Airbnb SEO: 9 Tips to Improve Your Search Ranking 2024

As a vacation rental host, it is essential to make sure that your listing is at the top when a guest is searching. But with so many listings to compete with, how can you get yours to stand out? Here are some tips to improve your Airbnb ranking that have been proven effective by countless hosts, from choosing the cover photo to getting good reviews.

1. Setting the right price

Airbnb’s search algorithm prioritizes the total price of a listing before taxes (including fees and discounts), so setting a competitive price and maintaining high quality can help improve your ranking on Airbnb and other platforms, because listings offering the best value in any given region tend to rank higher in search results.

When listing your property on Airbnb, it will give you an estimated price to charge based on the amenities, location, and features of your property, but it won’t put you ahead of the competition.

The best thing to do is take a look at other properties in the area, similar listings, and see what they’re priced at. And then, price yours a little lower to stand out and get more views and bookings.

Going forward, you can check out the smart pricing tool. It lets you set a minimum and maximum price and gives you recommendations based on similar listings in your area.

2. Choosing nice photos

Photos are super important because that’s what guests see first, and your first photo is what shows up in search results, the more clicks it attracts, the higher Airbnb ranking you will get. So, make sure that it represents the best of your listing.

Even if you have the lowest prices, bad photographs can potentially ruin any chance of making a booking as guests don’t want to stay somewhere that looks unappealing.

Tips.

• It should be a high-definition image that shows the best part of your listing, do not use photos of the bathroom, meaningless scenery, etc.
• try a good mix of wide shots to make the space look more spacious.
• it should be bright and intriguing enough for people to click through and see more.
• If you are unable to take a captivating image, consider a professional photographer (Airbnb can offer you a paid photographer). If a professional photographer is out of your budget, find a part-time photographer.

3. Perfecting your title & description

Choose a unique and descriptive title, preferably one that includes the location, property features or style, and the most important information.

Also, keep it brief. Details can live in the amenity section.

Descriptions help not only sell your space but tell the story of your property – Guests on Airbnb are looking for unique experiences. So it’ll help to let your personality and hosting style come through in your descriptions.

4. Owning your calendar and booking

Airbnb ranking algorithm factors in your listing’s availability. The more open dates you offer on your calendar, the more likely your listing will meet a guest’s search criteria and appear in their search results.

You need to keep in mind to avoid double bookings since this is one of the biggest problems you might face once you start listing on multiple channels to increase your bookings – the cancellations and penalties could badly hurt your ranking as a host.

Keeping an eye on each platform 24/7 by yourself is not possible, you can use Hostex vacation rental management platform to sync your calendars and reservations, once a date is booked on one channel, the other channels will automatically close for that date.

5. Activate Instant Book

It is widely known that turning on Instant Book can improve your Airbnb ranking and become more appealing to guests. Not only will it help you get more bookings but it will free up your time as you don’t have to respond to each request for a booking, you’ll garner more guest interest, and it will boost your chances of becoming a Superhost.

By turning on Instant Book you have to make sure calendars on all the channels (Booking.com, Homeaway, etc) are synchronized, so you don’t get any double bookings – Hostex is the best way to achieve that.

6. Respond ASAP to guest inquiries

Responding to inquiries as soon as possible will improve your search ranking on Airbnb, and it’ll help to garner trust from your guests and they are more likely to get in touch and book with you. But most of the queries asked by guests are usually the same, the repetitive answering can be a boring tedious task for a host.

With Automated Messaging, you can automatically respond to all inquiries 7×24, it saves up to 70% of your daily communication work.

7. Getting good reviews

Your ability to set guest expectations in your listing description, then meet or exceed them as a Host, typically improves your search ranking on Airbnb over time.

According to the Airbnb ranking algorithm, providing accurate details about your place and clearly communicating with guests can lead to higher ratings and reviews of their stays with you.

With Hostex’s automation tools, you can send a review automatically after your guests checking-out, and remind guests to give a good review. It can also help you avoid customer service complaints, which can negatively affect your listing’s ranking.

8. Becoming a Superhost

Airbnb ranking algorithm also considers whether you’re a Superhost—the term for a highly rated, experienced Host—or if you’re meeting some or all of the requirements to become one.

To qualify, listing owner with an account in good standing who has met the following criteria:

• Completed at least 10 trips or 3 reservations that total at least 100 nights
• Maintained a 90% response rate or higher
• Maintained a less than 1% cancellation rate, with exceptions made for those that fall under our Extenuating Circumstances policy
• Maintained a 4.8 overall rating (A review counts towards Superhost status when either both the guest and the Host have submitted a review, or the 14-day window for reviews is over, whichever comes first).

Remember, guests always have the option to filter their search results to access only listings offered by Superhosts.

9. Meeting Plus program standards

The standards are a collection of criteria that sets the bar for well-designed spaces and exceptional hosts. Based on feedback from guests, top-performing hosts, and hospitality leaders, these standards reflect the style, comfort, and hospitality elements that travelers appreciate most.

Meeting the Plus program standards helps hosts delight their guests and earn great reviews. In addition, when all stays deliver on these high standards, it helps guests know they can expect a consistent level of quality from an Airbnb Plus stay, making the program designation more valuable.

---

Some of these ranking factors are publicly stated by Airbnb, however, most are kept behind the Airbnb ranking algorithm which works by analyzing multiple different data points for each and every listing. So, there is no straightforward answer to “How do I get my rankings higher on Airbnb?”

But, the algorithm aims to match guests with ideal listings as quickly and effectively as possible, so although this list isn’t 100% conclusive, it’s a very good place to start.