Listing not showing in search results until zoomed all the way in

[James4029]

Hey all, thanks for reading. This problem is seriously impacting my visibility on the platform, and wanted to reach out here to see if anyone else was having a similar issue. I have verified with support that there are no 'red flags' on my account that would impact my listings.

The issue I am experiencing is that my listings are not showing up in the search pages on the app or website until I am zoomed into the maximum zoom level over my listings. Previously and for many years my listings were in the first 5 pages when searching in my city. In fact, they were commonly found within the first three pages of search results for my city (Tucson Arizona).

I have had my listings for many years, so this doesn't appear to be an issue with a new listing, or new listing promotion.

When I am logged into my account the listings appear normally distributed within the search on the first few pages, but when I use a logged out incognito tab they do not appear in the search listings at all unless I am maximally zoomed in to my listing. They aren't even in the first 15 pages! This is different than before, where the incognito tab would still find my listings in the first few pages. Based on that, I believe that other users who are looking for my listing have the same result and can not find my listing unless zoomed all the way in.

This began happening near the start of May (5/2024) and has continued to be a problem.

Typically 400-500 was my average page view, and now its plummeted to 70 because of this change to how the listings are shown.

Is anyone else experiencing this issue? Has anyone else's listings views suddenly declined since then?

I understand that the search listings must be represented fairly, and I can not control directly the ranking algorithm. This change from first few pages to not even being listed until I am zoomed all the way in strikes me as a bug or incorrect data. For example, if I had let my listings degrade to 2 or 3 stars, I would expect a sharp decline in visibility, but no such thing has happened.

To me, this appears to have started when I allowed the AI helper to organize my photos... But that could be a coincidence.

I would appreciate any help, or how to express this to support in a way that will get results. Commonly, my issue gets misinterpreted as a host being unsatisfied with the ranking of their listing, which is not my point.

Has the ranking algorithm changed around that time period? If so, how has it changed?

Again, the interface shows me the 'right' results when logged in, but not otherwise. The dramatic difference where previously there was none has me distressed and losing money.

Any help appreciated.

[Rebecca]

Hi @James4029 👋

It's been a while since you posted and I'm wondering whether you managed to get a resolution to your question? It'd be great to hear from you, so we can understand what the resolution was but also to support other Hosts who may have similar questions in the future. 😊 

[James4029]

Thank you for your attention. Unfortunately this is still not resolved. A brief history:

Issue was submitted, and has been escalated to the bug team, but that has been quite a while now. I must call each week to get a status update as there is no way for them to contact me when there is a status update.

I came across one solution that did not work. It was to unlist and then relist my listing. This did not help, but appears to in the past for other users.

I have since triple checked that there are no red flags or damaging conditions to my listing ranking. I have a clean account.

In my opinion, the data as to why a listing has changed ranking should be visible when considering the edit history of the listing in combination with changes to the ranking algorithm. So far, I have been unable to gain any transparency on the nature of the change.

"Ahh, it looks like our algorithm change has ranked your listings lower. Here is the ranking before and after, and here are the areas the algorithm considers now. Here are the things that weight your ranking negatively that you can edit in your listing." Would be an ideal reply for my issue.

I am really rather emotional about this, as it represents thousands of dollars I am missing out on. I like to consider myself a reasonable person, but this upsets me. Sorry for any perceived or actual annoyance in my tone...

[Shelley159]

Hi @James4029 

I'm subscribed to this thread because I don't understand what the issue could be (so I unfortunately I don't have a solution for you!). All I can say is that I've used the auto-arrange function for photos (and then put some of them back again in the order I preferred) and I have not seen a drop in visibility of my listings. So I agree that the photo issue was probably just coincidence.

[James4029]

Thank you for the clarity on the AI photo arrangement not being the issue. 

It still remains uncertain  why there would be such a dramatic drop in views. 

It still remains uncertain why the logged in listings appear as normal, but the logged out listings have this issue. 

Thanks for your help!

[Helen3]

I can''t see your listing that has a 4.79 rating . However,  all your  new listings have a standard photo that says 'coming soon' @James4029  that's likely why no one is booking.

[James4029]

Ah! Very kind of you to check thank you. However the listings in question are in Tucson Arizona.  I've also made sure to exclude the listings in Tennessee when viewing my view averages and totals.

I've happily almost got the house in Tennessee up and running. I hope that they will not have the same issues as the listings in Tucson Arizona.

Is there anything else you can think to try or check? I'm completely out of ideas for now...