There are profiles that are at the top of the search results all the time. They may change their positions slightly over time, but they always remain in the "quick accessibility for the customer" zone. To put it simply, they always remain on the first page.
I think the definition of phrases like “all the time” and “always on the first page” are the focus. Clients can perform searches using all kinds of keywords, key phrases, and Upwork-defined skill categories. I've seen profiles rank high for specific keywords for weeks or months, but I’ve never seen "always." I’m not saying it doesn’t happen, but it really depends on what you mean by "always."
As Mykola and many others have suggested--spending more for boosting and badges might make a difference, but I've heard many freelancers say this doesn't work for them.
The funny thing is that these accounts have 30+ active contracts, which to me completely contradicts the logic you wrote about.
I didn’t mention the number of active contracts a profile might have. I did say that some new freelancers appear to rank prominently; however, this appears to be temporary.
After all, if a freelancer has 46 active contracts at the moment, is he in dire need of a new job)?
We don’t know all the factors considered by Upwork’s algorithms. The number of active contracts might not weigh as heavily as other factors like skill category, work history, JSS, etc. Besides, an active or “In progress” job doesn’t mean the freelancer is actively working on the job. Often, these are completed or paused jobs that haven’t been closed.
I wrote that at some point I was able to significantly increase the visibility of my account and I began to see in the statistics on 40-60 views per day, and 4-8 invitations to work every day. To achieve this effect, I drastically redesigned my account including the hourly rate. This shows that we can influence the algorithms, we can boost our account, but the question is how to make it permanent?
I understand, and I believe many freelancers can increase profile views by making useful changes. But I also think the algorithms adjust to these changes. Meaning, if you upskill--the algorithm likes it. If you fix spelling and grammatical errors--the algorithm likes it. If your skill categories and keywords are updated to create more congruency throughout your profile--the algorithm likes it. After a while though, I think the algorithm "settles" a profile because once it gives you credit for optimization (i.e., upskilling, better title, better summary, better portfolio, etc.), it allows you to mix and mingle among the other optimized profiles, but the boost is short-lived and not permanent because there are millions of optimized profiles.
An ill-advised strategy might be to "break" a profile every now and then--fix it--and see if the algorithm recognizes the shiny new features and moves the profile up a few pages. I wouldn’t recommend doing this.
Well, the very idea that these algorithms work somewhat "randomly" makes me feel a sense of injustice.
I’m just guessing, but the millions of qualified freelancers with $0 earnings probably feel the same sense of injustice.
For example, there is a freelancer who follows his profile, he devotes a lot of time to this work, tries to make it interesting to his client. And there is a freelancer who follows his profile to a lesser extent, he does not work much on it and does not care about being interesting for the client. Do you think it's fair that they should have equal chances to be at the top of the search list for clients?
This is the dilemma for many algorithms: how to present the best matches while giving everybody a chance to be seen. It's basically an unpleasant balance between quality and fairness, with fairness being: "Everybody gets a shot, not just the Expert-Vetted and Top-Rated folks, or those who put the most time into their profiles." As ridiculous as it might seem, I think this is Upwork’s stab at fairness. The unpleasantness enters the picture because the platform is overflowing with freelancers and there aren’t enough quality jobs available.
I’m quite certain the algorithms prefer quality profiles over low-quality ones, but only Upwork knows how they define "quality" and "inspiring." I’ve seen quality profiles of highly skilled freelancers who get no attention and can’t land jobs. Conversely, I’ve seen Expert-Vetted, 100% JSS, $750K earners with depressing profiles that are never updated or optimized.
The biggest issue is the ridiculous number of unqualified freelancers here--not necessarily the number of uninspired or mediocre profiles. And, I think there are too many unknowns with Upwork's algorithms; too many to have a clear view of why things are the way they are. When we add the occasional hiccups and errors, and the bugs inherent to all algorithms, the result is unpredictability with a hint of chaos sprinkled in.
