What is going on with Upwork lately or is it just me? No views even with Top Rated Plus badge

[lance98]

Hi,

I have been a freelancer on Upwork since 2019.
All throughout 2020 and 2021 I received many job invitations, although this did fluctuate depending on the time of year. I will also admit that there were times during this period where my JSS was not good. However, I still recieved invitations. During this time when my JSS rose above 90% I was contacted by Upwork's talent team for exclusive jobs and enterprise clients. (I was NOT top rated during this time, my JSS was above 90% briefly)
For most of 2022 I have been "Top Rated Plus". However, not only have I not noticed any improvement in profile views or invitations. I have actually noticed a dramatic decrease this year even while haivng the Top Rated Plus badge. I did not think much of it during the first part of the year as I had thought maybe it would pick up again but it has not. I am just wondering what would cause this. Is there any value in Top Rated Plus or JSS anymore? Are there now an excessive amount of freelancers in comparision to jobs available? Am I doing something incorrectly?

[gajendradewra]

Same here

[martina_plaschka]

There were always more freelancers than jobs, but as new people join every day, it has gotten worse. 

[moonraker]

Invitations seem back to normal for me...

[the-right-writer]

There are also issues with categories. Check your profile to ensure you are in the correct category for your services.

[tomzilla1 · Accepted solution]

Not just you bud. There's people who have Expert-Vetted AND Top Rated Plus. Do a search, you'll see bunch of $0 earnings. I think they are either actively trying to promote the new comers (no problem as long as they are good), or the search algorithm is messed up and Upwork has not yet realized the problem.

Oh also, keep in mind clients need to pay to be able to see your Top Rated Plus badge. If they don't pay for the business account, all they see is Top Rated on your profile. For expert-vetted it's worse, a client needs to have Enterprise account. So for most clients I'd imagine the badges are meaningless since they all only see Top Rated badge at best, no matter how many more badges you have.

[elyannie]

Yup, I'm also seeing tons of $0 earnings freelancers at the top of the search results. I wish them all the best in getting work but if they aren't actively using Upwork, pitching, or don't have a complete profile they should rank lower in the search results. Hopefully, the algorithm takes that into account but it's a mystery.

[pgiambalvo]

Yes, lots of us are seeing this. It probably has a lot to do with this: https://community.upwork.com/t5/Freelancers/What-happened-to-Upwork-Algorthims/m-p/1112054#M687747