Are Search Engine Evaluator Jobs with Leapforce a Scam?

Are you interested in becoming a search engine evaluator?

Leapforce is one of a small handful of companies that hire at home search engine evaluators. However, they have extremely mixed reviews online – some are claiming it’s a scam, yet others say it’s great. So what’s the truth?

is-leapforce-a-scam

So what’s the deal? Is Leapforce a scam?

No, they’re a legitimate independent company contracted by the big search engine companies (Google) to help them assess their algorithm. They say Google is always striving to be the best and give quality results, and they hire real people to help them in the process. When you’re hired as a search engine evaluator, you’re an independent contractor – not an employee. This means that you’re paycheck is not taxed and you’re responsible for withholding your own taxes.

In order to get hired you need to fill out an online application and submit a resume. If you’re selected, you have to take a series of 2 exams. They send you the training material and give you 1 week to take it. It’s a very difficult exam and a lot of people do not pass (but many do).

So why is there so much trash talk about Leapforce?

  • Their pay rate is misleading – You’re told that you’ll be making a certain amount hourly, however that is not 100% accurate. You are paid for the time it should have taken you to do the work rather than how long it actually took you to do the work. In other words, they calculate how long they think each task will take you, and pay you for each task no matter how long it took. If they think a task will take you 5 minutes but it takes you 10, you’ll only be allowed to get paid for 5 minutes. Alternatively if it took you 3 minutes to do that 5 minute task, you don’t get paid more for working faster – you just have to sit there for that 2 extra minutes and wait for the next task. Those who work slower will end up getting paid a lot less and potentially fired if they are too slow. Those who work too fast won’t get any added benefit and could end up being punished too if they think they’re going too fast. Ultimately, you need to work at their pace.
  • You’re not paid for training (which takes up a lot of time) -Once you get past the initial examinations (which are difficult and time consuming) there is a huge learning curve and you are not paid for any time spent training, studying, taking tests or watching webinars. This will have a negative impact on your pay rate, especially when first starting out.
  • Not consistent work – Unfortunately work won’t always be available 24/7, and depending when you are able to work you may not be able to reach as many hours per week as you wanted. Some of these companies have a weekly/monthly cap on how many hours you can work, but I don’t think Leapforce does. However it may be very hard to actually reach 40 hours a week – expect around 20 and don’t count on it for a full time income.
  • They can easily fire you – They’re known for letting people go at any time. They have certain work quality standards you have to adhere to and if you fall below you’ll get threatened with termination. However their “quality” is subjective and doesn’t mean the person isn’t working hard, just that they’re not agreeing to their standards.

What makes it hard is that they’re trying to standardize tasks that are inherently subjective!

Trying to standardize something that is inherently subjective is extremely difficult. Testing to monitor quality and relevancy of search engine result queries is something that isn’t an exact science. Of course there will be discrepancies, and however much they try to “standardize” it with their rules and guidelines, it’s still going to be difficult for a lot of people to perform in the exact way they want. Hence, why so many people complain about their sub-par performance levels.

I know first hand from scoring standardized tests, this was a huge problem. You have to be able to take their guidelines and apply them to each unique situation. There are people that will be really good at doing this, and those that can’t. It’s just the nature of the work.

The main thing to realize here is this job just isn’t for everyone.

It may not be the greatest job and you may be treated like a disposable object, but that doesn’t really make it a scam. The fact is they DO pay you and many people do this work with no problems. I think a lot of people who complain about Leapforce have too many expectations for the job. It isn’t a full time reliable job. You don’t get benefits, vacation time, nor are you guaranteed to remain working for them for any set amount of time. It’s a contracted project and you are not their employee.

Unfortunately it may require a large initial time commitment that may not pan out in the end. However for many it is a great source of extra income. I’d say if you are a college student, stay at home parent, or just in need of a second income source for yourself then go for it. If you’re trying to make it a full time profession, you’ll be majorly disappointed.

What other companies hire for this type of work?

  • Lionsgate
  • Butler Hill
  • Workforce Logic

You can easily find these companies from a quick Google search.

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Comments

  1. Cliff says

    This is my experience with Leapforce. I’ve submitted the following company review to Glassdoor and it’s pending approval.

    Title
    If you like working for free, then this is the place for you

    Pros
    Can work your own hours but then again, since you will be cheated out of income you rightfully worked for, you

    might as well collect unemployment because it pays better.

    Cons
    After 2 weeks of logging hours, I was diligent to make sure that I logged out every time and stopped the stopwatch

    on my Iphone when I took a break or had to read their lengthy instructions at the beginning of each new task. In

    other words, you are not paid while reading their instructions on how to complete the task but that’s OK since

    this was disclosed up front.

    I submitted my first time card for the month of January for 19 hours and they kicked it back stating that I was

    53% of productivity. Meaning, they wanted me to revise my time card from 19 hours to 10 hours. I refused and sent

    it back to them with a note and they kicked it back to me and then locked my account for “productivity” which

    means they will not assign me any more tasks until I revise my time card. I’ve already advised of my intent to

    discontinue my contract and to pay me what I am owed. I will update this review pending the outcome.

    What really annoys me is that after working the first 2 days which exceeded 2 hours a day when I was told that I

    will be receiving an hour of work a day, I emailed support asking them if I’m spending too much time or, am I

    receiving more work than anticipated. They told me they can’t tell me that until “after I’ve submitted the invoice

    for the month” so You have to work the entire month to only find out that they will not honor your hours.

    I can understand a little discrepancy but 9 hours? That’s completely absurd. I recorded the time honestly,

    accurately and fairly. Many times when given a task, you need to do additional research simply to understand the

    search engine query. They even tell you to research queries that you’re not familiar with because they emphasize

    quality above all. They also insist on copious detailed notes with explanations along with your ratings evals so I

    don’t see how you can maintain any measure of quality based on the time constraints placed on you. Furthermore,

    none of this is explained to you upfront as they are advertising an hourly rate of $13.50.

    I am not sure how any of this is legal as you are categorized as a 1099 independent contractor but if you read

    what the DOL states about independent contractors, the employer cannot direct the means or the manner for how you

    the contractor will perform the work just the result but clearly this is what Leapforce does.

    so if you decide to try this work from home opportunity, proceed with caution and expect to work 30% – 50% of

    your hours on your own time. In the end, you’re not earning $13.50/hr but closer to $7.00 hr which is below the

    Federal minimum wage. Unemployment pays better than that!

    Advice to Management
    Revise the estimated time to complete tasks as they are clearly un-attainable or, disclose the hours and number

    of tasks upfront you are willing to pay per assignment so the contractor knows if they are willing to proceed. To

    be blunt, stop cheating people out of their money.

    • Wendy says

      Thank you for sharing your experience with Leapforce, Cliff. It’s such a joke they only pay their contractors for the time they think it should have taken them to do the job versus what they actually took. And they say they strive for quality? Yeah right! There is no “one time fits all”… people work at varying speeds and it’s dumb (or horrible) for them not to factor that.

      I’ve seen the work they want you guys to do and it’s completely humorous. It’s impossible for a group of people to be the judge of what’s good or bad or right or wrong across the entire scope of topics on the internet. It’s the actual people searching for the particular given topic that should (and are) the judge of that.

      But it really sucks they make you work for an entire month for you to realize you won’t be getting paid for all your time spent. They should definitely make it clearer that you only have _x_ amount of time to do a task no matter how long it actually takes you. Total crap..

      • Mason says

        It sounds like you all need to understand something. This is a contract job, not employment.

        You get paid for the work you do. Obviously it isn’t that terrible or no one would do it. Even normal jobs where you get hired can have a week’s worth of unpaid training before you begin working.

        If they say do it in X and you do it in X+5 then do better next time. There’s a reason so many companies are still paying minimum wage. It’s because no one we’ll put any actual hard work into their job. I think some people try to hard to not work at work.

        Until you’ve created your own company, don’t talk.

  2. Flower says

    It would be nice if someone spelled out the compensation. It’s hard to take a “business opportunity” seriously if you don’t know what they are paying.

    • Wendy says

      Leapforce states that they pay $13 an hour. The reason you don’t really see the figure being displayed much is because when you are hired you have to sign an income disclosure agreement, and they’ll only tell you the pay when you go through the application process. I never signed the agreement because I wasn’t hired, but they did inform me of the pay rate.

      THe $13 an hour is a little deceptive though because like I said above, you’re not paid for all the work that is actually required (training and studying, etc) and the rigourous exam that is required for hire most people end up failing, yet it takes a few days to get through the entire thing! That is a lot of unpaid time! When you average it out, it’s a lot less than the $13.

  3. says

    Great commentary on Leapforce. Someone had asked me about them. I was looking for some unbias insight. You did a good review of them. Theere are many good opportunities out there. It requires some due diligence as any employment opportunity would.

    So many are looking for perfection when it comes to”Working From Home”. What’s perfect for one may not be suitable for others.

    We also look for good people to do good work. We have helped thousands through the years attain their freedom and financial independence, but “Work at Home” opportunities require a proper work from home environment, proper tools, consistency, partnerships, great income for great follow-through and a good game plan just like any traditional business.

    Keep up the good work.

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