Google search not returning Airbnb property

[Peggy-And-Mike0]

Hi, for years when you typed in the name of my listing, Google would return all the places to find us and usually the Airbnb link was the highest. This summer it disappeared and I contacted Help about it and they said not all properties are indexed and they couldn't do anything about it. I found someone else who had the same issue and wondered how many more are finding that Airbnb has done the same to them? And if so, did you ever get it changed back?  

The other poster said this:  <meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow, noimageindex" /> was the instruction that Airbnb put on the listing and that's why it wasn't showing.  

I'm still frustrated over the issue and wondered if anyone had any advice? 

[Bhumika]

Hi @Peggy-And-Mike0 ! Hope you are doing well🌻.

Since it has been a few weeks you posted, did you happen to get in touch with Airbnb Customer Support again to dig more into the issue? 

Has anything changed for your listing search results since you posted?

[Peggy-And-Mike0]

i'm sorry I haven't replied earlier. My interactions with Airbnb customer service were not helpful at all. They wouldn't share the meta tag with me despite asking several times to see it. 

[Lorna170]

@Peggy-And-Mike0   I sympathize.  My AirBnB bookings have dried up completely, and a google search does not show an AirBnB listing for my property.  

The last guest through AirBnB made their reservation (for this October) on 2/28/2023.  That is EIGHT MONTHS without a single AirBnB booking.  I am not sure why I am even on this platform.

Thankfully other OTAs and repeat guests have kept us busy.

[Helen3]

Hi @Lorna170 

As you know it's sadly a catch 22 situation if you booked out with other OTAs you won't be high up the rankings with Airbnb and therefore you're much less likely to get bookings on Airbnb. 

[Lorna170]

@Helen3   Very true.  However, it is disheartening that a Google search does not return the Airbnb listing link.  I do see the VRBO listing as well as the VRBO affiliate sites. 

[Helen3]

Ah I'm not sure on why that might be @Lorna170 

[Melanie318 · Accepted solution]

I create and manage websites, and have had a few owners with this same issue. Its not anything that Air bnb did or didn't do. Its your listing.. let me explain. Google implented a new search  algorithm that changes how search results come up. It searches for listings with new content and pushes those to the top of the search results. 

So, how does this affect you as a owner? You probably loaded your listing and your rates at the beginning of the year, like the rest of us and other than possibly going into to do a rate adjustment, you don't do a lot on the site.  To google that shows a site that has no new content, therefore, it drops to the bottom of the search results. It does the same thing to any website, not just Air bnb, where the content is not "fresh". 

So how do you fix it? Its a matter of loading new content on your site continously... while that sounds overwhelming - it is not.

Google only detects that there was activity on the site, not what was done. So what i have the people whose websites I built do is go in and change a sentence in the write up  - re- word it - or change one of the photos. If you really love the content that you currently have, you can go it and change it, then wait an hour and go back in and change it back.

Google will detect that as new content being added/updated and it will push your listing back up to the top of the search results. 

You will have to do it every couple of weeks for a couple of months to get you back to the top of the search results but it does work. You have to continue to do it to stay at the top. 

Does that make sense? 🙂 

[Bhumika]

Thank you for sharing such interesting details and learnings @Melanie318 ! I believe this is a very important tip and explanation for all our Hosts. I hope @Peggy-And-Mike0 have noted these tips and will share with us if anything changes for them after following these suggestions!

[Melanie318]

Happy to help! We are all in this together and by sharing our knowledge will all grow and succeed 🙂 

[Peggy-And-Mike0]

I will try it, since Airbnb customer support was no help at all. I will say I've been hosting for seven years and my content hasn't changed much at all during that time...just my rates, which I'm very actively managing. The lack of coming up in Google search is a very recent issue (six months). I appreciate you taking time to comment and I'll give it a go and report back. 

[Greg2425]

Hi Melanie,

Greg here I am a new host and running into issues with my listing.   When we search on google is shows up on vrbo and other sites in english.   When we find our airbnb listing on google it is way at the bottom and in spanish for some reason.   We talked with airbnb and checked to make sure all right items were checked and the language chosen was english.    Air bnb say google needs to correct the url?  I know what the url is and have tried numerous time to contact or report the issue but i get no response.    Do you have any ideas or suggestions?

I greatly appreciate your time,

Greg