@Lizzie @Ann72 @Sarah977 I have been so frustrated by Airbnb's search algorithm. One of the best articles, (in my opinion), written about Airbnb's SEO states, "Airbnb is practicing 2009-era SEO" as opposed to 2019-era SEO. The article can be found here: https://www.sistrix.com/blog/2009-vs-2019-seo-how-hometogo-overtook-airbnb/ or Google the article title, "2009 vs 2019 SEO. How HomeToGo Overtook Airbnb" by Juan Gonzales.
After spending hours on the phone with Airbnb and being promised a non-existant return phone call by someone on their "technical" team, I gave up understanding how their search algorithm works. Of interest is, as @Sarah977 mentions, 2 or 3 people can be in the same location, using the same browser, etc and yet different results are displayed.
I did my own video after unsuccessfully attempting to bring my house up after limiting my search parameters here: https://vimeo.com/290062866.
I was told after getting my STR, (short term rental), permit that my home would come up in search more often as hosts who were "Superhosts" would lose their Superhost status if they did not conform to our new, (as of Feb 2019), STR permit requirements here in San Antonio. However, I have noticed that was absolutely NOT the truth as there are many local hosts here in San Antonio who do NOT have their STR permit and have not lost their Superhost status. According to Airbnb, Superhosts get brought up in search more often than those who do not have Superhost status.
At the end of the day, Airbnb is more focused optimizing for search, (i.e. their ability to make money), vs. focusing on the user or customer. I love what Dominik Schwartz, Chief Inbound Officer at HomeToGo, has to say about search: “The user is at the center. No tricks, no shortcuts because we don’t optimise for search machines, we optimise for people. Visibility is, so to speak, the side-effect of a great technical website and great content website.”
Personally, I feel that Airbnb needs to focus more on people; both hosts and guests needs.
Julieanna