{"id":1028,"slug":"homestars-traffic-decline-similarweb-sept-2025","title":"HomeStars.com traffic Sept 2025 (SimilarWeb): ~416,700 monthly visits, 46.21% bounce rate, 14.36% MoM decline; global rank dropped from #100,344 → #108,159 over prior 3 months — vs. own marketing claim of \"over half a million homeowners monthly\"","kind":"reference","scope":"business","status":"current","audiences":["kevin","candid-team"],"topics":["measurement","gc-vertical","lead-gen-directories","homestars"],"reference_body":"**Claim:** **HomeStars.com SimilarWeb snapshot for September 2025**:\n\n| Metric | Value |\n|---|---|\n| Monthly visits | **~416,700** |\n| Bounce rate | **46.21%** |\n| Month-over-month change | **−14.36%** |\n| Global rank trajectory (prior 3 months) | dropped from #100,344 → **#108,159** |\n\n**Source:** SimilarWeb homestars.com profile, accessed via subagent research.\n**Confidence:** Verified (SimilarWeb snapshot; specific traffic numbers are estimates, not authoritative).\n\n## Contrast — HomeStars's own marketing claim\n\nHomeStars's own public marketing claim, repeated on Angi's 2025 job postings, is that *\"every month over half a million homeowners visit HomeStars.\"* The SimilarWeb snapshot is **~17% below that claim** for Sept 2025, and **declining 14% month-over-month**.\n\n## Historical baseline\n\nHomeStars's 2020 press release claimed **8 million unique homeowners visited in 2019** — implying ~650K/month. The Sept 2025 number (~416K) is **roughly 36% below** the 2019 implied baseline.\n\n## Caveats\n\n- **SimilarWeb traffic numbers are model-based estimates, not authoritative analytics.** The 416K figure should be cited as *\"SimilarWeb-estimated\"*, never as an authoritative count.\n- **2022/2023 SimilarWeb baseline could not be cleanly established** in the research that produced this entry — so the year-over-year traffic decline percentage is anchored only to the Sept 2025 −14.36% MoM and the 2019 implied baseline.\n- The 2019-to-2025 comparison is partly apples-to-oranges (different measurement methodology, different platform scope).\n\n## Why this matters for Candid use\n\nFor client copy, the **defensible single line** is:\n\n> *\"HomeStars's own marketing claims more than half a million monthly homeowner visitors. Independent traffic estimates (SimilarWeb, September 2025) put the actual figure closer to 417,000 — and declining 14% month-over-month.\"*\n\nPair with the corporate financials at [[angi-fy2025-10k-and-q1-2026-network-revenue-collapse]] and the Canadian restructuring at [[homestars-canadian-restructuring-sept-2024]] for the fuller declining-platform picture.","rationale_body":null,"metadata":null,"links":{"outgoing":[{"slug":"angi-fy2025-10k-and-q1-2026-network-revenue-collapse","title":"Angi Inc. financials: FY2025 revenue $1,030.5M (down ~13% YoY for 2nd straight year); Q1 2026 Network Revenue collapsed 56% YoY on \"homeowner choice\" implementation","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"}],"incoming":[{"slug":"research-brief-homestars-platform-critique","title":"Research brief: HomeStars / Angi — the case against directory dependence, with the owned-trust-signal alternative for Ontario contractors (May 24, 2026)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"}]},"created_at":"2026-05-24T17:04:39.738Z","updated_at":"2026-05-24T17:04:39.738Z"}