Search results

[ivan_juric]

Hi there,

I've redid my profile today, and managed to get my profile to come up from the second page, when searching for Podcast Editors, to the first page.

Then, hours later I did a search again to show my wife how some guy with virtually no experience consistently comes up third. I then realized that my profile was no longer coming up. I don't come up within the first 16 pages (that's as far as I looked).

Up until now, I was always coming up on the second page, then I was on the first page for about a few hours, and now I've disappeared entirely.

What the hell is going on?

Not to mention the guy with no experience coming up third.

Most of my jobs up until now have come from invites, or direct offers, and If this ranking (or lack of one, rather) persists, I'll be out of new clients really soon.

Does anyone have any ideas about what is happening here?

Thanks, guys.

Ivan

[yitwail]

Ivan, diifferent users can get different results using the exact same search terms and filters at the exact same time. Also, the same person can get different results using the exact same search terms and filters at different times, because search results are 'rotated' in Upwork terminology. So any search results you get aren't likely to be the same as the results clients get and there's not much you can do about it constructively.

[ivan_juric]

Thanks for your reply, John.
What you said is simply not the case in my experience. I did this same search regularly and I would get the exact same people in the first few pages. Every time. All of these people are still there, except me.

[yitwail]

Ivan, you're repeating the search as you, not as a different user. The point I tried to make is if anyone else did the same search, like a client, or even me, we may get different results from you, because results are based in part on the user's client or freelancer history at Upwork, like active jobs you've posted. And Upwork *does* periodically rotate (shuffle) results, so you *may* not get the same result say a week from now.

Having said all that, the actual text content of your profile can most definitely affect search results, so if you changed your title, for example, or made significant changes to your overview, you might want to experiment with reverting some of that, *if* you recall what was there previously, or you made a backup before changing it.

[ivan_juric]

As I said, I did this same search regularly and I would get the exact same people in the first few pages. Every time. All of these people are still there, except me. Immediately after changing my profile I jumped up to the first page, and then disappeared completely a few hours later. Also, my wife did the search with the same results. Why are all the other freelancers still listed in the same order? Something's up here. Regardless, how can some inexperienced newbie be listed third and me not even come up in the first 16 (or who knows how many) pages? Upwork's search engine seems to be a joke.

[vladag]

Hi Ivan,

I can confirm the information John provided. Freelancers are being regularly rotated in search results in order to ensure equal visibility and you won't get the same results when searching as a client and a freelancer. Also, updating a profile will further impact the users positioning in search.

I checked and when searching from a client account by using your profile title, your profile is listed on the first page.

[ivan_juric]

Of course it's listed on the first page when my title is so specific (Podcast editor & producer/radio professional), but you guys keep repeating the same mantra which doesn't address my issue. What I know is that I am no longer being listed in the search for podcast editor, so thanks a lot Upwork. Your search engine is terrible, absolutely appalling.

And what's the point of listing inexperienced people on top? There's filters for the search, there's proposals that can lead to jobs, What you said about visibility is bad for everybody. When I was starting out I didn't expect to be listed anywhere in the search.

Again, I don't see any of the other top paged freelancers being rotated....no matter if I search as me, logged out, as my wife, or from a different IP. They are always consistently in the top two pages. I on the other hand no longer appear anywhere. And all this after I actually jumped up to the first page for a few hours, making matters even more frustrating. Obviously, I did a good job with my profile, but then the algorithm decided to relegate me to God knows where.

[vladag]

Hi Ivan,

I'll reiterate that different freelancers will receive different results, a single user can receive different results, especially after updating their profile, and finally freelancers and clients do not get the same search results. My previous comment was suppose to confirm your profile wasn't removed from search, which I did. In addition to the rotating process John and I mentioned, there are also countless keyword variations for which your profile would show differently. If you add filters into the mix you'll increase the possible outcomes further but also enable to narrow down the search results.

I understand your frustration stems from seeing a change in your profiles visibility but I can assure you that clients do use filters when searching for freelancers and can still find your profile.

[ivan_juric]

One of my clients confirmed that he had found me on the second page when searching "podcast editor", without any filters.

That's where I found myself, as well, at least up until now.

Clients expect to get the most relevant search results when they use the search engine. If I wasn't listed on the second page, that client would never have found me.

I hoped I'd get some responses from people who have had the same problem, as I know I can't be the only person who had this problem. I'm wondering if this will get fixed or not.

My new profile overview is definitely better optimized than the old one, so this makes sense only if Upwork's search engine is completely bogus, but I guess that would probably be consistent with the rest of the site.