Why doesn't my listing appear in searches ?

[Douglas432]

My home is in a small town and if I search specifically in that town, my listing Bear Cabin, does not appear, either in the list or on the map.  Please note, we have this set as a long term rental (there's a story so just go with it) and even if I put a month long check in, check out, sequence of dates - still nothing.

Checked and the listing is activated and we have submitted our tax info.  Not sure what else we are supposed to do.  thx

[Sudsrung0]

@Douglas432 

You might want to expand on your description dont forget you are trying to sell the place and why would people come to that area,

I think your property looks good but the photo's are not good enough to dark, to me.

Take a look at other properties in your area to give you a better idea, 

[Sudsrung0]

@Douglas432 

We hope you will stop by for some small-town charm and friendliness. We are very excited to meet you!

Talking Rock is located in Pickens County, in the foothills of the North Georgia Mountains, between the towns of Ellijay and Jasper. Fortunately, Talking Rock, Georgia's third smallest town, hasn't changed much since its founding in 1883, when the train was the town's lifeline.

[Douglas432]

Wow !  That's awesome, I will do that right away....

but I can't imagine why my "description" would prevent my listing from even appearing in the results of a search targeted specifically for "Talking Rock, Georgia"  There has to be something else going on....

[Huma0]

@Douglas432 

There is something else going on. Search on this community for 'summer release' and 'categories' and you will soon see what I am talking about.

In early May, Airbnb totally changed its search functionality with the result of a lot of listings suddenly dropping in search results or dropping off the map. My listings, which were always fully booked since I started doing this in 2016 suddenly dropped down the results, disappeared from the map (unless you clicked directly over my house) and views and bookings stopped in their tracks. 

Things have improved for me more recently, although it's certainly not back to how things were prior to the Summer Release. This may be because there were a lot of glitches in the new system, and perhaps some of them have been fixed, but the problem remains that the overall system and its algorithms are doing no favours to many previously successful hosts. 

RE @Sudsrung0 's suggestions, there is always room for improvement, but if you are not showing up at all, it won't make a huge difference. Except, we were informed after the Summer Release that the algorithm picks up on certain key words in listing descriptions and reviews, as well as prioritising listings with better photos. I am not totally convinced about that to be honest, as my photos were taken by professional Airbnb photographers and there are listings with rubbish photos showing much higher than mine... But still, it's worth a shot.