Are you looking for a non-phone job out there?
Do you enjoy surfing the Internet and do searches all the time on your own?
Are you looking for more challenging brain-stimulating work especially after 50+?
Then search engine evaluation jobs or SEO Evaluator or SEO Analyst jobs just might be a good freelance fit for your future. There are companies who pay workers to do this type of work as well as more companies opening up all of the time.
This article will explore two of the better known sites offering these types of jobs. When I first began writing about work-at-home jobs and opportunities in 2011, there were several more but these two have withstood the test of time and have also expanded their offerings to include many more types of work including social media evaluations.
The two SEO Evaluator companies are Appen and Lionbridge.
First, What Exactly Is An SEO Evaluation Job?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization or the process by which results come up in an online search.
SEO evaluation is a means of measuring the relevance and usefulness of web pages in correlation to pre-defined queries, by providing comparative analysis of sets of search engine results. While it may sound confusing, all this really means is that you will be evaluating why certain results come up in the order they do in an online search.
Many factors can influence a search engine placement such as typos, quotes, and jargon. Time and current real-time relevance can also steer those algorithms (similar to mathematical equations) to place a result in a particular place on the page rankings.
The higher the rankings then the better the placement in the search engines, which will help a company get more web traffic, more customer engagement, and more sales. It is always desirable for companies to rank somewhere on the first or second page of a search.
As you can imagine, all of the SEO companies are discreet about how their own systems and algorithms work.
Introducing Appen
Appen once referred to as Appen-Butler Hill does NOT allow you to work for any other work from home company which does SEO evaluation. In 2017, Leapforce, another well-known SEO company, merged with Appen.
The pay tends to be the one of the highest paying jobs of all of the search engine jobs. The pay is $14 to $25 an hour depending upon experience, and you must make $50 to cash out to receive your earnings. These SEO evaluation positions require up to 5 hours availability per Monday through Friday.
Web search evaluators must complete a qualification process that involves completing a review of qualification materials and a series of exams. The process may take up to 25-40 hours of commitment over 1 to 3 weeks. Training is free but not paid, and it can take up to six months to hear back from Appen after applying. However, it usually does NOT take that long, but keep this in mind.
Applying to Appen is done by choosing to search the jobs page on their website. If you don’t see a position in your language or location you may choose to register with the company and be notified when a suitable project is available.
Their qualifications vary for the different positions. Some positions, particularly translation ones, require a college degree but most do not. All will require some type of test of your language abilities. For search engine evaluation jobs you must be “a native or near native speaker” in the required language.
Work-at-home independent contractors need to provide their own computer with antivirus software and high-speed Internet. Some projects might require a headset with a microphone that uses VoIP.
Pay is bi-monthly by direct deposit.
Introducing Lionbridge
Lionbridge is a company offering many jobs among them is the Internet Assessor position (more or less a SEO Evaluator job), which does not require a college degree. You will be working with guidelines to determine if the search engine results would have been what the individual web user would have wanted.
At Lionbridge, you can log in when you want with no set hours, but they do like everyone to work at least 20 hours a week. The pay is $13 to $15 an hour, and Lionbridge pays once a month via direct deposit to your bank account.
To qualify for a job at Lionbridge, you must pass an exam with the first part of the exam including roughly 24 questions. If you pass this part, you will move on to the second part. The next exam will have almost five times the amount of questions and is a bit more difficult than the first and more time consuming. You may expect to spend 5 hours on the exam alone. This is not counting the many hours you will spend reading and studying the guidelines. However, many do enjoy the work and flexible hours.
Lionbridge takes about three months to hear back. However, again it may not take that long. You would be an independent contractor and responsible for your own taxes.
To apply, go to https://www.lionbridge.com/join-our-team/. Like Appen, they also have other positions available including Online Shopping Raters—something that I had written about before. Lionbridge was acquired by Telus International, but currently still operates under it’s own name as well.
Why Work For As An SEO Evaluator?
Especially if you are 50+ and have had a job in technology, this type of freelance work can be particularly enjoyable. Some of the other reasons are:
- Flexibility and the ability to choose your hours.
- Mental stimulation to fight age-related cognitive abilities.
- Learning how to improve your own search engine findings.
While sometimes it does take a while to hear back from these two companies, there are also similar types of jobs on sites such as Upwork and Freelancer while you wait. For a list of other possibilities visit my page, WAH Jobs and Freelance Gigs.
In Conclusion
If this sounds like something you would like to try, please do so. This is part of the journey in finding out what you want to do with the second half of your life.
Good luck as you explore.
