Your top questions about Airbnb Search

Lizzie · ‎21-09-2017

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

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?

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.

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?

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.

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?

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?

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.

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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.

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?

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?

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.

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?

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?

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?

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?

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.

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William284 · ‎28-02-2018

I, too, am convinced that this forum is nothing but a venting exercise -- a PR ploy for Airbnb. Just tell me what the substance is with this sentence: "As the Search Team mentioned they are working hard to continue to improve the search capabilites available on the site and so honestly I believe if it were as easy as it sounds it would be already implemented". A substantive response would have offered us a paragraph explaining in brief why it is technologically difficult -- and precisely what steps are being taken to improve the search capabilities. This sentence, to the contrary, tells us nothing. NOTHING. The Team is working hard. Really? It's not how hard you work, it's how much you accomplish. It's not inputs, it's outputs. It's not intents, it's results. We're not hoping for a technology team that sweats a lot and sleeps little. We're hoping for a technology team that can give us the same kinds of search capabilities that we're used to seeing on the websites at Home Depot, Amazon, Netflix, etc., and on other travel websites. It would be hard work if I swept my house with a broom. It would take me a lot of time. It would clean ineffectively. My guests would complain about the standard of tidiness. Consequently, I use a vacuum cleaner. I don't work nearly as hard; and I get the job done -- well done. Don't ever tell me how hard someone is working. I only want to know if the job is getting done. (Next time I get a complaint from a guest, I'll answer, "But I worked so hard . . . ") Lame! Lame! Lame! Maybe you can get Airbnb to allow us to delete any bad reviews form guests any time that we had "worked hard".

John878 · ‎28-02-2018

Bravo William. Well said and hard to improve on what you said. It seems such comments come from the mouths of babes, new in their first jobs. Striving to impress, unawares as to what it takes to do a job well. 18 year old, or perchance 23 year olds with a degree (on paper) but no idea what to do, and no guidance either as their bosses are 25 year olds. Sad. Thus is the corporate world we live in.

William284 · ‎28-02-2018

Precisely: 23 year olds being led by 25 year olds who are being led by 30 somethings who don't know the difference between working and accomplishing -- intents and results -- listening and hearing. The old people used to tell me: "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." Each year I understand that phrase better and better. All of the world's desktop computers used to work on an operating system called CPM. Then Bill Gates and PC-DOS came along, and CPM disappeared. Today nobody is using either CPM or PC-DOS. D-BASE had over 90% of the data software business for personal computers, and they're out of existence today. Airbnb may be the platform for home sharing today. It may also be the CPM operating system of tomorrow if they don't pay attention to the best focus group of all business marketing -- their own hosts. Booking.com and Wimdu are chomping at the bit to try to figure a way to eat into this market. There will be others down the road. (Others who don't keep trying to cram "Instant Booking" down our throats despite our very consistent and fairly universal protestations.)

Sheila146 · ‎27-10-2017

Dear @Lizzie cc @John,

Lizzie, Airbnb has worked well for me since I started hosting July 2016, I was able to get up and running and lots of bookings right away, so I am happy about the platform overall.

BUT regarding this blog -- I assume you are trying your best here, but so far your answers have been pretty unsatisfactory -- one case in point being:

"As the Search Team mentioned they are working hard to continue to improve the search capabilites available on the site and so honestly I believe if it were as easy as it sounds it would be already implemented".

Let me point out that Airbnb is charging hosts and guests a substantial commission for use of their platform (Airbnb collects 3600€ a year from MY rental apartment ALONE), so for this kind of profit on MY commodity (i.e. my apartment), i think it is reasonable to expect a tiptop expertly-run platform that includes a fair and logical search engine that favours those who are excelling as hosts and are the backbone of airbnb's success. That is what we are paying for.

An excuse like the above that it is not "easy as it sounds" is pretty weak. If it were easy we would all be making billions with our internet platforms.

Nevertheless, at this point Airbnb is working well for me. Like others on this forum, I use IB, am a superhost, and also don't always come up near the beginning of a search when I check. I won't undercut the market despite Airbnb's occasional email urgings to drop prices, but offer my apt for a reasonable price and am nearly always booked. I think the map showing the potential guests the locations of the listings can be a big help, and I bet this is what experienced guests do (that is where I choose to look when I am searching for a place to stay). And I have had great guests overall, really nice people it has been a pleasure to meet.

I am concerned about the trend in Airbnb's business decisions (seeming to put their own bottom line ahead of all else) and am not sure I will be able to count on my Airbnb rental as a longterm and viable business. If the rental market gets too glutted and/or the city of Vienna decides they are not happy with how it is affecting the housing market it could be made illegal. I give it 5 years tops before Airbnb gets extremely restricted here in Vienna, should Airbnb continue on the way they are heading.

Thanks for starting this discussion, Lizzie, it has been valuable to read all the feedback!

Best regards,

Sheila

Isabel54 · ‎28-02-2018

Well said John

Linda655 · ‎27-10-2017

Hi Lizzie: I think you have done a splendid job. But i have a question on the search. When i search for rentals now in Santa Monica California (I live there and am a super host) All the other areas come up instead of Santa Monica i.e. Hollywood Hills, Venice, Malibu Downtown LA etc. which by the way are all a very long way a way from Santa Monica. I find mine about 6 pages in. The questions is why are all these other areas listed before Santa Monica - It used not be the case - You could find Santa Monica rentals if you put Santa Monica in. I know that many rentals are not allowed any more in Santa Monica but the ones that are should be there at the top of the search if you are filtering Santa Monica. That just does not make sense. I can understand it if you are putting Los Angeles in but specifying Santa Monica which is a large beach area should come up first. I even notice that the map does not have Santa Monica or my property just all the other areas. Thanks for doing this i appreciate it.

Linda Hall

Santa Monica, CA

Helga0 · ‎27-10-2017

The keyword search answer is nonsense, the rest was rather admirably presented, @Lizzie 😉 all that furor as a welcome back from holidays.

Aifbnb had a keyword search for years. It’s not such a great challenge on a data base, and if it was, it’s a service that google sells go implement in websites.

I always supposed, that it is rather hybris not a technical challenge, that made the search disappear. The algorithm knows better than people how to match offer and demand. It works very well often and it fails spectacularly sometimes.

If you ask technicians, **bleep** will always find a fix, for the known issues, that’s how technicians work.

Maybe it’s time to listen to the hosts in this question.

I have a more philosophical observation on that:

the search algorithm normalises the experience for the client. Whatever they want, they have not much options to say what they want. They enter dates and get 17 pages of results. After a while, they realise that **bleep** havd to filter. However often they do that, **bleep** get 17 pages. Even if the result list has to add half the coast to deliver 17 pages still not showing Santa Monica. ...

for the guest this result looks easy. There are pages of listings, easy come up. It may bd frustrating: all yhose hosts are unreasonable. None has a simple requirement. After a while, he either leaves or books the next best thing. Good start. And at the dnd a question: was the listing as good as you expected? Not really, as it did not have that simple thing.

A lot of stress for both sides.

Scenario two: the guest enters his keywords. Maybe he wants just a simple little thing, a piano. In a village? Maybe the search comes up empty. So he can thing about packing a guitar. Or he gets one result. Only one. A rare thing. He will ask nicely, convince the host to fet permission and have a nice stay. No stress.

In a big city, he still won’t get 17 pages of listings with piano. He will understand, that those ludtings are special. They have value. He can the. Compare the rest and find what he likes, not haggle about the price and people are generally more satisfied.

Most hosts will have a special thing or a combination of things, that form for some guest a particular attraction, like the piano in my exemple.

I believe, that’s the main reason, why hosts want the keyword search back: it allows us to present thibgs, that may be special and very individual. And get a good price for the offer. And attract people, who understand and cherrish what we offer.

And I fear it’s a very bad sign, that airbnb goes in direction of automatic this and smart pricibg that, all with the aim to make all our services uniform, as indiviudual traits will not be found by an interested public, but slow down the others. And if smart pricing is more widely accepted, airbnb can dictate prices. In a market fight, every price is ddriven down. So far, I have not yet seen them going up.

Helga0 · ‎27-10-2017

Sorry for the typo on the phone, I don’t see my texts after the fourth line. All the bleebs stand for they - no idea how I misspelled that so interestingly.

Ionel2 · ‎28-10-2017

The guests leave my room in Varese two days a go , why you don't pay me

Simone288 · ‎28-10-2017

Usual Airbnb sent the money to Pay Pal and PayPal would send the money to your bank account. It takes several days , a week or more. It's the way I get the money from Airbnb. But if you agreed working with PayPal you have to enter in your account in PayPal and ask to open your account and to send your money to your bank.Otherwise PayPal is keeping the money. But maybe for Italy you have other rules. Do you speak Romanian language?

Kay1 · ‎29-10-2017

re cancellation policy:

I've had guests to last-minute change their reservations to two weeks out, wait a day or two, then cancel within the 5 day limit. I stopped allowing last minute 'change requests.' I tell them IF I am able to rebook with such a short notice, I will refund less my fees. Best I can do and feel that's fair. ~k

Sandro45 · ‎30-10-2017

I am convinced that one's ranking is pretty arbitrary. In my area the same host ALWAYS is top of the listings. We are both superhosts, have similar accommodation and prices and similar numbers of bookings. How is this possible?

Lourdes79 · ‎02-11-2017

Hello I have a reservation, in my massager but don't appear in my account with airbob , went I tray to responde said the I have multiple listings but I'm not remember my last listing because was a long time and not body make reservations and now I have new one but my host can accept because the said I have multiple listing who can get it back or cancel please help me

Helga0 · ‎02-11-2017

@Lourdes79, you have the same listing twice in your account, at least it looks that way. But that would have no influence on accepting. You could have the same room once with breakfast, once without for exemple.

If you have a request in your messages, open it, and then you see either Accept or Deny = you have a booking request, or yousee Pre-approuve or Deny = you have only a request for information, not a booking.

If you click on accept, it should be confirmed, if you click on Deny, you refuse the guest.

On a computer, you can log in, go to the dashboard and your listings. You see all of them there and can delete them or mask them for a while. On the phone, it's even easier. You can also type in the search bar of the help section Contact Airbnb and the contact the customer srvice by phone or message.

I'm not sure I interpret your question correcly. Ther is also one more possibility: if you waited too l ong to answer, the visitor may have cancelled the original request and booked elsewhere. You can't get it back then.

Pam-and-Kai0 · ‎03-11-2017

I completely agree that Instant Book should NOT be a priority. We've had many friends have really bad experiences because those that use Instant Book tend to have no or few reviews. We refuse to use it for that reason. Airbnb is built on REVIEWS and TRUST. Not INSTANT BOOK!!

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