My listing isnt showing up in search

[Fran39]

Hi there! 

Every once in a while our listing doesn't show up at all when you look it up.  Our calendar is up to date & shows as available so I'm not sure why it's happening.  

Appreciate any help 😞 

Thanks,

Fran

[Kev0]

When that has happened to me it is usually because I have inadvertently checked an option like arrival only on certain dates.  Check your availability preferences and make sure it is what you want.  Then if that doesn't resolve it see if changing your date range ( or ommitting one entirely) will help

[Monika64]

I just finally figured out yesterday why sometimes hosts cannot find listings. Funny thing, even expert hosts couldn't point out the problem.

Ask yourself 2 questions: when you search for your listing, are you logged in? My guess is that you are NOT logged in (otherwise your property would come up very first).

Do you have the Instant Book option set up for your listing with the "highly recommended by other hosts" option?'

If you DO, when you searched without signing up to Airbnb (meaning you could be anyone just running a quick search) and use the IB filter (since you think you have IB set up) the Airbnb system CANNOT verify you as a good guest so it WILL NOT show you your listing if you have the IB filter.

Hope this makes sense. Basically, anyone not signed in or signed in but without recommendation from other hosts (like a brand new guest) would NOT see your listing if they use IB filter.

Kind of difficult to explain but if you try the steps you'll see what I'm refering to.

[Inna11]

Hi Fran,

You might want to improve your SEO on Airbnb. 

There are several sneaky tricks and some regular actions you need to do so that you appear above in the list. For instance, you need to change you price several times a day. There is actually a software that does in automatically. Consider AirGMS Property Management Software. As for some tips to improve Airbnb SEO have a look at this article: 

[link hidden]

Hope it helps, 

Inna

[Monika64]

Thank you for your suggestion! I am actually doing all the steps already. My post was about the way search is set up, when you have certain options selected it'll prevent you from seeing your own listing which is one of the most frustrating things for new hosts.

[Fran39]

Great article, thanks so much for including the link.  I'm going to play around today to get things moving along 🙂 

[Jennifer178]

You do not have to be logged in to see your lisitng.  I do incognito searches all the time and I am not logged in.  I just do a general search with absolutely no filters and no dates selected.  I always find myself right away and am on the first page of listings within a 2-3 mile radius of my home.  I fiddle with my listing every few days.  So the expert hosts did not miss this. 

It is true that if I were logged in and I required previous reviews, I would not see my place because I have never been a guest. But I can just look at the website without being logged in and look at all listings no matter whether they are IB with recommended by other hosts.  I have a friend who has an Airbnb with IB and required recs and I can see her place but I cannot book it.  

[Monika64]

Jennifer,

could you kindly do a search WITH the IB filter (meaning you would only want to see listing with IB option) and see if you can still see your friend's place?

I narrowed down my search results with several filters from 300+ listings (my little town is increadibly competitive) to only 3 listings. Using the IB filter during search will show me 2 places (mine NOT included, altough I have IB set up with "highly rated" option) . As soon as I deselect the IB filter my place will pop up resulting 3 units.

It's kinda difficult to explain exactly, I was working with one of the Airbnb experts on this for a while before he realized what I was trying to point out.

Thanks!

Monika

[Jennifer178]

Hi Monika,

I tried what you said using my own listing and you are correct.  I had two browsers opened.  One with me editing my listing as a host and one as a guest with only IB listings showing.   I could see my place with no recs required.  Then I added recs required and my listing disappeared.  Removed the requirement and I appeared again. Sorry for doubting or at least being confused.

One thing though, it ony says recommended by other hosts. Not highly recommended.  Most hosts check thumbs up most of the time unless the wrongs were horrible.  But what might be horrible to some are no big deal to others.   Better than nothing but take with a grain of salt.   If there was an option to rec or highly rec or rec with reservations, etc.  That might be of more help to hosts who do look at things on a sliding scale so to speak.

Happy hosting and may all your guests be neat, able to read and on time.

[Monika64]

Thanks for checking it! Highly rated really just means "tumbs up", without any bad reviews. Not to many options for setting up IB unfortunatelly 😞

Thanks for working with me on this!

Happy hosting!!!

[Fran39]

What do you guys mean by IB filters?  Is this something I need to turn on/off so my listing pulls up?  Thanks

[Monika64]

@Fran39

When your Intant Book setting is set up with the "recommendatin from other hosts" option (which I don't think it is on your listing as far as I can see) if

1.  anyone who is not logged in during their search (so they Airbnb system cannot recognize them as good guests) or anyone who is in fact has bad guest reviews

AND

2. they use the Intant Book filter for THEIR search

will NOT see your listing. Again, only if you have this IB option selected. Airbnb will not offer them your listing as you only wish to host guests with good reputation. If peole who are good guest are NOT logged in (becuase sometimes you just wanna run a quick search with out logging in) the system cannot recognize them as good guests ... they could be anyone.

I know it might be fairy complicated to see but it really only applies to listing with that extra requirement. I don't see your settings beeing like that.

[Fran39]

Thanks for the response. 

I'm feeling so frustrated as I'm trying to get our cabin to list with no success.  Very discouraging.  As far as I can tell, I'm making it easy to book.  

Appreciate any further assistance.  Is there a phone # to contact Airbnb for assistance? 

[Monika64]

@Fran39

1-855-424-7262

I have never called them myself, usually just message them trough the app. They seems pretty fast to get back to me (either a expert host in a chat or costumer service calling).

Good luck!

[Monika64]

@Fran39

When you search for you own listing what date do you use? I used 1 night only in my first search, your place isn't popping up of course since your min stay is 2 nights.