Profile Views Dropped by 100% for no reason

[#1]

Hi all - anyone else seeing their profile views tank for no reason?  I was averaging 500-600 a week for about 10 months as I made UpWork my sole focus for work ... now I'm at 10-50 range - haven't gotten a new job in 2 months.  Significant decrease out of nowhere.  No updates to profile, no bad feedback/reviews, have availability on, I'm Top Rated Plus with 100% job completion rate and stellar reviews, been using UpWork for over 5 years consistently.  My rate is higher, but it's never been an issue as there have always been plenty of users willing to pay up for quality work.  

I reached out to support and they said it was seasonal... which doesn't make sense to me... dropping from 500 to 20 in one week.  That's seasonal??

I attached a screenshot for reference.  It started in May abruptly.

[#2]

When Upwork says it's "seasonal," I think they're referring to algorithm adjustments.

As you stated, your rate is quite high when compared to other freelancers in the same niche, and maybe Upwork's algorithm made adjustments based on current market conditions. There are fewer clients posting jobs and many clients are taking longer to spend. It's possible the algorithm--which matches freelancers to jobs based on several factors, one of which is historical data and trends--recently marked your profile as financially riskier with regards to meeting the expenditure needs of clients.

In other words, if multiple freelancers have equal qualifications and the only difference is their hourly rates, the algorithm could be tweaked to ensure freelancers with lower rates are shown more prominently to prospective clients. The rationale would be, if clients are slow to spend and spending less, does Upwork want to show them higher priced freelancers or moderately priced freelancers?

This is pure speculation, though. I can't think of anything else that would cause such a significant drop.

[#3]

I advise all freelancers to NOT look at profile views.

I think those numbers are meaningless and have nothing to do with successful freelancing on the platform.

re: "Profile Views Dropped by 100% for no reason"

That is physically impossible, from a computer programming perspective.

The drop happened for a reason that you don't know about. Or a reason you don't understand. Or a reason you don't agree with. It did not happen for "no reason" period.

[#4]

I agree; I never pay attention to my profile views. Upwork has too many unknown factors at play. Even if the number of views is accurate, I don't think it helps much to see them.

[#5]

Hi Colton. I have had exactly the the same thing happen to me since being top rated plus. I have 100%, JSS, and on average was getting about 80 - 90 views per week and about 30 invitations per week for over two years and for some unknown reason since June that has completely changed. I've had a couple of invitations and my views crashed to single figures. Why I have absolutely no idea. All my feedback from all my clients are five stars. So your right this does not make sense. When I put my chosen field in the search I am on about page 40 where as freelances that are not top rated with 60% are on page 1. Who knows? Seasonal, algorithms. I don't know.

[#6]

For anyone wondering, this has continued - I've since moved to other freelance platforms as my primary source of income.  UpWork has dried up for me: 3200 views per month down to about 10-50 right now consistently.  I also pay for connects and bid/use them all each month.  Still crickets.  And to be clear, I'm very responsive and complete work quickly - the 3200 view range felt like a part-time job to me - if that.  So it's not because the platform sensed I was overwhelmed (at least I hope)