Search Areas - Confused!

[Susy5]

I've been hosting a while now and am a Superhost so I do get regular bookings. However, I'm baffled by the search areas - when I check if my listing comes up for towns within a mile or so from me, they never do even a few pages down. But listings that are sometimes over 20 miles away come up instead. 

I went to an Airbnb hosted event and asked the team why this happens and they claim that the search engines are 'smart' and factor in the type of listing your profile would recommend to you. However this is nonsense as I've asked friends to search who have never used Airbnb before using nearby places and when I have dates available within their price range. 

It's frustrating to think that people would be looking for somewhre to stay near to the closest towns to me, but they have no chance of finding my listing.

Has anyone else found this? 

Thanks 

Susy 

[Helen3]

Hi @Susy5

I was born and bred in London, and have never heard of your area (but on reading further down in your listing see it is near Epping Forest?).

I would suggest in your description title it might be better to say something like 'Charming 16th century cottage, near Epping Forest' 

Then in the wider description underneath mention the easy access to central London, Stanstead Airport and beautiful country walks so those not familiar with your area get a clear idea early on about where you are located. Many won't read further down into your description to understand where you are.

Hopefully this will help pick you up in the search function.

You could also try ' 16th century cottage easy access to Standstead Airport + London' .

Try various permutation and see what works best.

Good luck

Helen

[Babs0]

Not sure what the parametres are for expanding the search area, but there are a lot of variables that determine the listings that come up with a search: not replying in time to a request, popularity of an area, superhost or not, keywords in your listing, etc. pretty sure nobody really specifically puts in our location with a search, still we get bookings! Try to find out what influences it and then tweak your listing to see if it gives you more requests?!

Good luck!

[Jim73]

When you do the search is the map accurate? If not, drag the map to your area and you should show up.

This happens to me when I search this one certain town near me but instead the map shows a very different area 20 miles away.