What's the Ranking Algorithm?

[Anna]

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[lisabaarns]

One other thing not mentioned about the ranking algorithm.

There is more than one of them, and depending on how you view them, you will see different results based on your viewing history.

This means someone returning to the site (a repeat buyer) may see something different than you. A first time buyer will see one thing, someone on the site a while will see another. It depends on how they filter and what else they have looked at.

When I’m tracking my own progress, I always do it the same way, but it’s not perfect because buyers will see it differently. That said, it does give me a metric to track over time, knowing my processes are moving me up/down within one of the default views.

My tracking: (YMMV)
Open a Private Window (Firefox) or Incognito Window (Chrome), go to my category (Voice Over) and leave the default results. That is “Filter by ‘Ave Customer Review’”.

In that view I’m the #3 female on the site. I’ve tracked with this view since I was around #50 or so.

As soon as I change it to “Relevance” and filter for “Female” I drop down below the top 50.

I currently only track my progress on the “Ave Customer Rating” filter, but I’m not sure that’s the best.

I always trying to figure out what makes the most sense, so if someone looks at it differently, please let me know how you do it, and why.

I’m always learning and looking for incremental improvements across everything I do. All commends welcomed.

[miiila]

One other thing not mentioned about the ranking algorithm.

There is more than one of them, and depending on how you view them, you will see different results based on your viewing history.

This means someone returning to the site (a repeat buyer) may see something different than you. A first time buyer will see one thing, someone on the site a while will see another. It depends on how they filter and what else they have looked at.

When I’m tracking my own progress, I always do it the same way, but it’s not perfect because buyers will see it differently. That said, it does give me a metric to track over time, knowing my processes are moving me up/down within one of the default views.

My tracking: (YMMV)

Open a Private Window (Firefox) or Incognito Window (Chrome), go to my category (Voice Over) and leave the default results. That is “Filter by ‘Ave Customer Review’”.

In that view I’m the #3 female on the site. I’ve tracked with this view since I was around #50 or so.

As soon as I change it to “Relevance” and filter for “Female” I drop down below the top 50.

I currently only track my progress on the “Ave Customer Rating” filter, but I’m not sure that’s the best.

I always trying to figure out what makes the most sense, so if someone looks at it differently, please let me know how you do it, and why.

I’m always learning and looking for incremental improvements across everything I do. All commends welcomed.

This makes me think ‘seniority’ could be one factor. I imagine for the ‘relevance’ for instance, many gigs for the same service will have the same keywords and the same relevance, but the relevance factor must sort the gigs with the same keywords/relevance somehow, that could mean if Gig 1(the first one of its kind) - Gig 50(the latest gig with those keywords) all have about the same relevance and keywords, Gig 1 will get x relevance points+50, and Gig 50 will get x relevance points+1. So your gig may be #3 for it´s review points with that filter, but much lower because over 50 similar gigs were there before yours with ‘relevance’ filter?

I might be way off there, but it’s fun to speculate.

[jamshed697]

More positive reviews + less cancellations + less customer support infractions = Higher Rank and More Sales +Community Leadership = Better chance of achieving TRS

what is the exact Community Leadership ? can you please define or describe it ?

[lisabaarns]

This makes me think ‘seniority’ could be one factor. I imagine for the ‘relevance’ for instance, many gigs for the same service will have the same keywords and the same relevance, but the relevance factor must sort the gigs with the same keywords/relevance somehow, that could mean if Gig 1(the first one of its kind) - Gig 50(the latest gig with those keywords) all have about the same relevance and keywords, Gig 1 will get x relevance points+50, and Gig 50 will get x relevance points+1. So your gig may be #3 for it´s review points with that filter, but much lower because over 50 similar gigs were there before yours with ‘relevance’ filter?

I might be way off there, but it’s fun to speculate.

@miiila

Seniority may be a factor, but when I filter for “Relevance” and “Female” I’m below #50, but the person before me started about 2 months ago, has 35 reviews. I’ve been here 9 months or so with over 760 reviews. In theory I should win via seniority, but in that specific case it doesn’t work out.

Not that my stats matter, but I’ve been around at least 6 months more (still a beginner here), and have 700 additional reviews, but she is still one spot in front of me. (I could give 20 other examples like that…)

That implies there are factors I don’t yet understand with that combination of filters. (It makes no sense to me yet.)

I’m not complaining, it is what it is and my sales continue to grow.

Not worth too much time other than tracking if my current strategies are moving me up and client deliverables continue to improve in quality and quantity.

[ssj1236]

So, let me get this straight. To rank higher I need more reviews per day. To get more reviews I need more sales? Am I missing something?

[lisabaarns]

So, let me get this straight. To rank higher I need more reviews per day. To get more reviews I need more sales? Am I missing something?

So, let me get this straight. To rank higher I need more reviews per day. To get more reviews I need more sales? Am I missing something?

That works overall, it’s the story of life in business.

People prefer buying from someone they like, and/or who has enough “social proof”. If you already sell more than average, you are a safer choice than someone with fewer sales.

Me telling you I’m the best is rarely believed, and may or may not be true. 100 or 1000 people buying from you and most of them leaving strong ratings implies you are either a decent seller, or you can fool a lot of people… Most will believe you’re good.

One of the tricks is figuring out a way outside of Fiverr to market your gig, so that you build enough social proof to be a safer choice.

Also note that Fiverr does have a filter for “Newer” gigs, and that helps you be discovered in your category, which helps with the social proof too. Some buyers will take a chance, if your gig presentation is stronger.

Competition across the categories continues to grow, lots of variables to try.

[ssj1236]

So, let me get this straight. To rank higher I need more reviews per day. To get more reviews I need more sales? Am I missing something?

That works overall, it’s the story of life in business.

People prefer buying from someone they like, and/or who has enough “social proof”. If you already sell more than average, you are a safer choice than someone with fewer sales.

Me telling you I’m the best is rarely believed, and may or may not be true. 100 or 1000 people buying from you and most of them leaving strong ratings implies you are either a decent seller, or you can fool a lot of people… Most will believe you’re good.

One of the tricks is figuring out a way outside of Fiverr to market your gig, so that you build enough social proof to be a safer choice.

Also note that Fiverr does have a filter for “Newer” gigs, and that helps you be discovered in your category, which helps with the social proof too. Some buyers will take a chance, if your gig presentation is stronger.

Competition across the categories continues to grow, lots of variables to try.

So no way besides having to grow a strong social following.

[lisabaarns]

So no way besides having to grow a strong social following.

So no way besides having to grow a strong social following.

I don’t think I said that. There are multiple paths to success. There are plenty of best practices, and paths that have been traveled before, but things change over time, and there is no one magic formula that will work for all.

Even the definition of “success” will be wildly different for different sellers.

I mentioned you have to build social proof over time. That’s different than a social following (which certainly never hurts.)

Social proof is enough people have purchased from you, over a long enough period of time, AND publicly rate you/talk about you, so others perceive you as the real deal as they check out your gig(s). It greatly increases the odds your gig will be selected when someone is comparing your gig to another gig. It’s not the only factor, but it’s a decent part of the mix.

In the beginning every gig starts with ZERO social proof on Fiverr, but it builds over time IF you are good at what you do, you provide great service and value. IF the seller already has social proof on one gig, SOME of that proof might carry into another gig, sometimes the new gig has to prove itself on its own.

“Service” on Fiverr is usually a quality result, at a fair price, in a reasonable time frame, which also leads to repeat business AND some recommendations.

The exact combination depends on your category, what your competitors are doing, how your pricing/service compares and other factors. You have to find the combination that works for you.

BTW - This is really another discussion, beyond just ranking and the algorithm. These are sales and marketing principles, that have been around long before I was born (and I’m older than many here…)

[king_of_kings]

Positive reviews ,Less cancellations,higher sales ,Response Time

[chicagowriter]

One more from me that may or may not be a factor but I will mention because sellers who have not bought recently may not be aware of it.

When a buyer completes an order, they can submit private feedback to Fiverr - I will be completing one soon so I will add a screenshot then.

There is also the possibility to “Endorse” the seller for skills related to the order - Again, screenshot to follow.

It would make sense for these to be highly important in rankings as they are privately submitted and therefore likely to be more reliable. Once again, this is purely speculation as there is no way to actually measure this!

I just bought a gig and noticed it too!! I did not know about it. In other words sellers are being reviewed and rated by the buyer twice. The private review must impact gig rankings too, it makes sense that it does.

[gina_riley2]

@lisabaarns: I just tried your experiment, since I have never hired a voice over person - male or female - so see how it ranked out.

There were four featured sellers - all on top row - two of them were TRS. It was NOT in order of number of reviews but according to who delivered the most recent gig. The person who delivered 20 mins ago was listed 1st, the seller who delivered 38 mins ago was listed 2nd, etc. (Not necessarily that particular gig, but any gig the seller delivered.)

The second row - don’t have a clue.

It could all be coincidences - I dunno.

@miiila: Fiverr sends me emails recommending that I buy your gig!! 🙂 Along with other translators. I often get emails, after a transaction completion, with recommendations to buy that gig again - it always includes the last seller I used + few others in the same field.

[lisabaarns]

@lisabaarns: I just tried your experiment, since I have never hired a voice over person - male or female - so see how it ranked out.

There were four featured sellers - all on top row - two of them were TRS. It was NOT in order of number of reviews but according to who delivered the most recent gig. The person who delivered 20 mins ago was listed 1st, the seller who delivered 38 mins ago was listed 2nd, etc. (Not necessarily that particular gig, but any gig the seller delivered.)

The second row - don’t have a clue.

It could all be coincidences - I dunno.

@miiila: Fiverr sends me emails recommending that I buy your gig!! 🙂 Along with other translators. I often get emails, after a transaction completion, with recommendations to buy that gig again - it always includes the last seller I used + few others in the same field.

@gina_riley2

Cool… I’m always looking for additional data points. If you watch it over a few days, I suspect that won’t hold up the same way, but I could be wrong.

The people at the top are usually delivering lots of orders in a day. If you watch the people down a row or two and how they move around, it’s often easier to see patterns over time.

Always interesting to see what patterns others are seeing!

[catalindinca]

Inspiration is one thing and you can’t control it, but hard work is what keeps the ship moving. Good luck means, work hard. Keep up the good work.

This is the Ranking Algorithm.

[exilegraphics]

@lisabaarns: I just tried your experiment, since I have never hired a voice over person - male or female - so see how it ranked out.

There were four featured sellers - all on top row - two of them were TRS. It was NOT in order of number of reviews but according to who delivered the most recent gig. The person who delivered 20 mins ago was listed 1st, the seller who delivered 38 mins ago was listed 2nd, etc. (Not necessarily that particular gig, but any gig the seller delivered.)

The second row - don’t have a clue.

It could all be coincidences - I dunno.

@miiila: Fiverr sends me emails recommending that I buy your gig!! 🙂 Along with other translators. I often get emails, after a transaction completion, with recommendations to buy that gig again - it always includes the last seller I used + few others in the same field.

Along with other translators. I often get emails, after a transaction completion, with recommendations to buy that gig again - it always includes the last seller I used + few others in the same field.

That’s remarketing.

[miiila]

@lisabaarns: I just tried your experiment, since I have never hired a voice over person - male or female - so see how it ranked out.

There were four featured sellers - all on top row - two of them were TRS. It was NOT in order of number of reviews but according to who delivered the most recent gig. The person who delivered 20 mins ago was listed 1st, the seller who delivered 38 mins ago was listed 2nd, etc. (Not necessarily that particular gig, but any gig the seller delivered.)

The second row - don’t have a clue.

It could all be coincidences - I dunno.

@miiila: Fiverr sends me emails recommending that I buy your gig!! 🙂 Along with other translators. I often get emails, after a transaction completion, with recommendations to buy that gig again - it always includes the last seller I used + few others in the same field.

Fiverr sends me emails recommending that I buy your gig!! 🙂 Along with other translators. I often get emails, after a transaction completion, with recommendations to buy that gig again - it always includes the last seller I used + few others in the same field.

How nice of fiverr to do that! 😉 I bought a gig myself early on, just to see how it looks like ‘from the other side’, so I could maybe help buyers if there are any ‘technical problems’ (I did leave a 5-star-review and a tip, no worries 😉 btw, and can´t say it was difficult or time-consuming) and yes, I did and still get those mails, so that probably confirms also that people who buy this or that gig get to see other things than sellers who scroll or look for the same categories or keywords, so definitely sellers should look for their own gig ranking in an incognito browser, with cleared cache etc. Makes sense, our every move is being tracked on the internet at large 😉

Though this has me wonder now, what the algorithm does, when a buyer reviewed a gig they bought with 1 star - will they still get mails recommending that seller? 😺 Maybe in future the algorithm will be able to figure out from the words in the buyer’s 1-star review what they didn´t like, say ‘delivery was late’, and then only recommend sellers who only have things like ‘was extra fast’ in their reviews, don´t think it´s that sophisticated yet.

[rainny_writer]

Fiverr sends me emails recommending that I buy your gig!! 🙂 Along with other translators. I often get emails, after a transaction completion, with recommendations to buy that gig again - it always includes the last seller I used + few others in the same field.

How nice of fiverr to do that! 😉 I bought a gig myself early on, just to see how it looks like ‘from the other side’, so I could maybe help buyers if there are any ‘technical problems’ (I did leave a 5-star-review and a tip, no worries 😉 btw, and can´t say it was difficult or time-consuming) and yes, I did and still get those mails, so that probably confirms also that people who buy this or that gig get to see other things than sellers who scroll or look for the same categories or keywords, so definitely sellers should look for their own gig ranking in an incognito browser, with cleared cache etc. Makes sense, our every move is being tracked on the internet at large 😉

Though this has me wonder now, what the algorithm does, when a buyer reviewed a gig they bought with 1 star - will they still get mails recommending that seller? 😺 Maybe in future the algorithm will be able to figure out from the words in the buyer’s 1-star review what they didn´t like, say ‘delivery was late’, and then only recommend sellers who only have things like ‘was extra fast’ in their reviews, don´t think it´s that sophisticated yet.

I recently also noticed something else that seems to affect the rankings - “orders in queue”. Now this is quite surprising, knowing those with lesser “orders in queue” have more time to handle more orders. But the system algorithm seems to rank your gig higher when you have more “orders in queue” than when you have no orders at all. This is just a personal observation, though, might be wrong or right.

[miiila]

I recently also noticed something else that seems to affect the rankings - “orders in queue”. Now this is quite surprising, knowing those with lesser “orders in queue” have more time to handle more orders. But the system algorithm seems to rank your gig higher when you have more “orders in queue” than when you have no orders at all. This is just a personal observation, though, might be wrong or right.

@rainny_writer Yes, the ‘orders in queue’ thing is interesting, and I think your observation is right, I don’t think that algorithm knows if I might have only 1 order in queue because I can´t take more orders for a while as it´s a 100K word gig I need time for, or if it´s an order that can be done in an hour. Unless it tries to calculate the $/$$$ of the orders in queue into the whole factor ‘ranking by # of queued orders equation’ too lol, anyone knows if it does? Also it seems a bit of an unfair thing for sellers who work alone against those who work in groups or are agencies and only delegate their orders, but well, then we´d need different algorithms/ranking for part- versus full-timers and so on as well, and this isn´t about fairness of course.

[adwordsadvisor]

Beyond Fiverr’s technicalities the basic concept is: Be social, invest in your business.

That means you should be active in the forum, create custom offers for buyer requests, create simple, limited, highly informative gigs, update the seo parts of the gig (keywords and tags).

Beyond that stay active here in the forum, be friendly & make a real contribution with something about you know, you care. Fiverr appreciates this - I saw an increase in the views from potential buyers and a drop when I didn’t do so. In this sense - it’s exactly like Google with the one difference you are already addressing your target audience while in Google you only hope to hit the right audience.

Hope this helped,

AdWordsAdvisor

[twistedweb123]

I recommend listening to this episode of Fiverrcast (Fiverr’s official podcast):

SoundCloud http://i1.sndcdn.com/artworks-000165249948-882m8n-t500x500.jpg

Episode 13: Generating Traffic to Your Gigs with SEO

Tips on how to get more traffic to your Gigs by optimizing them to rank well in search engines (SEO). Increasing your traffic can lead to increased sales. You don’t want to miss the tricks shared in t

It features the head of SEO at fiverr and talks about ranking both in search engines and Fiverr’s internal search system

[brejay]

I recently also noticed something else that seems to affect the rankings - “orders in queue”. Now this is quite surprising, knowing those with lesser “orders in queue” have more time to handle more orders. But the system algorithm seems to rank your gig higher when you have more “orders in queue” than when you have no orders at all. This is just a personal observation, though, might be wrong or right.

That’s interesting. Not worth it to keep orders in queue, though! I got busy and let orders pile up until I had to work a madly rushing ten hour day once… never again!

[miiila]

That’s interesting. Not worth it to keep orders in queue, though! I got busy and let orders pile up until I had to work a madly rushing ten hour day once… never again!

Yeah, and the factors ‘deliver as fast as possible’ and ‘keep orders in queue’ are kind of mutually exclusive, so I guess both strategies are ok, if one wants to use strategies.

[psychicbunny]

I have plenty of community leadership. Where’s my TRS status

[design_desk]

Beyond Fiverr’s technicalities the basic concept is: Be social, invest in your business.

That means you should be active in the forum, create custom offers for buyer requests, create simple, limited, highly informative gigs, update the seo parts of the gig (keywords and tags).

Beyond that stay active here in the forum, be friendly & make a real contribution with something about you know, you care. Fiverr appreciates this - I saw an increase in the views from potential buyers and a drop when I didn’t do so. In this sense - it’s exactly like Google with the one difference you are already addressing your target audience while in Google you only hope to hit the right audience.

Hope this helped,

AdWordsAdvisor

Yes, short & sweet !

[jamshed697]

I recently also noticed something else that seems to affect the rankings - “orders in queue”. Now this is quite surprising, knowing those with lesser “orders in queue” have more time to handle more orders. But the system algorithm seems to rank your gig higher when you have more “orders in queue” than when you have no orders at all. This is just a personal observation, though, might be wrong or right.

Agree with you 🙂 it really works