Listing Missing!

[Justine106]

Hello!

I am not an avid AirBnb’er, that is to say, I enjoy the traveling aspect, but need to focus more on hosting for income opportunity. I had the fortune and pleasure of hosting last January of 2018 for the first time and received 5 star reviews. Needless to say, I haven’t monitored it that much going forward other than the obvious that my listing was clearly being shoved to the bottom of the bucket. Now my listing has disappeared altogether. I have tried numerous ways/options etc. - using other peoples computers/phone/iPads/filters on/filters off etc. and no such luck. Called the information line only to be told that they can see it which is a useless statement in and of itself. I am now more curious than ever as to what would cause this and YES, I question “ghosting” and “shadow banning” etc. though a stretch, it clearly exists. Any guidance is greatly welcomed!

Listing title:

Private English Basement

Location: Potomac, Maryland

[Emiel1]

@Justine106,

Your listing is active and in the search system:

(Turn on map if not visible)

https://www.airbnb.com/s?host_id=148658442

Added:

When searching "Potomac,MD" you have to zoom in towards "travilah" and the listing shows up.

best regards, Emiel

[Justine106]

Best to test the system w/a mobile device. It does not work and it is not reflected anywhere. That is not to say that it is not imbedded in the system, like the link you attached. Yes, that is my proposal, but Traville/Travilah does NOT exist as a location and MANY other listings under Potomac w/less than desirable ratings do-Weird. Do you by chance work for AirBnB?

[Justine106]

*property

[Emiel1]

@Justine106,

No, i do not work for Airbnb.

As you can see at @Ben551 's response nothing is wrong when searching for the listing, even on a mobile device. Travilah,MD does also exist as a search location in the system (but i use a laptop).

[Ben551]

Hi @Justine106 - I too have checked and your listing is live and appears in search results. I’ve looked on my phone and iPad, both times using the app.

A search for the wider area of Potomac indicates you are very, very low in search result rankings. There are a lots of reasons this could be happening, but I’ll try to describe the most likely:

1. Host Logins : The more frequently a host interacts with their listing impacts search results. As discovered by SEO experts RankBreeze, the system knows whether you log in everyday. So the more time you spend visiting your host dashboard and interacting with it, the more “active” the system thinks you are. Being hands off for a while, as you describe, is likely to have moved you further down over time.
2. Calendar : Likewise with your calendar, the system rewards you for regularly updating your calendar. This has been reported to have a significant impact on search results and views. For this reason, many hosts visit their calendar and change something every... single... day. I do it myself by blocking and unblocking a random day. There are even tools to do it for you, like the Heart beats thing on Smartbnb (a paid service).
3. Blury photos : I think your listing looks stunning but many of the photos are blury. The system can detect the quality of photos. Too many blury or dark ones and you will be bumped down to the bottom, so I highly recommend updating your photos. It’s also worth looking at the quality of photos your competition have! From a quick look I can see most of the top booked places in your area have professional photography. If you get this sorted, you will rise in the ranks.
4. Pricing : Have you looked at your pricing lately? Keeping on top of pricing is one of the most crucial parts of the business of Airbnb. Pricing can change weekly, or even daily, so if you haven’t checked and updated it in a while... you could find you are out of step. Taking a look at your area, I’m seeing a densely packed area of high competition. A lot of your competition appear to be charging half what you are,  so this will be having a major impact on your placement and views. Getting on top of market pricing research is time consuming but if done right can save you thousands of dollars.  For this, I recommend using a live pricing engine to update your prices daily and stay ahead of the competition. I personally use Wheelhouse, though there are many others you could try.  If you sign up to Wheelhouse with this link you get some freebies and a free trial:

   https://www.usewheelhouse.com/u/account/register?referrer_id=aYqQy

5. Incomplete Listing - Another very important thing when it comes to search result placement is having a complete listing. This means putting words into every single available box! The Airbnb system rewards people for detail and moves you higher in search results. That includes putting words below every photograph! You have a lot of sections that are currently empty. Leave nothing blank and you will see an improvement immediately!
6. Instant Book - One of the great flaws of the Airbnb search engine is that it rewards Instant Book hosts by giving them primary placement in search results. This annoys many folk, however I mention it in case you hadn’t been aware of this impact and would like the opportunity to reconsider. It’s also worth looking at your toughest competition!  Do they all use Instant Book? It’s a hard one to balance but it’s worth understanding how this feature impacts your placement in search results.

I think that’s about it for the very obvious things. I hope it’s helpful and you get your business back to earning those 5 stars!

~ Ben

[Ben551]

Oh sorry @Justine106 but one more thing on pricing -

I notice you require a rather large security deposit. On my screen, it’s suggesting that the security deposit is 3 times the value of your minimum 3 night stay! I would look at changing this before anything else to be honest as I think this will be having a major impact for you. Your cleaning fee and extra guest fees appears very high, compared with your competition who seem to be charging hardly anything at all. I think all this needs a thorough dig into.

The good news is, it all appears very fixable! Some people ask for help when their listing itself isn’t up to scratch, but in your case your listing is a beauty! A few technical tweaks and you will be good to go!

[Justine106]

Ben - Quick question. Have read some rather disturbing things surrounding "instant book". Is it true that one (the traveller) is no longer required to have a photograph of themselves prior to the booking process?

[Justine106]

Ben - Many thanks for such an informative response! I will definitely put all your suggestions to work. Hopefully the positive results will far outweigh the frustrations. I’m still fascinated by the fact that I’m unable to locate my property using various devices etc. Living in the “greater DC area”, 20 miles outside of the capital (not a state) it frustrates me to no end that in my attempts to locate my property under Potomac, Maryland, properties on “the hill” or Tyson’s, Virginia pop up first regardless of reviews or price - location has and will always be a sore point with me having experienced a less than desirable location on one of my own AirBnB travels. Thank you again!

[Ben551]

Hey, you are very welcome. With your permission @Justine106 I’d like to track your listing with a professional SEO analyser tool, so we can all see the impact of your improvements in search result rankings over the next week or so.

Would you be happy to take part in such an experiment? 

It won’t show what you have changed, but I can post a graph of your listing rankings in search results plotted over a period of time. Don’t worry, I’m not trying to sell you anything. I’m just a host with a keen interest in learning Airbnb SEO, as you can see from another post I made: https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Has-anyone-tried-AirBnb-search-engine-optimisation-SEO/m...

[Mark1128]

@Ben551 Please reach out to me.  I'm putting the finishing touches on my course, The Master Host Formula, and would be interested in talking with you more about what you're working on.

[Justine106]

Hi Ben-

I’m comfortable w/that. I’ve made some adjustments today, photos (yes, some were blurred), modified pricing, calendars etc. Will further refine tomorrow, but let me know if there anything you need from me other than, “yes” monitor it!

thanks again!

[Ben551]

@Justine106I'm just checking in to see how you are doing.  I've noticed your listing has risen from the depths of page 12 to page 6 in just a few days, for the available period between Wed Mar 27 - Wed Apr 10.  Nice work!!  Still some room to climb though.  How far are you through the list of changes?

This is how you are doing so far - the table at the bottom shows the period I mention above:

[Kristen337]

https://www.airbnb.com/users/257845965/listings?user_id 

[Kristen337]

Can you find this one for july?

https://www.airbnb.com/users/257845965/listings?user_id