Hola @Tamuna3!
Firstly… Welcome to the community!
We have been hosting since October 2016 and we think Airbnb is an excellent platform for travel and alternative lodging. It’s a great way to get that “local” experience and a wonderful way to share your home with like-minded “strangers,” at least when it comes to the sharing economy.
One of the very first things we did when we went “live” as well was do a search for our listing. To give you the short answer, all the answers to hosts' questions can be found in Airbnb Policies & Airbnb Help Desk and that should always be your #1 source for answers when it comes to Airbnb questions.
I use Airbnb Community for first-hand experiences from other hosts, especially more experienced hosts. I also (and please don’t judge me) use it for affirmation on a decision I made AFTER reading the Airbnb policies and suggestions. Although Airbnb has most of the answers, sometimes you still have to make the ultimate decisions.
But I digress. Here is the link to the answers you need: https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/39/what-factors-determine-how-my-listing-appears-in-search-resul...
And here is a copy of the article:
What factors determine how my listing appears in search results?
At a high-level, the factors that affect search ranking can be broken down into the following categories: listing quality, trip experience, ease of booking, and guest preferences. As a host, you have control over many of these factors. Learn more about making your listing more competitive.
Keep in mind that each guest will see different results when searching based on the preferences they add, their past booking history, and other search criteria.
Listing quality
The way you list your space and how well you look after your guests impacts where you appear in search compared to other listings.
- Booking appeal: If guests frequently click through to your listing page or try to book your space, this can also positively affect your placement in search. High-quality photos that accurately depict your space can attract interest from guests.
- Reviews: Both the quantity and quality of reviews from past guests can impact your search performance.
Ease of booking
How reliably and easily guests can book your space impacts search results.
- Response rate and response time: The quicker and more consistently you respond to guests, the better your listing can do in search. Search also considers how many guests you accept. Rejecting a large number of requests, or failing to respond to inquiries will affect your placement and visibility in search.
- Cancellations: If you do cancel on a guest, it can negatively impact where your listing appears in search.
Guest preferences
Search results may vary depending on the person, their preferences, and the specifics of their trip.
- Location relevance: Guests can search broadly at the city level or narrow into specific neighborhoods, so we try to show search results that are most relevant to their location preferences. We may use past booking information to determine which locations are most relevant for a given search. On mobile, guests can specify travel preferences such as neighborhood types (for example, “quiet” or “scenic”). If they specify these preferences, they’ll still see “Popular” listings as well based on our existing ranking factors.
- Personalized results: We try to understand a guest’s preferences and trip characteristics, so search results may vary depending on the person or the specifics of their trip.
We understand that new hosts may not have had a chance to get many inquiries and bookings yet, so we also take this into account.
In our experience, when we first started Airbnb, we were a lot more lenient and we didn’t offer as many restrictions as we do now. We also allowed Instant Book, which I can give you more info on that as well, but you can also find it here: https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/523/what-is-instant-book
I know it can be a little “frightening” (for lack of a better word) when you first book, but the more you book, the more you learn. Also, the more you book, the more reviews and, if you are passionate about what you do your guests will see this and you will get the reviews you need to bump up your listing!
Hope this is helpful! Let me know if you have any more questions, happy to help!
Happy Hosting!
Izzie, Co-Host
LOV Puerto Rico
