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nakarmi_pete
Community Member

Shadowban/Hidden Profile?

Hello Fellow Upworkers & Admins

I just had quick question and haven’t really fully found an answer to it anywhere yet. I have been on Upwork for about 2 weeks and new to how things work. I have noticed that when I first joined in the first few days I was getting some great responses back from potential clients and getting conference meetings and phone calls set. Within my first couple of days i was able to secure 2 separate jobs and working right now on starting the 3rd one that came from those first couple of days. This is where the good news stops lol since then I have applied to maybe 50 jobs not copy paste I mean really taking time customizing the response show casing the value prop and relevant experience and also spending money on the connects as I get lower. However I haven’t gotten a single response back which kind of perplexed me based on how the first couple of days went. In addition I noticed the first week my profile was getting good amount of views but then the next week I have 0 views.

I understand there is some sort of rotation system in place for exposure... my question really is that does Upwork have a hidden shadow ban policy of some sort? It just seems really odd the exposure and responses completely dropping even with a rotation. I have seen a couple of forums where long term Upwork experienced freelancer have ran into this but usually are either told there’s nothing wrong so try updating your profile or keep applying or a combination of both as a resolution. Does anyone have some relevant experience with this or know more about this? It just seems if a profile is truly shadow banned then you’re just wasting both your time and money if you’re buying connects on sending proposals to clients who are jot going to see them anyways. I don’t specifically have a problem with if you get shadow banned but would be nice to know if you are so you don’t waste so much time and effort.
16 REPLIES 16
VladimirG
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Prasanna, welcome to Upwork!

 

I'm sure other freelancers will follow up soon to share their experience but wanted to clarify that profile views metric reflects the number of times your profile was discovered in search. A client checking your proposal or your profile via your proposals does not count.

 

For help getting started on Upwork, please read up on the freelancer resources for great tips and insights on how you can work successfully on the platform. For more information about working safely through Upwork, please read these tips for avoiding questionable jobs.

~ Vladimir
Upwork

Thanks for the response and the clarification! Look forward to hearing from others

No responses yet? Hmmmm

I'm encountering this issue as well. I had so much engagment initially that I  had to turn off my availability because I had so many requests. After my initial project, and despite a great review, engagement has completely dropped off. I've tried everything- changing my profile photo, expanding my profile, and I've just recently uploaded a video. It's extremely frustratrating. I had high hopes for this platform when I joined as a freelancer. I have not found any resources on how to correct this. 

kcoagency
Community Member

I have had the same situation and reached out to Upwork SEVERAL times and they have the same response. I STILL don't believe I just fell off the planet as I too received 3 jobs within the first week. It's like our profile is being hid yes and I have applied to over 75 jobs in a month and not ONE response or question. Let me know if you find anything out. Very frustrating and thinking about cancellling my subscription. 

Hey Kelly thanks for taking the time to share your experience as well. Hopefully more people can add onto this and validate that we’re not the only ones lol. I haven’t had any other responses yet from Upwork but I did recently slow down the amount of applications I was outputting and idk if that helped but I got two responses back since doing that. Hard to tell if my “shawdow ban” if it exists was lifted or Upwork just boosts your views when you apply less but let me know if you try it out and if it helped! It sure is not very motivating to stay on the platform when you put in like 30 minutes to craft the perfect response per application with relevant info and case studies and all you get back is a goose egg lol plus having to pay Upwork for the credits as you get lower! And just side note I’m fine with doing both but would help to have a ROI attached.

I've slowed mine down too. Only about 8 in the last month and still
nothing. Seems like soon as I started paying the monthly $14 that's when
they stopped.
435ae1cd
Community Member

I'm having a similar experience. I've only had replies from the first group of proposals I've done today. I've basically spent the day writing very articulate and well-thought-out proposals, so if they're shadow-banning me based on some post threshold that would be really really crummy. I have had NIGHTMARE experiences with them asking for photo ids though. They have so much of the market that they have ZERO support for developers, so I wouldn't put it past them. I'm moving to the smaller freelance sites for a bit. I'll start bidding again here in a few days and report back.

You might do better if your profile were to be marked "public", which it isn't at this point.

Het Trancend,

How was your experience joining upwork.

grunttruth
Community Member

I do believe that Upwork does shadow ban or rotate their exposure. I have been with Upwork for going on three years and after two years of being top rated, consistent clients and proposal responses, my account with completely silent for this past year. I even lowered my rates and still nothing. I have contacted Upwork regarding if they discriminate and shadow ban, (especially with all the virture signaling companys were doing this past year) and of course they deny it. Your post and the others that have replied make it clear that Upwork does indeed discriminate and shadow ban. All we can do is be people of integrity and work with what we have been given. 

Totally agree. I quit using it about a year ago.


Cadence W wrote:

I do believe that Upwork does shadow ban or rotate their exposure. I have been with Upwork for going on three years and after two years of being top rated, consistent clients and proposal responses, my account with completely silent for this past year. I even lowered my rates and still nothing. I have contacted Upwork regarding if they discriminate and shadow ban, (especially with all the virture signaling companys were doing this past year) and of course they deny it. Your post and the others that have replied make it clear that Upwork does indeed discriminate and shadow ban. All we can do is be people of integrity and work with what we have been given. 


THey rotate search but that's for everyone.

dheeraj-parwal
Community Member

Hey Prasanna N,

I am facing the same issue now. any suggestion to overcome and make it active again.

c741ac48
Community Member

Currently having this issue right now. I got my first 2 hires about a month after sending about 3-5 proposals a day. Though while sending those proposals I was getting responses back like clients asking my availability, about my work, and if I use this or that software. But now I've sent about 40 proposals not even a hello or even one word or even them asking anything. The proposals are getting viewed so the only possibility I can think of is that the clients can view my proposal but are unable to respond or click on it. It makes absolutely zero financial sense for Upwork but hey? have you gotten this resolved.

wccreations
Community Member

I have been with up works for years and in the last year or so my business has totally come to ZERO. It all started going downhill when I responded to a few job postings where the "client" asked if I was ok with working with conservative projects, I don't really care about those things all I care is about doing good work and making my clients happy, anyway after that happened, I will put in bids after bids and I never hear back from clients,  In the past if I put in 10 bids I will hear back from at least two clients. 

and now I can put it 100 bids and I'll get zero response. 

I know the upwork credit system is crazy and every day they add more ridiculous features like credit for letting clients know you are available and crazy things like that but I will not be surprised if the upwork employees are shadow-banning creators based on their political leaning.  I am wondering if more creators are having the same experience. 

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