Upwork Availability Badge

Do you remember Upwork started giving out free connects every month? Well, now you know what to do with them. Last month the platform introduced Availability Badge which freelancers can add to their profile using the connects.

What is Availability Badge

As Upwork claims, the availability badge is designed to provide talent with an ability to more easily communicate to potential clients that you are available for projects right now.

Clients will see the availability badge in search results, recommendations, and on the freelancer's profile. But it will not affect their ranking position in search.

Freelancers can turn the badge on and off as needed. When the badge is on, the connects are charged every day based on the demand for the badge and their maximum weekly limits. Basically, the more people are paying for it, the higher is the price.

After 1+ month of using the badge most freelancers report that it is a very confusing feature:

Those who turn on the badge report that it did not have any effect on their profile views and the number of invites. Based on our experience in Etcetera, regular profile updates work much better for visibility (and they are free).
To compare the performance of the badge we have added screenshots. One of the profiles had the badge on during this period, and the other person did not. Can you guess which one or see any impact of the badge?
Many people may perceive “Available now” as desperately need any work. While most experts accept or decline work based on its requirements and specifics.
It misleads the clients who would think that everyone without a badge is NOT available.
It does not specify if the freelancer is available right now at this second, and it does not guarantee he will reply even within several days.
One could be available for an hour-long immediate project, but one that would take a week or a month, or vice versa.

By the way, the availability badge is not the only new feature Upwork is testing to let freelancers become more visible when they need it. They started testing another product update last week which allows talents to boost their proposals to the top of the list by paying extra connects. Look out for details about this update in our later posts.

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