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Are the Rankings Messed Up? 4 Reasons it Could be You! - UPYOUR


eoinfinnegan

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Still working on a Personal Marketing post but I am posting this now as a result of the huge number of forum posts about issues with search rankings. These posts are just my own opinion and thoughts and do not necessarily reflect Fiverr - I could be totally wrong.

We do not know what exactly is included in the ranking algorithm so anything I mention is speculation but based on common sense and what I have seen myself.

1. Has your category undergone an update? Were you required to edit your gigs? Check the Forum News Category and specifically, posts titled “Category Update”. If you haven’t updated them then this could be your issue. If you only recently updated them then they may be “under review” by CS as they seem to be manually reviewing edited gigs now.

2. Private feedback: Private feedback is an option available to buyers after they leave the public review. It is not seen by sellers. It is composed of a slider where the buyer rates from good to bad, free comment boxes and also the option to endorse the seller for the skills they have listed on their profile. I have no idea whether it is manually checked, randomly checked or anything else but after I initially saw this as a waste of time, I now think it is possible that it is being valued a lot. I think this because Fiverr tends to be quite slow with its rollouts and when they do something, they really focus on it. There is likely a huge amount of data becoming available to them with this feature and it would be silly to ignore it.

3. Self Promotion/Conversion Rate/Repeat Buyers/ Other factors: When we get busy with orders, it is easy to forget to maintain the basics. Have you stopped doing promotion like you did before? Are you converting your inquiries into sales? What percentage of your sales repeat orders? In algorithms, things usually move slowly most of the time but then big changes happen when a new update/value is added. If any of the usual factors have been considered as more valuable by Fiverr recently, then you may have experienced a sudden fall or jump. Look over how you are performing in the key areas that we know SHOULD be valuable to Fiverr and see if there are areas you have neglected.

4. Cancellations: When combined with private feedback, a high cancellation rate could be a REALLY SERIOUS issue. You see, when you cancel an order, the buyer can still submit private feedback on how the order was handled. If you tend to have problems with clients, verbal disagreements, misunderstandings etc, those clients are likely to leave unfavorable private feedback. This was never an issue in the past, you could really treat buyers badly if you wanted to and unless they took the laborious step of reporting you to CS, you got off without any issues. That has changed and so even when it comes to cancellations, you need to maintain professionalism and treat buyers with respect. I believe this could be an issue for many sellers - especially those who do not keep up with discussions on the forum and have no way of knowing about the introduction of private feedback.

EDIT: It should also be noted that it is likely that ranking factors are probably taken into account IN THE SHORT TERM - ie. A period of 30/60/90 days is likely as the visible Fiverr analytics mainly focus on these. This COULD mean that your historic 100(0)s of sales are simply not recognized or valued in the same way

So that’s it - 4 reasons you may not have considered for why you have fallen in the search rankings. There are plenty of other reasons but I have included these 4 as I think they are likely to be very common - especially among older, experienced sellers such as high volume Level 2 and TRS.

This post is one of a series of posts I am doing which are aimed at helping sellers to Up Their Game and begin to earn more from their work, gain new clients and make the most of being a freelancer. The posts will mainly be based on This Poll which is still open so if you haven’t made your voice heard, please do so as the more that vote on an issue in that poll, the more likely I am to post about that issue.
To see all posts in the series, Click Here

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Still working on a Personal Marketing post but I am posting this now as a result of the huge number of forum posts about issues with search rankings. These posts are just my own opinion and thoughts and do not necessarily reflect Fiverr - I could be totally wrong.

We do not know what exactly is included in the ranking algorithm so anything I mention is speculation but based on common sense and what I have seen myself.

1. Has your category undergone an update? Were you required to edit your gigs? Check the Forum News Category and specifically, posts titled “Category Update”. If you haven’t updated them then this could be your issue. If you only recently updated them then they may be “under review” by CS as they seem to be manually reviewing edited gigs now.

2. Private feedback: Private feedback is an option available to buyers after they leave the public review. It is not seen by sellers. It is composed of a slider where the buyer rates from good to bad, free comment boxes and also the option to endorse the seller for the skills they have listed on their profile. I have no idea whether it is manually checked, randomly checked or anything else but after I initially saw this as a waste of time, I now think it is possible that it is being valued a lot. I think this because Fiverr tends to be quite slow with its rollouts and when they do something, they really focus on it. There is likely a huge amount of data becoming available to them with this feature and it would be silly to ignore it.

3. Self Promotion/Conversion Rate/Repeat Buyers/ Other factors: When we get busy with orders, it is easy to forget to maintain the basics. Have you stopped doing promotion like you did before? Are you converting your inquiries into sales? What percentage of your sales repeat orders? In algorithms, things usually move slowly most of the time but then big changes happen when a new update/value is added. If any of the usual factors have been considered as more valuable by Fiverr recently, then you may have experienced a sudden fall or jump. Look over how you are performing in the key areas that we know SHOULD be valuable to Fiverr and see if there are areas you have neglected.

4. Cancellations: When combined with private feedback, a high cancellation rate could be a REALLY SERIOUS issue. You see, when you cancel an order, the buyer can still submit private feedback on how the order was handled. If you tend to have problems with clients, verbal disagreements, misunderstandings etc, those clients are likely to leave unfavorable private feedback. This was never an issue in the past, you could really treat buyers badly if you wanted to and unless they took the laborious step of reporting you to CS, you got off without any issues. That has changed and so even when it comes to cancellations, you need to maintain professionalism and treat buyers with respect. I believe this could be an issue for many sellers - especially those who do not keep up with discussions on the forum and have no way of knowing about the introduction of private feedback.

EDIT: It should also be noted that it is likely that ranking factors are probably taken into account IN THE SHORT TERM - ie. A period of 30/60/90 days is likely as the visible Fiverr analytics mainly focus on these. This COULD mean that your historic 100(0)s of sales are simply not recognized or valued in the same way

So that’s it - 4 reasons you may not have considered for why you have fallen in the search rankings. There are plenty of other reasons but I have included these 4 as I think they are likely to be very common - especially among older, experienced sellers such as high volume Level 2 and TRS.

This post is one of a series of posts I am doing which are aimed at helping sellers to Up Their Game and begin to earn more from their work, gain new clients and make the most of being a freelancer. The posts will mainly be based on This Poll which is still open so if you haven’t made your voice heard, please do so as the more that vote on an issue in that poll, the more likely I am to post about that issue.

To see all posts in the series, Click Here

cancellation rate could be a REALLY SERIOUS issue. You see, when you cancel an order, the buyer can still submit private feedback on how the order was handled. If you tend to have problems with clients, verbal disagreements, misunderstandings etc, those clients are likely to leave unfavorable private feedback.

Awesome exclusive post 🙂 all fellow sellers have to open their eyes and understand about this. That kind of rating is 200% favor in buyers and bad for seller.

"Why i’m saying this?"

I had few cancellation previously without my fault just because - Many times Buyers do not Read full Description of gig and that. Result was - Buyer wanted service, which was not offered in brought package. I told the buyer - Hello Sir/Mam, Have you read my gig description & package details before buying? bcuz your requirement is not offered in package and You’ve to upgrade package as per your job requirement. Buyer answer : I can’t pay more - REFUND ME 😞

So conclusion : I may receive private negative feedback without my fault 😫 - Fiverr should think about this to both end - “seller and buyer”

thanks 🙂

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cancellation rate could be a REALLY SERIOUS issue. You see, when you cancel an order, the buyer can still submit private feedback on how the order was handled. If you tend to have problems with clients, verbal disagreements, misunderstandings etc, those clients are likely to leave unfavorable private feedback.

Awesome exclusive post 🙂 all fellow sellers have to open their eyes and understand about this. That kind of rating is 200% favor in buyers and bad for seller.

"Why i’m saying this?"

I had few cancellation previously without my fault just because - Many times Buyers do not Read full Description of gig and that. Result was - Buyer wanted service, which was not offered in brought package. I told the buyer - Hello Sir/Mam, Have you read my gig description & package details before buying? bcuz your requirement is not offered in package and You’ve to upgrade package as per your job requirement. Buyer answer : I can’t pay more - REFUND ME 😞

So conclusion : I may receive private negative feedback without my fault 😫 - Fiverr should think about this to both end - “seller and buyer”

thanks 🙂

Obviously I have no idea of what individual buyers might decide to say BUT, if you deal with them professionally while cancelling, it should minimize the risk of bad private feedback. If you have explained the situation clearly as you mention above, most buyers won’t bother leaving the feedback and will just skip it and move on. If a seller is rude, pushy etc, a buyer (like those we often see on the forum) will really want to complain about the experience and so when they get an “invitation” to do so immediately afterwards - they will most likely take it.

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So why fiverr show gigs with base price more than $5 before others now?? Also, why there is a filter called AVERAGE CUSTOMER REVIEW that are displaying gigs with ZERO REVIEWS? They have better returning customer with ZERO? They have better private feedback?

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So why fiverr show gigs with base price more than $5 before others now?? Also, why there is a filter called AVERAGE CUSTOMER REVIEW that are displaying gigs with ZERO REVIEWS? They have better returning customer with ZERO? They have better private feedback?

If you are looking for someone with all the answers then I am not the right person.

However, the points I made in the OP could actually apply to each of the questions you have made there.

A gig with 7k reviews has obviously been around a long time. If the gig has not been updated to comply with the new Digital Marketing Category Update then it will sink in rankings as was warned about in a pop-up that was sent out weeks ago. The new gig will have been created more recently and so it complies with the Update.

That is my opinion as to why.

It should also be noted that Fiverr seems to favor gigs with packages so again, a $5 gig with lots of reviews but without packages may be ranked below those with a higher base price and packages.

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If you are looking for someone with all the answers then I am not the right person.

However, the points I made in the OP could actually apply to each of the questions you have made there.

A gig with 7k reviews has obviously been around a long time. If the gig has not been updated to comply with the new Digital Marketing Category Update then it will sink in rankings as was warned about in a pop-up that was sent out weeks ago. The new gig will have been created more recently and so it complies with the Update.

That is my opinion as to why.

It should also be noted that Fiverr seems to favor gigs with packages so again, a $5 gig with lots of reviews but without packages may be ranked below those with a higher base price and packages.

I’ve seen gigs with 10k reviews updated and ranking in page 10, 12 now. Obviously there is something wrong with search. You can see by the fact that relevance and average customer review filters are now showing exact same results, which never happened before.

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Not sure if you’ve already covered this, but @eoinfinnegan - have you talked about the SEO optimization line on the gig creation / editing page? That’s something I noticed a few months ago and while I’m not sure I understand how it works, it’s something that I’ve done and I don’t think it’s an accident that my Fiverr gig is now #2 in Google search results for my keywords.

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Not sure if you’ve already covered this, but @eoinfinnegan - have you talked about the SEO optimization line on the gig creation / editing page? That’s something I noticed a few months ago and while I’m not sure I understand how it works, it’s something that I’ve done and I don’t think it’s an accident that my Fiverr gig is now #2 in Google search results for my keywords.

Thanks, I appreciate the feedback - I felt I needed a memorable tag and UPYOUR seems to work 🙂

Regarding your great search results, I must confess I did some “checking you out” but it is a bit OT:

[details=Summary]Ok, so when I saw your gig ranking number 2 in Google it got me a bit excited.

You see, because of the fact that all Fiverr gigs (and there are lots of each type) offer services that are widely available on specialized sites dealing only with each individual category/service, gigs very rarely show up high in search. The competition is simply too huge for any one gig to stand out or be important enough.

IMO, Google has begun to value user experience (UX) above ALL other things. From what they say and do, it is becoming clear this is the case as well as the fact that it makes sense. Big Data is hugely useful and data doesn’t come any bigger than what Google has. For this reason, I believe the following is what has happened to get your gig to number 2:

First: You created a regularly updated, knowledgeable G+ account with regular posts on the subject. It attracted good traffic because it is quite niche and useful - users like it and so it most likely showed up when people searched for this topic in G+. This “Positive UX” will have told Google that you know what you are doing.

Second: Your posts all link to your Fiverr account/gigs. People follow those links to your gig and purchase from you. As you (I believe) are good at what you do, those people did not go back and start looking for someone else.

All this combined will tell Google that "People search, find your G+, go to your gig and then don’t search again.

This tells Google that those who are looking for your keyword will ultimately be satisfied by going to your Fiverr gig.

Therefore, it makes sure that your Fiverr gig is high in rankings so people can just go directly to it! This is Google’s vision - to take people from search to the most useful pages where their needs are satisfied. That’s what you do,

that’s why you rank number 2!

Note the lack of cheap links, spamming forums, keyword stuffing etc. Content is king because it attracts users![/details]

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Thanks, I appreciate the feedback - I felt I needed a memorable tag and UPYOUR seems to work 🙂

Regarding your great search results, I must confess I did some “checking you out” but it is a bit OT:

[details=Summary]Ok, so when I saw your gig ranking number 2 in Google it got me a bit excited.

You see, because of the fact that all Fiverr gigs (and there are lots of each type) offer services that are widely available on specialized sites dealing only with each individual category/service, gigs very rarely show up high in search. The competition is simply too huge for any one gig to stand out or be important enough.

IMO, Google has begun to value user experience (UX) above ALL other things. From what they say and do, it is becoming clear this is the case as well as the fact that it makes sense. Big Data is hugely useful and data doesn’t come any bigger than what Google has. For this reason, I believe the following is what has happened to get your gig to number 2:

First: You created a regularly updated, knowledgeable G+ account with regular posts on the subject. It attracted good traffic because it is quite niche and useful - users like it and so it most likely showed up when people searched for this topic in G+. This “Positive UX” will have told Google that you know what you are doing.

Second: Your posts all link to your Fiverr account/gigs. People follow those links to your gig and purchase from you. As you (I believe) are good at what you do, those people did not go back and start looking for someone else.

All this combined will tell Google that "People search, find your G+, go to your gig and then don’t search again.

This tells Google that those who are looking for your keyword will ultimately be satisfied by going to your Fiverr gig.

Therefore, it makes sure that your Fiverr gig is high in rankings so people can just go directly to it! This is Google’s vision - to take people from search to the most useful pages where their needs are satisfied. That’s what you do,

that’s why you rank number 2!

Note the lack of cheap links, spamming forums, keyword stuffing etc. Content is king because it attracts users![/details]

[details=OT on the OT]

Ok, so when I saw your gig ranking number 2 in Google it got me a bit excited.

Just wanted to add, since I´d read that post and found it interesting I did that search too, with your English search terms, and James ranked #6 with his gig on my German Google.[/details]

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Hey @eoinfinnegan i’ve searched your gig using keywords “translate” and “rewrite” and couldn’t find. You seem to be a superb seller to me. How can I find you if wasn’t by fiverr search? For both keywords gigs with 1 reviews are ranking better than yours. This is the reason I keep telling, that something should be done to improve the search.

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Obviously I have no idea of what individual buyers might decide to say BUT, if you deal with them professionally while cancelling, it should minimize the risk of bad private feedback. If you have explained the situation clearly as you mention above, most buyers won’t bother leaving the feedback and will just skip it and move on. If a seller is rude, pushy etc, a buyer (like those we often see on the forum) will really want to complain about the experience and so when they get an “invitation” to do so immediately afterwards - they will most likely take it.

I really hope that the private feedback, if left by a buyer, would be taken into account while also considering the reason of the cancellation.

I had about 13 cancellations this month either as a result of buyers not reading the gig’s description and ordering requesting a variety of things entirely unrelated to my gig, or buyers ordering more than 2-3 gigs at once, all with extra fast deliveries impossible to be completed in time.

I don’t know what is going on, but I used to have a maximum of 2 cancellations every month, now I am even scared to read the requirements on new orders.

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I really hope that the private feedback, if left by a buyer, would be taken into account while also considering the reason of the cancellation.

I had about 13 cancellations this month either as a result of buyers not reading the gig’s description and ordering requesting a variety of things entirely unrelated to my gig, or buyers ordering more than 2-3 gigs at once, all with extra fast deliveries impossible to be completed in time.

I don’t know what is going on, but I used to have a maximum of 2 cancellations every month, now I am even scared to read the requirements on new orders.

I don’t know what is going on, but I used to have a maximum of 2 cancellations every month, now I am even scared to read the requirements on new orders.

Exactly how I am feeling these days also. Haven’t had a single cancellation in my first 6 months or so, nowadays when I see the notification on my phone saying “You have a new order and instructions from xy. Get started.” I am literally shaking, as people don’t seem to read the description at all and I have to cancel a lot of nonsense orders. I am offering nothing but shoutouts on Instagram, yet a few days back I have got an order from a buyer who was asking for help with setting up his e-commerce website… Might be related to the issues with the search engine?

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Thanks, I appreciate the feedback - I felt I needed a memorable tag and UPYOUR seems to work 🙂

Regarding your great search results, I must confess I did some “checking you out” but it is a bit OT:

[details=Summary]Ok, so when I saw your gig ranking number 2 in Google it got me a bit excited.

You see, because of the fact that all Fiverr gigs (and there are lots of each type) offer services that are widely available on specialized sites dealing only with each individual category/service, gigs very rarely show up high in search. The competition is simply too huge for any one gig to stand out or be important enough.

IMO, Google has begun to value user experience (UX) above ALL other things. From what they say and do, it is becoming clear this is the case as well as the fact that it makes sense. Big Data is hugely useful and data doesn’t come any bigger than what Google has. For this reason, I believe the following is what has happened to get your gig to number 2:

First: You created a regularly updated, knowledgeable G+ account with regular posts on the subject. It attracted good traffic because it is quite niche and useful - users like it and so it most likely showed up when people searched for this topic in G+. This “Positive UX” will have told Google that you know what you are doing.

Second: Your posts all link to your Fiverr account/gigs. People follow those links to your gig and purchase from you. As you (I believe) are good at what you do, those people did not go back and start looking for someone else.

All this combined will tell Google that "People search, find your G+, go to your gig and then don’t search again.

This tells Google that those who are looking for your keyword will ultimately be satisfied by going to your Fiverr gig.

Therefore, it makes sure that your Fiverr gig is high in rankings so people can just go directly to it! This is Google’s vision - to take people from search to the most useful pages where their needs are satisfied. That’s what you do,

that’s why you rank number 2!

Note the lack of cheap links, spamming forums, keyword stuffing etc. Content is king because it attracts users![/details]

5be85db4a4f8affd885984ab34520755.jpg.8b7100fd9f0d5da7991801fc7b4ddb18.jpg

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Thanks, I appreciate the feedback - I felt I needed a memorable tag and UPYOUR seems to work 🙂

Regarding your great search results, I must confess I did some “checking you out” but it is a bit OT:

[details=Summary]Ok, so when I saw your gig ranking number 2 in Google it got me a bit excited.

You see, because of the fact that all Fiverr gigs (and there are lots of each type) offer services that are widely available on specialized sites dealing only with each individual category/service, gigs very rarely show up high in search. The competition is simply too huge for any one gig to stand out or be important enough.

IMO, Google has begun to value user experience (UX) above ALL other things. From what they say and do, it is becoming clear this is the case as well as the fact that it makes sense. Big Data is hugely useful and data doesn’t come any bigger than what Google has. For this reason, I believe the following is what has happened to get your gig to number 2:

First: You created a regularly updated, knowledgeable G+ account with regular posts on the subject. It attracted good traffic because it is quite niche and useful - users like it and so it most likely showed up when people searched for this topic in G+. This “Positive UX” will have told Google that you know what you are doing.

Second: Your posts all link to your Fiverr account/gigs. People follow those links to your gig and purchase from you. As you (I believe) are good at what you do, those people did not go back and start looking for someone else.

All this combined will tell Google that "People search, find your G+, go to your gig and then don’t search again.

This tells Google that those who are looking for your keyword will ultimately be satisfied by going to your Fiverr gig.

Therefore, it makes sure that your Fiverr gig is high in rankings so people can just go directly to it! This is Google’s vision - to take people from search to the most useful pages where their needs are satisfied. That’s what you do,

that’s why you rank number 2!

Note the lack of cheap links, spamming forums, keyword stuffing etc. Content is king because it attracts users![/details]

The only problem I have is that I think it also reflects negatively on the 'un-clicked" results, not just positively on the clicked ones.

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