Why can't I see my listing in the Search Results? A Community Help Guide

[Jeet0]

Hello,

Questions regarding "Lisiting not appearning in Search Results" are very common and I'd like to share some reasons why this could be happening and how you can view your listing on searching.

Before getting to the details, it is important to understand how search results are determined. The linked article talks about how Airbnb's complex ranking system uses different factors to reward hosts that deliver a great experience to guests. Focus on these factors to optimize your listing.

Let's understand why you might not be able to see your listing in the Search Results:

1) Your location might have more than 300 listings. For ease of display, Airbnb only displays 300 listings at a time and thus some listings, beyond 300, might not appear during a general location search without any filters.

However, if you make use of the multiple search filters that Airbnb has to offer (like Dates, No. of Guests, Room type, Price Range etc.) then you can perform a more specific and narrowed down search which might reduce the search results and your listing will then show up if it matches the filter criteria.

*Please note that, most guests make use of the filters while searching for a vacation home.

2) You can also make use of the map by zooming in closer to your location if your looking at a very large area. Use the '+' button to zoom in and '-' to zoom out. Reducing the area will further reduce the results and you will be able to see your listing. Don't forget to click on the "Redo Search Here" button on the top.

If your listing still continues to not appears,

3) Check if it is "Listed" and not in the "Delisted" mode. To do this, visit your Dashboard >> Your Lisitng >> Manage Listing and Calendar. Expand the Menu options by clicking on the grey icon with 3 horizontal bars on the left top. Look up at the bottom of the Menu that emerges to see if your listing is active. It should appear as "Listed" with a green dot. If it doesn't click on the drop down menu and change it to listed.

4) Still can't see it? Ask the Community to see if any of the members are able to see it on searching with relevant filters.

4) Yet no luck? Please get in touch with Airbnb and they shall definitely resolve your problem.

Happy Hosting 🙂

Jeet

Updated - additional information added:

For hosts searching for your Instant Book listing, @Clare0 has created a great guide here in the Community Center sharing an overview of how this works. To view her guide take a look here. 

[The-Arias-Clan0]

well well well... looks like they fixed it then! 2 months down the drain, but....

[Amy38]

@Clare0@The-Arias-Clan0. I would be interesred to have you search again and see if the listings come up.  As I have said it took me 4 tries to have mine appear.  I am betting they are rotating what they show and not only my listing is missing but a few others nearby which I know to be available.

[Clare0]

@Amy38 I found your listing on page 6 when I did a search for 12/2 -12/4 for an Entire Home for 2 guests. 

[Amy38]

@Clare0. Thank you ,Clare.  If you have the time, try again later or tomorrow.  Inquiring minds want to know.

aj

[Clare0]

@Amy38 The thing that everyone needs to remember is that Airbnb's search function is designed to match guests with listings that Airbnb thinks will suit their preferences.  The system remembers guest preferences and puts up listings that match their preferences. 

I suspect that Airbnb knows that a host is not likely to book their own listing and therefore does not put it up in search results. 

In order to find your listing accurately, I have to switch to incognito mode because otherwise Airbnb recognizes that I clicked on your listing to see what I was looking for.  If I don't switch to incognito mode, your listing would come up as #1 on the first page since it remembers what I last looked at. 

Depending on a guest's search history and preferences, different guests will see different search results.  If I filtered for Family / Kid Friendly, Airbnb would show those listings first in subsequent searches. 

Does that make sense?

[Amy38]

@Clare0 Actually, when I search from my computer, I come up as first listing.  When I search from the neighboring Ups Store, I did not come up at all for three searches even using map searching. I came up on the 4th search.

Tomorrow I will use a different account and see what happens.

[Rick-And-Geena0]

Hey. That response was very helpful but how do I switch to incognito mode?

thank you in advance

[Susie5]

@Rick-And-Geena0, you've probably solved this problem by now, but to go incognito you open a new browser window - in Chrome, it's an option under the three dots in the upper far right corner  - "new incognito window".  give it a try!  means it doesn't give you rpersonal info so it doesn't have any "memory" of your previous searches.

(Then you put on your fedora and paste on your fake mustache....)

Susie

[Adolfo36]

Hello Clare,

I have been reading your suggestions and recomendations and I want to say thank you in advance. I too began strong and booked for the past 2 months well over 20 days on each month.

However I want to ask you a questions regarding the "SNOOZE" botton. I cant seem to find it and I was told that if I edit the "LISTED" botton I might loose reservation booked.

Can you tell me if this is true? Like manare saying on here my house has competely dissapeared from the search listing in "Miami" Its nowhere to be found. I am worried.

PLease help anyone. 

[Clare0]

Hi @Adolfo36!  If you are using Airbnb's app on your phone, you can find the "snooze" option this way: 

- Be sure you are in Hosting Mode. 

- Tap on the building icon to see your listing. 

- Tap on the photo of your listing then on Booking Settings. 

- Under Management (you will need to scroll down), you will see Status. 

- Tap on Status and you will see 3 options: 

      Listed

      Snoozed 

      Unlisted

If you are using a laptop or PC, select Listings. 

- Click on the photo of your listing then scroll down the page to Listing Status and click on Edit.  There you will see the three options listed above. 

If you have selected the Snoozed option, it will not affect any future or current reservations.  Snoozing will just make your listing invisible in search results for anyone looking to book future reservations.  It is a very useful tool if you are or will be unavailable to respond to Inquiries, Reservation Requests or do not want anyone to Book Instantly for a set period of time.  For example, you will be able to set a start and end date for your listing to be Snoozed. 

I used the Snoozed option last year while I was on vacation in Mexico and was not confidant that I would have consistent internet access during my trip.  I set the start and end date of my listing being snoozed and Airbnb notified me the day before my listing was due to become listed again, meaning that it would become available in search results again.   

If you have more questions, please feel free to contact me again.  Be sure to use the "@" symbol before my name so I am notified that you are reaching out to me.  

I hope this helps!

Clare

[The-Arias-Clan0]

I find it strange that you are able to see my listings in searches when Airbnb themselves has admitef to the problem and claim to me working on it. Even if for some bizarre reason you can see my properties, it really doesn't make a difference since as you said the results are different for different people.

I suspect you have been hired by Airbnb to make us look bad - as if we are imagining things because you can find our results. For all I know you are lying or have some special profile that gets shown everything just so you can report us wrong over and over again.

Your "searches" aren't helping us at all to solve the problem of losing income dramatically without any apparent reason - bad review, more similar listings etc. due to listings not showing. Please stop.

[Clare0]

@The-Arias-Clan0  No, I do not work for Airbnb nor am I trying to make anyone look bad, just trying to help.  If I sounded pedantic, I apologize.  

The search issue interested me so I decided to research how search works as much as possible including watching a You Tube video of the software engineers describing how they program the search function.  

Your listing is in a very competitive Airbnb market with hundreds of listings similar to yours. (Imagine being in Paris where there are 80,000 listings!)  I would suggest taking a look at airdna.com to see which listings are the most popular in your Entire Home category.  Perhaps you could see something they are doing which would help your listing stand out above the rest. 

Just did another search for your listing.  Here's a screen shot so you know I'm for real:

https://goo.gl/RsDSsU

All the best!

Clare

[The-Arias-Clan0]

Look @Clare0, our house sleeps 16+ and if you use that filter only 7 lisings show up. So there being a huge number of listings in Portland is irrelevant. There are actually very few that sleep that many. Our bookings stopped suddenly abotu 2 months ago after 7 years of consistency. THERE IS SOMETHING VERY WRONG and all your searches are only muddying the water - especially when you suggest to folks that they may just need to make their lisitng better.

In addition, Airbnb has acknowledged to us that there has been an issue with our listing showing up in searches and have been working on it since early in the day yesterday. Perhaps you were able to find it only because they had started their work on fixing it. We did get a booking in the night last night so I hops it is on its way to being repaired.

In the meantime, I am putting our stand alone website back up (a lot of work since it has to be rebuilt) and diversifying our booking outreach so that we can move away from being dependent on (and of fiscal support to) Airbnb.

[Ani16367]

Hi I had a same issue and resolved it with snoozing. Thank you so so much!!!  You helped me a lot!

[Paty1]

I have the same issue. Called Airbnb but they can't fix it. My trick was to slightly change my nightly price to trigger to be visible again. It's a bummer that they can't fix it. I haven't had a request in month whereas I am ususally booked every day.