“How do I boost my search result rankings?” This is a question many hosts ask themselves at one point or another. We have set out to discover exactly what factors play into search result rankings and cultivated some methods for improving your placement through Airbnb’s SEO.

Some of the many factors that affect where you place in an Airbnb search are listed below. Although there are many factors you cannot control, there are just as many that you CAN control. Let’s start with what we CAN control:

1. Listing details: Review, and review again. Guests are very particular about what they want so it is imperative to review your amenities. There are many more detailed options that are initially presented to you. This is important because no matter how high you “rank” you might get filtered out by someone searching with a “microwave” filter on, even if your place actually has a microwave! Be as detailed as possible. Note: Airbnb recently added new amenity categories you might not even be aware of.
2. Price: Setting a competitive price can also boost your search rankings, since the best-priced listings in any given region tend to be listed higher. The algorithm takes into account your total price before taxes, including any discounts or extra fees.
3. Instant book: When you allow Instant Book, it can boost your search rankings. However, Airbnb also notes that you can rank well without using Instant Book, since there are so many other factors in play.

There are many controllable factors that play into how high your listing appears in the Airbnb search rankings, but there are an equal amount that CANNOT be controlled. According to Airbnb, here are three uncontrollable factors that affect where your listing is placed on the search results:

1. Guest needs: As a general category, “guest needs” takes into account the location a guest is searching in, previous trips they’ve taken, places on their Wish List, listings they’ve clicked on, and more.
2. Trip details: Airbnb takes into account how many guests are traveling, the length of the trip, how far in advance one’s booking, and their maximum/minimum prices.
3. How attractive your listing is to guests: Airbnb measures attractiveness to guests in several ways: first, how often guests click on your listing. Second, how many bookings you accept. Third, how many people add your listing to their wish list. Of course, you can definitely boost your listing’s attractiveness with great photography!

A few personal tips are: remember where you are and who you’re trying to outperform. If you’re in a remote place and there aren’t that many listings, you do not need to sacrifice your ability to screen potentially bad guests by enabling Instant Book just to be seen by potential guests. Hopefully the research we put into learning about Airbnb’s search result algorithm will help boost your listing! There’s nothing better than ensuring your guests have a good experience to get great reviews and improve your ranking.