/elgobbo)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2023, 5:47pm UTC](https://community.shopify.com/t/why-did-my-site-traffic-decrease-after-updating-my-theme/278582/4 "2023-12-19T17:47:20Z")
Please is it possible that you share the website in question. I would like to simply browse on it to see what happens. A sudden drop in traffic is pretty strange. Also from which country was the majority of your visits before the change? also please share from where you traffic came from (referral). I forgot which report on Shopify give you that info. ---
**Author:** ![elgobbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/45deac/32.png) [@elgobbo](https://community.shopify.com/u/elgobbo)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2023, 5:54pm UTC](https://community.shopify.com/t/why-did-my-site-traffic-decrease-after-updating-my-theme/278582/5 "2023-12-19T17:54:26Z")
By any chance did you try to revert back the changes to see what happens in terms of traffic? ---
**Author:** ![COMBATICAUK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/54ee81/32.png) [@COMBATICAUK](https://community.shopify.com/u/COMBATICAUK)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2023, 6:01pm UTC](https://community.shopify.com/t/why-did-my-site-traffic-decrease-after-updating-my-theme/278582/6 "2023-12-19T18:01:00Z")
website is [combatica.co.uk](http://combatica.co.uk) majority of my visits are from the uk which is what my target audience is as i only sell to the uk most are by google. all organic as i dont use ads ---
**Author:** ![COMBATICAUK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/54ee81/32.png) [@COMBATICAUK](https://community.shopify.com/u/COMBATICAUK)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2023, 6:07pm UTC](https://community.shopify.com/t/why-did-my-site-traffic-decrease-after-updating-my-theme/278582/7 "2023-12-19T18:07:50Z")
this is the sessions from 10 days after the change compared to 10 days before the change ![Screenshot 2023-12-19 220446.png](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/shopifyforum/original/3X/3/a/3a38a1e18e046c1a4c01813494fa914d1e4cbe79.png) ---
**Author:** ![elgobbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/45deac/32.png) [@elgobbo](https://community.shopify.com/u/elgobbo)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2023, 7:11pm UTC](https://community.shopify.com/t/why-did-my-site-traffic-decrease-after-updating-my-theme/278582/8 "2023-12-19T19:11:27Z")
Would it be possible that somewhat some visitors are unable to access because of a DNS issue? Was there something else besides the theme upgrade? i don’t see how the theme upgrade would impact the visits since the website is accessible publicly. Another reason would that for example a source from your past visitors doesn’t show your website anymore (such as Google), but since you said you don’t have Google shopping, Google ads or any other thing that could trigger more visitors, this is also unlikely. the only thing I can think of as I said is a cache on the previous visitor that would prevent them to visit the new one? did you made a backup of the previous theme for you to rollback ? ---
**Author:** ![COMBATICAUK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/54ee81/32.png) [@COMBATICAUK](https://community.shopify.com/u/COMBATICAUK)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2023, 7:22pm UTC](https://community.shopify.com/t/why-did-my-site-traffic-decrease-after-updating-my-theme/278582/9 "2023-12-19T19:22:21Z")
i dont think the cache is an issue as i rarely used to get returning customers anyway. i didnt make a back up no unfortunately didnt think of that ---
**Author:** ![elgobbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/45deac/32.png) [@elgobbo](https://community.shopify.com/u/elgobbo)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2023, 7:33pm UTC](https://community.shopify.com/t/why-did-my-site-traffic-decrease-after-updating-my-theme/278582/10 "2023-12-19T19:33:36Z")
Another possibility: would it be that Shopify tracks differently the visitors with the new theme ? ---
**Author:** ![COMBATICAUK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/54ee81/32.png) [@COMBATICAUK](https://community.shopify.com/u/COMBATICAUK)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 7:22pm UTC](https://community.shopify.com/t/why-did-my-site-traffic-decrease-after-updating-my-theme/278582/11 "2023-12-21T19:22:59Z")
im really not sure and shopify support havent been much help tbh. look at this from today… 2 orders but conversion rate showing as 0% ![Screenshot 2023-12-21 232237.png](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/shopifyforum/original/3X/0/c/0c945415244169d49f782debd141c77cc2d8c122.png) ---
**Author:** ![COMBATICAUK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/54ee81/32.png) [@COMBATICAUK](https://community.shopify.com/u/COMBATICAUK)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2024, 4:31pm UTC](https://community.shopify.com/t/why-did-my-site-traffic-decrease-after-updating-my-theme/278582/12 "2024-01-06T16:31:38Z")
still havent resolved this. booting if anyone has a solution ---
**Author:** ![elgobbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/45deac/32.png) [@elgobbo](https://community.shopify.com/u/elgobbo)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2024, 4:34pm UTC](https://community.shopify.com/t/why-did-my-site-traffic-decrease-after-updating-my-theme/278582/13 "2024-01-06T16:34:03Z")
Conversion rate at 0% for 2 orders, Shopify should definitely help you in understanding why. That’s impossible ---
**Author:** ![COMBATICAUK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/54ee81/32.png) [@COMBATICAUK](https://community.shopify.com/u/COMBATICAUK)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2024, 7:17pm UTC](https://community.shopify.com/t/why-did-my-site-traffic-decrease-after-updating-my-theme/278582/14 "2024-01-06T19:17:20Z")
shopify support have not helped at all and its actually quiet disappointing. they just keep going round in circles about cookies but thats not the issue as i have a cookies bar ---
**Author:** ![Ponkimo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/cab0a1/32.png) [@Ponkimo](https://community.shopify.com/u/Ponkimo)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2024, 7:52am UTC](https://community.shopify.com/t/why-did-my-site-traffic-decrease-after-updating-my-theme/278582/15 "2024-04-26T07:52:22Z")
Hey, we are having the same issue. It would be cool to get some response from Shopify. ---
**Author:** ![YQShop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecae2f/32.png) [@YQShop](https://community.shopify.com/u/YQShop)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 3:09pm UTC](https://community.shopify.com/t/why-did-my-site-traffic-decrease-after-updating-my-theme/278582/16 "2024-07-18T15:09:11Z")
I am having a similar issue after updating to latest version of Dawn, 15.0.0 three weeks ago. Our site traffic has halved, and this is the only change I have made recently.