Search Results

[Ryan63]

I'd like to know more about how Airbnb delivers search results.  Frankly, whether or not I decide to stay with Airbnb or go with another booking platform depends on the answer. 

I have 123 reviews for my property, of which 120 are five stars, and four stars for the other three.  I have instant book set up, and more people have saved my property to their wish lists than any other property in a fifty mile radius.

Despite that near perfect hosting performance, I'm in the middle of page three for search results.  Doesn't matter which search terms I use.  

I've relied exclusively on Airbnb, and avoided VRBO and others, but I'm thinking twice about that.  Unless I'm missing something, Airbnb seems to be penalizing high performing hosts, and pushing newer hosts with fewer and lesser reviews to the top of search results.  

[Tim-and-Holly0]

@Ryan63:
Airbnb uses an extensive algorithm to show homes to potential guests. In reality, almost everyone sees a different list based on their browsing habits such as which homes they've viewed in the past, search criteria, etc. After personalizing the results for the guests Airbnb chooses homes based on lots more things such as listing quality, picture quality (coming soon if not here already), proximity, availability, host response time, host acceptance rate, etc. etc. New homes that match the criteria are pushed to the top for about 6 weeks before dropping back into the mix.

Of the 3 listings that I am responsible for, when using a browser Airbnb does not recognize, one of my homes is usually on page 1, one is on page five (for the past year) and the other is somewhere around page 3. My page 1 home stays booked about 95% of the time, the page 5 home is booked about 85% of the time and the page 3 home runs about 60%.

Meanwhile, my listing on VRBO has a rank of 600+ and in a year has been booked twice for (still) future dates.

To maximize my exposure and to fill in dates, I use all three of the major home listing sites. However, easily 95+% of my bookings come from Airbnb for all of my homes. I would not recommend putting all of your eggs in one basket. Use all the booking sites.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Ryan63

what allegedly impact search ranking https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Research-data-released-What-impacts-ranking/m-p/354872#M...

But it seems to me that search ranking is more or less random. Whatever I do or not do there are periods whithout any bookings and then I get few bookings or inquiries the same day.

The only thing  I noticed that usually (but not allways) works is lowering the price for min 5€ (for at least few days)  . 

[Sue-and-Andrew0]

Don't lose heart @Ryan63... As @Tim-and-Holly0 said, Airbnb will pitch your property at those guests most likely to book it.  If you're interested in how they work with data take a look at https://medium.com/airbnb-engineering

I understand that they do give new listings a boost - which I think is fair... new properties need a break too, and the opportunity to compete with those who have as many reviews as you do.  However my understanding is that it's only for a period of time.

From your post, I'm assuming that your concern over search ranking is indicative of a concern over low booking volumes?  We found in our area that our conversion rate declined somewhat - after investigation it appeared that some of our competitors had lowered their pricing which caused us to re-look ours and our conversions are back up there!

It's a constantly moving goal...

[Ben205]

@Ryan63

I don't see any reason not to put your listing on other websites. We're on 3. 90% of bookings from Airbnb, some from Owners Direct, none from TripAdvisor, so far.

There have been suggestions on this forum that making regular changes to your listing affects the search ranking. I could see that being plausible.

I suspect rewriting your words to include new descriptions and keywords could be helpful.

I also think that having 50 friends all look at your listing will improve it's position!

One thing that Owners Direct (HomeAway) offers is how your listing ranks amongst your competitors. We're 200 out of 1500, so am happy with that. You can see how making changes on their site affects this, which is useful.

Got to say, from a traveller point of view, the first photo I see on a page of homes is what attracts me in. How does yours look on the page?