Sponsored Freelancer Search Ads Test

[Douglas Michael M]

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Christine A wrote:

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Rene K wrote:

The issue I have with what Upwork is doing now is in the wording: sponsored. 

Man, this sounds just like what it is: a paid-for ad. I don't know, I never click on sponsored links on Google or on Amazon because I know that they are not the best fits, but results that have been paid for.

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Yep, I usually ignore the "sponsored" results on Google as well, but I suspect that we're in the minority. It must work, otherwise nobody would be paying to be sponsored. 

If Upwork must do this, I would vastly prefer the word "Featured" rather than "Sponsored". I was considering upgrading to the "Plus" plan myself, but I think I'll hold off now.

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On the other hand, "featured" (or just about any other word I can imagine as preferable to "sponsored") implies endorsement. Which Upwork never does. Never ever. No, really. 

I have to remind myself when looking at "featured" jobs that it means "sponsored," not endorsed by Upwork (and a good thing, too, since a number of them in my feed are for academic fraud).

In cold, hard, economic terms, it's "sponsored" no matter which way you slice it: it's a fancy label and/or special placement based on Upwork receiving cash. So should Upwork go with the (arguably) marketing-negative "sponsored," the misleading "featured" or equivalent, or just scrap the whole program? As usual, expecting the worst.

[Douglas Michael M]

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Lena E wrote:

This test is not changing search results. Clients will still see the same results they do today when they search for freelancers. “Sponsored” profiles will just be highlighted at the top of the search result pages.

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Ahem. "Just"? This sequence of sentences, truth, and logic do not exist in the same universe.

[Martina P]

Let's say it's a paid option, and 50 relevant freelancers that come up in the search result have paid for it. Will only 3 appear highlighted, and the other 47 will appear not highlighted, even if they paid for it?

[Rene K]

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Martina P wrote:

Let's say it's a paid option, and 50 relevant freelancers that come up in the search result have paid for it. Will only 3 appear highlighted, and the other 47 will appear not highlighted, even if they paid for it?

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I don't think so. This is the way it works now, it seems (nobody cared to tell us by the way). From what Lena wrote it seems indeed that currently, 3 Plus members are already on the top of the proposals results in search.

What they are testing is to add the sponsored label to these and see what's happening. How clients react to the label. If it works (my bet is on it won't work), they will come with a way to allow each freelancer to have this sponsored label showing. Or say to the n first applicants.

Please Lena feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

[Douglas Michael M]

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Rene K wrote:

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Martina P wrote:

Let's say it's a paid option, and 50 relevant freelancers that come up in the search result have paid for it. Will only 3 appear highlighted, and the other 47 will appear not highlighted, even if they paid for it?

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I don't think so. This is the way it works now, it seems (nobody cared to tell us by the way). From what Lena wrote it seems indeed that currently, 3 Plus members are already on the top of the proposals results in search.

What they are testing is to add the sponsored label to these and see what's happening. How clients react to the label. If it works (my bet is on it won't work), they will come with a way to allow each freelancer to have this sponsored label showing. Or say to the n first applicants.

Please Lena feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

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That's not what Lena's (corporate marketing's) text says:
"When clients search for freelancers, the first three freelancers with a Plus plan that would have naturally appeared in those search results will also be highlighted at the top with a “sponsored” tag (see example below).  With one freelancer being featured atop of pages 1-3 of search results."

I read both "highlighted" and "at the top" as new Upwork interventions. "Would have naturally appeared" seems to only indicate that no one is being bumped up onto the first three pages; it also gives Upwork a specious basis for claiming that this change is no change.

[Baris A]

I didn't get a reply.

Apart from that, since connects will be paid and therefore they will roll over, being a plus freelancer will lose its attraction. They might be doing this to add a new attraction to being a plus member as a freelancer.

[Douglas Michael M]

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Baris A wrote:

....since connects will be paid and therefore they will roll over, being a plus freelancer will lose its attraction. They might be doing this to add a new attraction to being a plus member as a freelancer.

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Agreed. For reasons discussed, this "feature" is a distinct disincentive to investing in a Plus membership.

[Isabelle Anne A]

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Baris A wrote:

I didn't get a reply.

They might be doing this to add a new attraction to being a plus member as a freelancer.

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Um ... that's probably the only reason why they're doing it. They want more money / more paid members, and that's it. Such a "clever" move.

[Valeria K]

Hi Martina,

Correct. When a client searches for a freelancer we will take the first three freelancers with a Freelancer Plus membership who appear in search results and highlight them as “Sponsored.” They will continue to appear in the regular list of search results, too, as will freelancers who don’t subscribe to Freelancer Plus.

[Nichola L]

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Valeria K wrote:

Hi Martina,

Correct. When a client searches for a freelancer we will take the first three freelancers with a Freelancer Plus membership who appear in search results and highlight them as “Sponsored.” They will continue to appear in the regular list of search results, too, as will freelancers who don’t subscribe to Freelancer Plus.

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But this is not how Google is going to play with it. They will take those misleadingly named sponsored profiles and whack them on every page devoted to Upwork, and then when you search for the person behind the sponsored profile, you may or may not find him or her. 

Come to think of it, Google has a more democratic approach! Just sayin'.