In the never-ending pursuit of earning money online, one of the latest trends seems to be search engine evaluation. What is search engine evaluation? It’s basically like quality control for the Internet. You use a search engine like Google to look for specific topics, keywords, images, etc… then you rate and review the results. What’s surprising is the going rate for this kind of work seems to average in at around $14 per hour.
Leapforce
Leapforce does not mention how much they pay their search engine evaluators and they make them sign a non-disclosure, but I’ve seen some evaluators on forums and review sites claim earning of around $13 per hour. Their requirements for the position are somewhat nebulous. You have to submit a resume, be at least 18, have a high-speed internet connection and I think they prefer it if you are a U.S. citizen. They pay once a month by check and you have to file an invoice or you won’t be paid.
Lionbridge
Lionbridge pays evaluators $14 per hour. If you’re from India, they pay $6.50 per hour. They require you to have a DSL connection, MS Office, Adobe reader and WinZip. They also require you to have a PC running Vista or XP – so I guess Mac users are out? Their payment method and frequency are undisclosed. Apparently, they also prefer you to have a degree but people without degrees have reported being hired by them, so it seems your resume and qualifications are the most important.
ButlerHill
ButlerHill is the same deal as Lionsbridge and Leapforce but they pay $15 per hour. However, if you’re from India, they only pay $4.50 per hour. They also want you working on PC but you have to be running Vista or higher.
WorkforceLogic
WorkforceLogic pays $14 to $15 per hour. I’m not sure how they determine whether you get $14 or $15, but I would assume it has to do with your qualifications. They say you need a BA or BS degree, but again, people claim to have been hired with them solely based on their resume/qualifications. They require you to commit to at least 10 hours per week but no more than 30. You have to be a U.S. citizen to work for them but a large part of the work will be searching for results in other non-English languages, so I can only assume being bilingual must be a huge perk.
Some Caveats
I have not worked for any of these companies so I cannot give you an insider’s perspective on what it’s like to do this kind of work. I did, however, spend some time researching reviews of these company and the reviews seem to be a mixed bag. Some people say search engine evaluation is the best thing that ever happened to them, and a lot of people say the work ranges from miserable to tolerable.
Final Thoughts
Working for one of these companies is probably a good second income but nothing you can live off of. If you really need to find something legit you can do from home, then I would say definitely apply to one or all of them. It’s at least worth a shot.