Your top questions about Airbnb Search

[Lizzie]

Hello everyone,

One of the most popular discussion topics here in the Community Center is on how Airbnb Search works. We brought your most-asked questions to the Airbnb Search team and have gathered the answers for you.

I really hope you find the responses helpful. To read the responses to each question, please click on the 'Read more' buttons! 🙂

Lizzie

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 Answers to your top Search questions

You’ve created and published a fabulous listing and now your friends and family want to check it out. How do they find it? And among all the listings out there, how does the Airbnb algorithm decide which ones to show a traveler searching in your area? As we hear questions from hosts, two basic categories of questions emerge: What affects a listing’s ranking, and how can I find my listing online? So we took your most asked questions to the Airbnb Search team and have gathered the answers for you. Let’s dive in.

1. On search ranking, and how to improve yours:

What factors affect my listing’s placement in search results?

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That’s a great question. We have an algorithm that looks at over 100 signals to decide how to order listings in search results.  Most of those signals have to do with things that guests care about, like positive reviews and great photos. If you think guests might care about it, it probably factors into your ranking! The reason is this: you’re most likely to get a booking request (or be instantly booked) if a traveler finds the type of place they’re looking for right away. We get a lot of information from the traveler about what they want for then show them listings that match their needs most closely.

Not every signal is weighed equally, and you don’t need to have a perfect listing or an unbeatable location for your listing to rank well. But there are some really influential signals that make a difference. Some of those include: how often guests click on your listing in search results, how often guests attempt to contact you from your listing page, how many booking requests you accept, if you use Instant Book, and how competitive your listing price is.

Why are listings with Instant Book prioritised ahead of other listings in the search results?

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The main goal of the search algorithm is to facilitate bookings. And if a guest has an excellent experience booking and traveling on Airbnb they’re highly likely to use Airbnb again in the future. This helps travelers and hosts alike. We’ve seen for many years that—all other things being equal—travelers prefer to use Instant Book because they can book quickly, skip the wait time for hosts to respond, and avoid possibly being rejected. Because of the high booking success for hosts and guests, Instant Book gives your listing a boost in searches.

That said, many of you have amazing listings and use a Request to Book approach to hosting. It’s important that you know Instant Book is only one of more than a hundred factors in your listing search ranking. You can absolutely rank really well in searches without being an Instant Book host.

If I’m a Superhost, will my listing get a boost in search results?

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Although we don't give an explicit boost to Superhosts in search, the factors required to become a Superhost do help your listing rank higher. Moreover, we give guests the option to filter their search results to only display Superhosts and occasionally showcase Superhosts on the results page.

How can I improve my listing ranking in search results? Are there any settings I can adopt to help my ranking?

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The best way to immediately improve performance in Search is to enable Instant Book. Our research shows that guests prefer the booking experience that Instant Book provides. Even when they don’t filter for Instant Book listings, they often choose them over others because booking a place to stay quickly means they can get on with planning the rest of their trip. Other ways to quickly boost your ranking:

• Make a fabulous first impression. Make sure that your first photo is a bright, attractive, high quality, horizontal image of your listing. The more clicks you get from curious travelers, the higher you’ll rank in search results over time. An enticing and realistic photo is the very best way to show off your space in an instant.
• Price your listing competitively. Travelers are frequently looking for a great value for their trip, and by using tools like Smart Pricing, or setting your own competitive price, you can get the benefit of well informed pricing recommendations.

Is it true that if guests add my listing to their wishlists, my listing will get a little boost in the search results?

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Yes! When travelers add your listing to their wishlist, it does indeed help your search ranking! One individual wishlist may not make a visible difference but over several months, if many guests love your listing and choose to wishlist it, it will rank higher. We also use listings that guests wishlist to better personalize their search experience, so they’ll be likely to see your listing again in future searches.

Is it true that editing and tweaking my listing every day will help boost my listing in Search?

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Repeatedly changing or tweaking your listing will neither help nor hurt your Search Ranking. If you’re happy with your photos, price, and description, feel free to leave it as is and wait for booking requests to arrive!

Can I pay to advertise my listing so it appears on more search results?

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Airbnb does not offer pay-for-placement in Search. This allows us to generate impartial search results for the best matches between hosts and guests. But you can advertise, if you like. We’ve made it easy for you to find, copy, and paste the information needed to embed your listing on social media and your personal blog or website: On your listing page, you’ll see “Share” on the right hand side of the screen. Underneath that, you’ll see the embed icon. It looks like this: </>. If you click that icon, you’ll see the information you need to easily copy and paste your listings code on your personal blog or website.

Why am I on the last page on search? This way no one will ever book my listing?

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It’s important to know that some searches, for example city-level with no dates, are not highly representative of how a traveler looking to book uses the website. Some of those searches can capture many tens of thousands of listings. Travelers that book tend to use specific dates, zoom in on the map, or look for certain amenities using filters. So there will be far fewer listings in the search results than with a general search with no preferences or filters.

If I have to decline a booking because a guest doesn’t meet my House Rules, does this impact my search ranking?

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Because being rejected for a booking is one of the worst experiences for our guests, we do factor this into Search Ranking. However, we understand that sometimes you legitimately need to decline a traveler, and we take that into account. We’re most interested in how you compare to other hosts, rather than just counting your rejections.

A single rejection will not significantly hurt your ranking, but over time, rejecting more guests than other hosts in your market will lower your ranking. We find that a large majority of our hosts are able to accept most booking requests, and our best Request-to-Book hosts accept almost all of them. You can help travelers know if they should try to book your space by writing clear, detailed House Rules and keeping your calendar up to date. Make sure your settings and amenities lists also set accurate expectations.

2. On finding your listing online

I just created my listing and it appears as published on my profile, but when I search for it I can't find it. If other people search for it, they can't find it either. Why is that?

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There is usually a delay of around 6 hours between the time you publish a listing and when it shows up in search results. This gives you time to make final changes to your listing settings before receiving your first booking request. It also gives Airbnb time to ensure every new listing is suitable for the marketplace. If you don’t see your listing within 24 hours, you can contact customer support to find out why.

I haven't received a new booking in awhile, so I searched for my listing and asked a friend to search for it too. Neither of us could find it, and it’s not showing up even when I add specific details and filters. What can I do?

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If your listing is in a popular market with numerous listings, it may be necessary to apply several filters to show your listing. Don’t worry, this is how travelers search and they’ll be able to find your listing too! We recommend using dates on your search, and checking that they match your calendar availability and minimum nights settings.

A common reason Instant Book hosts (or their friends) may not see their listing is that they’ve chosen to require a guest have positive reviews in order to make a book their space. If you’ve chosen this requirement, it means your listing will show up as a Request to Book, not an Instant Book, listing for logged out users or new guests if the Instant Book filter is applied. This is because a logged out or new traveler will not be eligible to instantly book your place.

I can’t find my listing. Does it make a difference if I’m logged in or logged out?

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Most listings on Airbnb should show up in searches regardless of whether you’re logged in or not, although the ranking may appear different. This is because Airbnb search is personalized, and when a traveler logs in we have more information to better match them with listings. One exception to this is for hosts who allow Instant Book but have chosen to require that guests have positive reviews. In this case, if the Instant Book filter is applied, your listing would not show up to travelers who are logged out. This is because we can’t tell if a logged out visitor to the site has reviews.

I can see the listing appearing on the map in the Airbnb app, but when I go to view the same listing (with the same filters) in the desktop version, it isn't appearing. Why is this?

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Airbnb Search is personalized to help travelers find the best listings for their trip. Part of that involves looking at the device and location they’re searching from. This means that you may experience a different ranking of listings on different devices.

I have Instant Book activated, but my listing doesn't come up in the results. Isn't Instant Book supposed to boost my listing on search results?

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Instant Book does give you a boost, but it sounds like there may be another reason you’re not seeing your listing in the results. Make sure that your search criteria match the settings and requirements you’ve established. Anything from minimum nights requirement to date range, number of guests or not having reviews can hinder you from seeing your listing in a search. And of course, if you require guests have previous ratings, then it may be that you haven’t traveled on Airbnb yourself or that you’re not logged in as a guest.

I can’t find my listing when I search for its title. Why doesn’t Airbnb have keyword search? Will it be implemented in the future?

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Keyword search, and especially free-text search, is extremely technically challenging, but an exciting product to build! Rest assured that we have an excellent team that is always investigating how to improve the search experience, and we hope that changes like these will make it into the product in coming years.

The most important thing is this: you’re a unique host who offers a one-of-a-kind experience, because you’re you and your space isn’t like any other. We hope these tips and answers help you understand the sometimes complicated nature of matching unique travelers with hosts. Focus on what you do best, play up your strengths, and don’t worry about showing up first in search.

[Ian207]

It looks to me that there is a groundswell of informed opinion that is wanting to redress the imbalance currently favouring instant booking.  Time for airbnb to rethink their policy....

[Garrett20]

Hi Lizzie,

I have to agree with all the other comments on this page. I don't like instant book because I need to know who is coming. I have my family and children, other tenants that i need to know will be compatable with a guest coming. 

I also agree it's not fair to us who choose to not use Instant book are punished by our site not being listed on the upper lists. I have noticed when I go in to look for properties that Instant book is automatically on. The User needs to click it off to get the other listings and if you don't know this our properties are not shown at all.

I have had innumerable requests to see our property, but it cannot be found. WHY!!!!!

[Kay1]

I get faster results from faulty airbnb searches if i post my complaint on their facebook page. I've been a super host, doing this for over 5 years. I recently made a price change to try to figure out why my bookings are down by more than half, but for over 3 weeks my test searches came up with different pricing each time! After going thru 2 reps, I finally gave up trying to get their teck group to give me the logic behind it (my background is data processing and computers). Very, very frustrating to lose business and not know why. ~k 

[John878]

So, if I understand the airbnb system correctly :

1. whether it's an InstantBooking, or a normal reservation, the full $ charge is made to the guests credit card AT THE MOMENT they make the booking.    Regardless of the amount of time in-advance the booking's made. Reagrdless of whether it's a day, a week, a month.

2. we hosts ONLY receive funds from airbnb some 24+ hours AFTER a guest arrives.

3. Instant Booking penalizes Hosts if they, post- instant booking, decide they're not comfortable with the guest and cancel the booking.

4. Airbnb never loses. Airbnb fees are earned the moment the guest books. These fees are never refunded (or rarely refunded without a fight).

5. Add to which, Airbnb sits on a HUGE amount money - HOSTS MONEY - for potentially a great length of time.  Why should airbnb be the sole beneficiary of all this ?   It's a biased business model unfair to hosts, unfair to guests, and totally skewed to airbnb's favour.

5. The host can lose out because of (1) time lost dealing with a booking that ultimately is cancelled, (2) opportunity cost for other bookings potentially lost in the interim, (3) worsened "reputation", and (4) lowered ranking in a guests searches for listings (5) the host received nothing in terms of remuneration until AFTER a cancellation occurs.

6. The guest is unfairly penalized if, for good reason, there's need to cancel a booking, as their money's been tied up for a potentially long time and depending on the cancellation policy, whatever refund comes, comes through much later on.

7.  The present system doesn't synch with the airbnb idea that permits a host to set his/her own cancellation policy, because potentially a host is not the beneficiary of any money received until AFTER the cancellation occurs anwyay.   So it's a double whammy: no money until cancellation, potentially no chance to relist and rebook either if the cancellation comes late.

Airbnb should CHANGE THEIR SYSTEM to permit:

(a) partial payments (deposits) to be made by guests at the time of making a reservation, to allow :

    (i) airbnb to cover their admin fees - essentially non-refundable fees ;

   (ii) hosts to cover their own non-refundable cancellation fees / deposits (call it what you want) at the time of the booking

   (iii) immediate payment to Hosts by airbnb of such non-refundable deposits, at THE TIME the reservation is made.

(b) the balance of reservation charges to be paid (charged to the clients credit card) 72 hours before the date of arrival (if not previously cancelled). In case this credit card charge is declined or not processed by the c.card company, the reservation should be cancelled automatically by airbnb.

(c) crediting of the BALANCE due to the host 24 hours after the guest arrives.

My big gripe is that....

(1) airbnb sits on our host money, when we should also be beneficiaries of and receive at least what are our guaranteed non-refundable deposits, in case of cancellation, and

(2) as a guest I have to pay a fortune upfront for a reservation a long time in the future.

Both factors seem unfair in today's competitive world.

We should ALL push for airbnb to do this.  We are, after all, their bread and butter.

[Emily313]

Your email heading was "Search Secrets Revealed".  I'm really disappointed that you have not even answered the question.  What are these over 100 signals that affect the search results please?  At least list the top 20?  You've only given 5 examples.

[Carmen46]

I have found instant book guests far and away easier to interact with. I prefer them to others with whom I need long and frequent communications. I am careful to block out any time I can’t be available to host.

[Kay1]

I totally agree with hosts comments  about Instant Book below. However, I just turned it on because my bookings are down by more than half. It does appear that airbnb is becoming more of a Travelocity or Booking.com. I recently booked a cabin only to arrive and find it is a commercial establishment. Ditto when I went to Peru. The small business approach and guests wanting that "local home" atmosphere is gone. If airbnb does not block hotels and commercial establishments from listing rooms, then we need to starting listing our accommodations elsewhere too. ~k 

[Nicola221]

Not only I agree with Jann about Instant Booking (which I have) but I can also add that these custumer's range because they expect so much they will most likely give you a bad feedback ruining your hard work towards becoming a Superhost with an outstanding Rating.

I have recently allowed a late check-in (almost at midnight) and late Check-Out, helped her with an unexpected and unbooked Guest ...and as a result......if in the future I decide to take off "Instant Booking" and or Reject these type of Customers it will also lower my listing in the search result. Does this community think that this is fair? Please let me know. Cheers!

[Simone288]

Pity we have no right to know more about our guests though the guests know a lot about me, his host. Anybody can assure me it is not dangerous to give everyone access to my house? Even a hotel has plenty of security. Look what happened in Las Vegas. I think iti could be a bit insecure especially in nowadays. 

[Jenniffer4]

Absolutely not fair! The host do all the work and Airbnb provides a website.  There is no Airbnb without the hosts - and other options are available for hosting....best advice for Airbnb: don't bite the hand(s) that feeds you.

[Pam81]

Hi Lizzie,

Thanks for all the information - but I too am disappointed that instant book boosts rankings.

I feel uncomfortable if I can't first converse with potential guests - and possibly check their profiles. It's saved me a couple of inappropriate bookings over the years. Recently a woman booked with her family and despite my saying we're in the countryside, she was upset to find herself in a rural location with her family. She gave me an extremely negative review which took away my superhost status, on the basis of terrible value for money and a dirty home. I can only guess that her review (which is completely inconsistent with all my others across three properties) was out of misplaced retaliation. This experience reinforced my notion that conversations are critical, so instant book is not viable for me.

Also - you say that declining guests impacts ranking. I sometimes decline for closure on a conversation where the guest has already decided against booking (sometimes after finding out about the location). I'm disappointed to learn that this is bad for my ranking, and will now just let requests expire - but won't that make me look like I'm unresponsive?

[Sara573]

I’m no longer on instant book as I like to talk with my potential clients and make sure they are the right people to stay at my place. metato26 is my Home not an Hôtel 

[Sheila146]

Can someone please explain what the Level rating is after each hosts name?

[Darleen2]

Sometimes I have people spam me through the messager. They act as if they are requesting dates, but the question is that they are trying to sell services, not to book. In those cases I decline their request and catagorize it as spam. Does this hurt my listing? Also, what if someone asks to bring a dog, or check in at 7 am, and I really can't accomodate that? I would turn that down, but would that push me down in the listing? My ad already says no pets and check in at 3 but people still ask.

[Lizzie]

Hello @Darleen2,

Thanks for your comments here and welcome to the Community Center. 

I have been back to the Search team regarding your question as I know this is a concern for you and many others hosts. In general, individual/occasional booking rejections, will not have a visible impact on your ranking. More focus is placed on your average, based over a longer period of time.

I hope this helps. 

Thanks,

Lizzie