What I tested on Upwork this month - and what actually worked

Boost with new specialities

As you know Upwork has launched new specialities. It influented organic and boosted talent search a lot.

What I tested:

I boosted profiles in different categories, with different budgets, different titles, and different boost types (total vs daily).

What worked best:

If it’s your real category (you need to re-check first!!!)- go total and expensive. That’s when you get relevant leads.

Again, with the other words, Upwork matched request (search words) with the speciality. Choosing wrong = not showing.

If you boost in a random(another, close) category with low daily budget, you still get leads - some of them are actually useful - and it’s cheap. I was able to get relevant leads for as much as 1,5$.

Bonus tip for agencies:

For well-performing(old,gold,cool, rich) profiles - use total boost in your main niche.

For fresh or weak profiles- write a strong title and set daily boost for cheap discovery leads.

✅ Boost your niche, but only if your profile matches

✅ For testing reach - go outside your category with $1-2/lead

Organic traffic

What I tested:
Additionally to title and skills, I added and edited on 12 profiles different profile sections and tracked what appeared in Talent Search.

Only two sections of the profile were performing well.

What clearly works(additionally to title and skill):

A portfolio case with proper title and description (no need of proper text - just keywords)
Employment history with keywords in title and description
Everything else had almost zero impact.

Post-ban visibility boost

What I noticed:
If your account gets unfairly banned and then reactivated, Upwork gives your profile a temporary visibility boost in Talent Search.

It’s like they try to say “our bad” by pushing you back to the top.

The effect doesn’t last long but it’s very real. You'll feel it for around 2 weeks.

Silence = strategy (2 tests)

What I tested:
I went completely silent with 5 profiles:

no bidding,
no badges,
no subscriptions (freelancer plus OFF)
no boosting
for two separate periods:

2 days (48 hours) 3 profiles
7 days - 2 profiles
Then I came back and resumed activity.

What happened:
In both cases, I got a noticeable growth in Talent Search views and + proposals (bids) opens right after returning.

Note: it only works if you truly switch everything off.

Want to chat more?
Contact me at: [e-mail]