As many of us, my listing randomly appears (and disappears)

[Grégoire13]

Hi everyone,

I know many of us encounter this problem.

I have looked at the different topics and advice posted on these boards. Yes, I am using filters, yes, I am zooming on my area.

Still, my flat often does not show up when searching for a place in my neighborhood in Paris. 

I have asked some of my friends to look up for it: sometimes they do see it , sometimes they do not. It seems very random.

One of my guests told me the flat was not showing up and suddenly appeared in its results. Pure magic!

Any idea on how to solve it would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you 🙂

[Sydney-Harbour0]

I have been wondering of the same.

I asked 2 SEO experts both told me that they suspect that there are some kind of paid advertising  system to put some listing above another. 

I am still mystified.

[Grégoire13]

Interestingly, my views stats also play yo-yo for no reason (e.g. 18 views of the 5th of December, close to 0 from the 8th to the 13th, then up again, then close to 0). It makes no sense since I have recently increased my flat's availability.

[Matthew285]

@Grégoire13, it isn't magic, it is not unexplainable, and it definitely is not random.

However, it is complicated and a bit unpredictable (which is not the same thing as unexplainable).

When a guest searches on AirBnB for a place to stay, AirBnB will show them at most 300 listings. There might be 2,000 or more listings on the map where they are looking, but only 300 will be displayed.

Which 300? In theory, the 300 listings that best match what the guest is looking for. Exactly where your listing ranks on the search results will vary depending on what the guest is searching for, but the important thing is this:

If your listing is not in the top 300, it will not appear.

If you city only has 300 listings, then great! Your listing will always appear.

Your listing is in Paris, France.

Paris has more than 40,000 AirBnB listings. This is the most listings of any city in the entire world.

If a person searched all of Paris, only one in every 133 listings would appear.

Certainly your area of Paris has more than 300 listings. Sometimes your listing will be in the top 300. Sometimes it will not. When your listing is not in the top 300, it will not show on the map.

Get your listing to rank higher in the search results, and your listing will appear more often in the top 300.

Rank lower, and your listing will appear less often.

This should not be a surprise.

It is aggravating. It is disappointing. It is frustrating.

But it should not be a surprise, or a mystery.

[Grégoire13]

Thank you very much for your answer Matthew, I appreciate it.

I had similar explanations from an Airbnb rep: limitation to 300 listings and "fluctuating rankings". However, I believe there is a difference between these fluctuations and my listing just disapearing although there are less than 300 listings in my flat's area. Yesterday morning, hovering in my area, 6 listings where showing up and mine was not. I did pay attention to the filters and dates. A few hours later and using the same filters, it was back.

Anyway, Airbnb's algorithms are not public so it's hard to know what's happening behind the scenes!

[Sheila146]

@Matthew285

Thanks for this info, very helpful.  How did you know this?

And what are the most effective ways to raise your rank higher in the search results, in your opinion?  i know commitment rate is important.  

Lizzie (airbnb blogger-employee) had a blog on searches recently and what you said about top 300 wasn't mentioned, although I don't doubt you.

Thanks!  Sheila

[Matthew285]

@Sheila146, the number 300 isn't mentioned because it has apparently changed over the years. I read one discussion where the number of search results used to be the top 1,000.

As to how to know AirBnB only lists the top 300: every search one does currently only shows 300 results, regardless of how many listings are in an area. At the bottom I think is says "1 – 18 of 300+ Rentals" on the first page. This may change in the future, but the important thing is that not all the listings are shown.

As to how one knows it is the "top" 300 as opposed to a randomly selected 300 listings:

AirBnB discusses how to improve your ranking in the search results, and how they try to find the "best" matches to present to the guest while searching.

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/39/what-factors-determine-how-my-listing-appears-in-search-resul...

https://blog.atairbnb.com/how-search-makes-the-best-matches/

The most important question, of course, is how to make your own listing appear higher in the search rankings. While AirBnB does not explicitly disclose the details of how their algorithm works, they do provide general guidance (as in the above link).

Honestly, they are probably continually fiddling with the search algorithm, so I bet things change all the time. That being said, here is an interesting link to a discussion about a person doing some actual analysis on a small sample of AirBnB listings in his area to try to figure out what factors are correlated with high search position:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AirBnB/comments/6113kx/ranking_of_listing_factors_correlating_to_search/?st...

There are many lively discussions here about what makes you rank higher.

Some factors are not directly under your control (like user ratings, how many beds you have).

Personally, I believe the important factors you can change easily are:

1. Instant Book
2. Your Price
3. Not cancelling on guests

I have handed control of my pricing over to the Wheelhouse Pricing robot, and it has been doing a good job so far.

Search for the many discussions about how to rank higher! I learned a lot reading them.

[Von3]

I am also trying to understand Airbnb's search agorithm and have read about those three criteria leading to a listing's placement on the search. Recently, I noticed that I get views on a certain day of the week but almost no views other days. I don't want to get all conspirarcy theorist about this but I feel like certainly there must be some blocking of listings done by airbnb. I mean, how could the three criteria (instant book, price, no cancellation) for my listing change so much in comparison to other listings and then just happen to be better on that particular day each week? Especially given that i have not done anything to affect the three criteria (did not remove instant book, change price, or cancel).

I believe this blocking is done because winter bookings in our area is lower in general. In order not to have hosts delist or remove their listing, they might rotate listings at the top so that bookings will be spread out among more listings. I also think this is done often in areas with a lot of listings. This to me would explain why my listing get views on just that one day each week. I get fewer views the following day but I consider this residual views-- i.e. someone looking at the listing the previous day but not closing the tab. If anyone has a good explanation, I would love to learn.

[Matthew285]

@Von3, my views fluctuate quite a bit also.

Some hosts have said it is because people tend to do more travel research on certain days. Who knows?

(Actually, it is almost certain AirBnB knows.)

I like your theory about rotating listings to the top to keep hosts happy. In a way this would be more fair than  keeping it completely static. It would also have a better chance at being fair than a completely random system.

We need to find someone that works in the department where they work on the search algorithm and buy that person drinks... enough drinks where they spill the beans to us.

[Von3]

Many of us would be happy to chip in for that plan! Haha. I agree that people do tend to search more on certain days just like in the airline industry. I think it's fine to rotate the listings but I think transparency is key. Maybe have a "featured listings" section at the top.