Myth Busters 101: Does Forum Usage Affect Your Marketplace Performance?

[Kesha]

Welcome to the first installment of our Fiverr Myth Buster series, where we're setting the record straight on common narratives floating around the forum.

First up: the belief that your forum activity is somehow directly linked to your performance on the marketplace. Some think it's the secret sauce for getting better results, while others believe it does not affect their Fiverr marketplace status.

So, what's the real deal? …

Can we have a drumroll, please? 🥁

The verdict: Your activity on the forum is NOT correlated to your success on the marketplace.

While we encourage you to be active and engage with the Fiverr community on the forum, the reality is that it won't boost your rank, seller level, or score you more clicks and impressions, contrary to popular opinion. The real reward of engaging with the community is networking, along with sharing and receiving advice from one another.

With that said, we encourage forum users to show up and provide authentic engagement, free from any ulterior motive of better results on the platform.

We're curious, what other narratives/ theories would you like to see us address? Any Fiverr topics you would like us to set the story straight on? 
 

[donnovan86]

13 minutes ago, Kesha said:

We're curious, what other narratives/ theories would you like to see us address? Any Fiverr topics you would like us to set the story straight on? 

@Kesha, I think one of the main things a lot of newcomers need to know from an official source is that staying online will not offer them any orders. Also, you could clarify that using autorefreshers is not allowed, I saw a lot of posts on the forum about this, especially from newcomers that hear that kind of stuff from YouTubers and other external sources. 

Edited January 19 by donnovan86

[uk1000]

1 hour ago, Kesha said:

We're curious, what other narratives/ theories would you like to see us address?

I think it would help if Fiverr staff could address the common forum statement that "there is no gig ranking" or "gig rank" or search results ranking on the Fiverr site. It's been addressed by CS (who confirmed there is such a thing) but not by staff on the forum. So it would help if that was made clearer (eg. the help pages discuss gig rank but CS said gig rank was one of many variables Fiverr uses).

Also is it true Fiverr is now using Tensor Flow ranking on the current Fiverr site for ranking search results/gigs (like they show in their youtube research video) or are they still using other options for search/ranking (eg. ElasticSearch, Solr search - like Fiverr stated a few years ago in an interview).

Also for things were it's stated x has no affect, it would be interesting if there was a chart shown if possible or some numeric values showing if there are any differences at all.

Also like was said in the previous post it's often mentioned theory about being active on the main site helps. I think some staff might have said it doesn't help, but maybe more info/stats could be shown showing it had no effect if it has none (eg. might be that doing some things on the site - like working on orders/messaging might help but just refreshing a page while not working might not? - apart from being shown in the "online" search section - which might help some sellers).

Maybe Fiverr could also go into a bit more detail about Fiverr Neo (eg. is there a limit to what sellers it takes into account? does it recommend any active seller or only certain ones and if so what are the conditions?). Does it use an API that sends data to Open API or is everything held on Fiverr? Will it be changing how it works in future (eg. to show more gigs/sellers/to speed it up/make it available to sellers?).

Edited January 19 by uk1000

[uk1000]

Also another thing that has been mentioned is that using the a keyword that's in your gig title in your gig's keyword list has no benefit (that it's better to use something else there). It's also mentioned that using a keyword more than once (eg. in your gig description) doesn't not help (and if so why stop people using it >x times -apart from when it's spamming) but also it would be helpful if there were stats/charts that showed that that info was the case so it was clearer.

[dev_sabbir37]

My profile is a real-life example of this. A few months ago, I heard a myth that spending time on a forum would increase orders and boost my profile. However, the reality is different. This forum did not affect my orders, clicks, or impression results. Nonetheless, the forum is an excellent way to learn about rules and find 100% real solutions. Some experts share tips and thoughts about freelancing careers that could be helpful for every freelancer.

[shaunbaines]

I was told by CS that in order to achieve Top Seller status, one of the factors that is considered is community leadership. If activity in the forum does not constitute community leadership, what does? How can sellers reach the top tier?

The CS also went on to say there are other criteria that has to be met, but did not indicate what these might be. This lack of specific instruction is one of the reasons there are so many myths being circulated, meaning sellers can waste valuable time and resources chasing the secret sauce instead of putting in the hard miles of making their gigs a success.

So I'm glad of this thread and the increased presence of Fiverr on the forum to help provide stronger guidance, especially for new sellers. 

[uk1000]

Also about the statements that being active online on Fiver helps or not. Some people say it doesn't help/make any difference, other people say it can (eg. the active indicator and the gig appearing in the "online sellers" filter). So more info on that could help (maybe with stats).

In a 2017 transcript of an interview with Fiverr for Software Engineering Daily, Gil Sheinfeld, the CTO of Fiverr said:

Quote

We didn’t build a search engine entirely from scratch, but we’re leveraging solar [Solr]
and elastic and using them in a way that is slightly different than other companies. Our search
leverage large amount of features beyond relevancy in order to have better performing ranking

As example, we find out that when a seller is available, he’s actually online, there is more
likelihood to have a great experience of buying and selling. One of, I would call it boosts that our
search algorithm gives is floating up with some volume, those sellers who are available online.
In a way that the overall experience of both buyer and seller is actually better. That’s an
example for one feature that our search engine looks at as we do the ranking of available gigs
for search that is different than for example on Amazon.

Have things changed since then (re: ranking and how the system works based on those who it thinks are available online) and in what ways? Also when it mentioned "available" in the quote above was it talking about the past "available" setting Fiver allowed users to set and not just being active on Fiverr within the last x minutes? Does being active on Fiverr affect search results rank (or just the "online filter") as it seemed to say it did in that 2017 transcript or is what is said there no longer the case?

Edited January 20 by uk1000

[edc_lab]

Hello @Kesha
It's nice to see that Fiverr wants to clarify some platforms' myths, so, here are my questions:

Online myth:
Is the "online now" filter actually used by buyers or do they find it not essential?

Thumbnail myth:
Does the system read the text (or images) inside of the thumbnails? If yes, does it affect the search results like keywords and metadata?

That's it for now, bye! 

[Kesha]

@uk1000, @donnovan86 @edc_lab These are some ones! Stay tuned for our next installment of the myth busters series as we clarify these common beliefs. 😊

[Kesha]

On 1/20/2024 at 2:53 AM, shaunbaines said:

I was told by CS that in order to achieve Top Seller status, one of the factors that is considered is community leadership. If activity in the forum does not constitute community leadership, what does? How can sellers reach the top tier?

The CS also went on to say there are other criteria that has to be met, but did not indicate what these might be. This lack of specific instruction is one of the reasons there are so many myths being circulated, meaning sellers can waste valuable time and resources chasing the secret sauce instead of putting in the hard miles of making their gigs a success.

So I'm glad of this thread and the increased presence of Fiverr on the forum to help provide stronger guidance, especially for new sellers. 

Hi! Sorry for the misunderstanding. This is an outdated recommendation. Right now, Seller Levels are solely based on your performance as a seller. For more information on how to become a Top Rated Seller, please refer to this article: https://help.fiverr.com/hc/en-us/articles/15140188560913-Top-Rated-Sellers.

[Alex.M]

9 hours ago, vickiespencer said:

 Why on earth would you want to stay awake for that long? Doing so will not help your Fiverr success in the least! 

True, however, there is an ' online ' filter for buyers that allows them to see the sellers online at that moment. In a small percentage perhaps being online helps but it's not possible to be online 24/7 unless you are using some automated thing that might be against the tos... now If Fiverr can find out about it or not it's another thing. 

[imagination7413]

20 minutes ago, Alex.M said:

that might be against the tos

I know it might be a loose interpretation, but the Terms of Service do imply such.

Quote

8.6 Proprietary Restrictions

[...] Users have no right, and specifically agree not to do the following with respect to the Site or any part, component or extension of the Site (including its mobile applications): [...]
(iv) use automation software (bots), hacks, modifications (mods) or any other unauthorized third-party software designed to modify the Site; [...] 
(ix) use the Site in any manner that could damage, disable, overburden or impair the Site, or interfere with any other users’ enjoyment of the Site [...]

I'm not very knowledgeable in bandwidth and hosting but I would thing enough users near-constantly refreshing is probably a drain on an already resource intense site. 

28 minutes ago, Alex.M said:

there is an ' online ' filter for buyers that allows them to see the buyers online at that moment. In a small percentage perhaps being online helps

Exactly. Fiverr doesn't share that information. We don't know and, as many workers have testified (online AND offline): People who are in a rush and want 'NOW' service are often the most difficult to work with. 

[uk1000]

26 minutes ago, imagination7413 said:

I'm not very knowledgeable in bandwidth and hosting but I would thing enough users near-constantly refreshing is probably a drain on an already resource intense site. 

Though it wouldn't really need to be constant. It might be a bit different now but this is what CS said 5 years ago:

Quote

When you sign into your Fiverr account there is a 15-minute delay before the system will show you as online to other users. This is represented by the status dot on your profile picture in the top right. When it is gray you are offline and green is for online. There is a timeout if your Fiverr.com page is idle for some time, this is usually 30-45 minutes.

So based on that the refresh could be just once every 25 mins and in theory it should always show the person online. But it still might be against the TOS.

But some Fiverr staff (including one from CS and one who posted on some site like Facebook or maybe Twitter) have also said it's allowed to use refresh extensions (with one saying as long as they respond to messages quickly).

Edited January 23 by uk1000

[imagination7413]

10 minutes ago, uk1000 said:

But some Fiverr staff (including one from CS [...]) have also said it's allowed to use refresh extensions (with one saying as long as they respond to messages quickly).

I've read those, too. None recently, though.

It's still not a good practice to encourage, permitted or not, as the thought underlying the action is usually the intent to remain online.

1 hour ago, Alex.M said:

there is an ' online ' filter for buyers

There have been several posts lately that have noted that the filter isn't always available. 

[Alex.M]

1 minute ago, imagination7413 said:

There have been several posts lately that have noted that the filter isn't always available. 

I noticed that as well, it happens to me when I am not logged in to my account. If I am using a different browser and copy/paste a link from the browser that I am logged in, I am not seeing that online filter. 

[vickiespencer]

8 hours ago, catwriter said:

Yet another one who believes that being active on the forum brings orders and riches untold and what not...

Since the OP believed in being online around the clock, it is no surprise that he would think he could get orders and riches and whatnot. . . 

I read a post this summer that the around-the-clock myth is even taught by one of the teachers at Udemy! Here is the link to her class. We should write to Udemy and tell them she is not qualified to teach this course!  

https://www.udemy.com/course/the-complete-fiverr-course-i/

Edited January 23 by vickiespencer

[priyank_mod]

18 hours ago, vickiespencer said:

Since the OP believed in being online around the clock, it is no surprise that he would think he could get orders and riches and whatnot. . . 

I read a post this summer that the around-the-clock myth is even taught by one of the teachers at Udemy! Here is the link to her class. We should write to Udemy and tell them she is not qualified to teach this course!  

https://www.udemy.com/course/the-complete-fiverr-course-i/

Ironically, this so-called teacher claims to be a TRS!! 🤐

[donnovan86]

19 hours ago, vickiespencer said:

I read a post this summer that the around-the-clock myth is even taught by one of the teachers at Udemy! Here is the link to her class. We should write to Udemy and tell them she is not qualified to teach this course!  

Well the thing with Udemy is that they don't perform any type of background check. So anyone can teach and if they sell, it doesn't matter at all. I am not sure what her username is, but that teacher in particular doesn't seem too knowledgeable, from the course I saw there. 

[uk1000]

19 hours ago, vickiespencer said:

I read a post this summer that the around-the-clock myth is even taught by one of the teachers at Udemy

Though it's not a totally illogical conclusion for someone if they had read the Chief Technology officer of Fiverr Gil Shienfield (in the 2017 transcript) saying that the Fiverr algorithm gives a boost to sellers who are online. So they probably thought the logical conclusion would be to make it so they appear to be online constantly to get a constant boost. So even though 24/7 online is a myth, it might have started from some official source (the CTO of Fiverr giving an interview talking about the boost the Fiverr algorithm gave/gives for sellers being online).

Edited January 24 by uk1000

[uk1000]

On 1/22/2024 at 2:44 PM, Kesha said:

@uk1000, @donnovan86 @edc_lab These are some ones! Stay tuned for our next installment of the myth busters series as we clarify these common beliefs. 😊

Do you know roughly when the next instalment of the myth busting threads will be made please?