Airbnb SEO: How to Optimize a Listing to Get More Bookings

Jan 22, 2025 06:11 PM - 2 weeks ago 21990

What Is Airbnb SEO?

Airbnb hunt motor optimization (SEO) refers to the believe of applying techniques designed to thief you look much prominently successful Airbnb's hunt results, which tin lead to much imaginable bookings.

Compared to regular SEO—which intends to amended a website’s visibility successful accepted hunt engines for illustration Google—Airbnb SEO is focused connected conscionable 1 aliases a fewer listings alternatively than an full website pinch galore pages. 

Airbnb considers galore factors erstwhile determining which listings to show and successful what order, including:

  • Quality: A listing's photos, reviews, ratings, amenities, and wide work grounds impact rankings (i.e., wherever the listing appears)
  • Popularity: Guest engagement done wishlist saves, messages, and booking rates impacts visibility
  • Price: Properties pinch competitory rates compared to akin listings successful the area thin to rank higher
  • Location: Listings adjacent celebrated attractions and areas typically execute amended successful search

10 Ways to Improve Your Airbnb Search Ranking

Here are immoderate of the astir effective ways to amended your listing's visibility and pull much bookings.

1. Take Professional-Quality Photos

Compelling images are important for Airbnb hunt optimization, because the Airbnb algorithm takes photos into relationship erstwhile assessing listing quality.

Photos (especially the screen photo) are among the first things imaginable guests see, making the quality betwixt a booking and a scroll past. What’s more, value photos tin lead to higher engagement, which besides improves your rankings.

Take this high-ranking Airbnb listing of an flat successful Paris. You’ll announcement the photos are well-lit, taken from different angles, and show a cleanable apartment.

Airbnb rental portion has bright, high-quality photos that make the listing enticing to searchers.

Ideally, get a pro photographer to showcase your abstraction successful its champion light. 

If that’s not an action for you, travel Airbnb's champion practices to thief your photos guidelines out:

  • Clean and declutter your space
  • Shoot photos erstwhile rooms get the astir daylight and debar utilizing flash 
  • Take horizontal photos to activity amended pinch Airbnb's hunt show format
  • Include a operation of wide shots, mid-level shots, and close-ups to show some the larger abstraction and much circumstantial details
  • Upload high-resolution images (at slightest 1,200 x 800 pixels)
  • Add captions to item cardinal features 

2. Create a Complete Listing pinch a Compelling Title and Description

A elaborate listing helps Airbnb's algorithm understand your spot and amended lucifer it to guests’ searches. 

First, constitute a compelling title that highlights your property's unsocial trading points and encourages imaginable guests to study more. 

For example, highly-ranked listings successful London person appealing titles that mention things for illustration breath-taking views and precocious spot values. 

Airbnb hunt results shows little titles and descriptions specified arsenic riverside level pinch activity taking views aliases 12 cardinal lb Buckingham Palace duplex.

Focus connected your property's standout features, specified arsenic the views, location, aliases unsocial character. The much specific, the better. Something for illustration "10 Minutes from the London Eye" is much convincing than "Great Location."

Then, complete your description. For champion results, travel these guidelines to optimize each explanation section:

  • About this space: Lead pinch what makes your spot unsocial and special
  • The space: Detail the layout and room configurations
  • Guest access: Clarify which areas are backstage versus shared
  • Other things to note: Include applicable accusation astir parking, proscription options, and immoderate limitations

A bully illustration is this listing successful New York. It includes a elaborate explanation of the abstraction and important specifications astir parking and the neighborhood. 

The explanation notes the abstraction is successful a historical neighborhood, successful the bosom of Manhattan, afloat equipped kitchen, position of the skyline, and that parking is not included.

3. Add Amenities to Your Listing

Adding much amenities to your spot tin summation your visibility because guests often select their searches by amenities. 

According to Airbnb, the top 10 amenities guests select for are:

  • A pool
  • WiFi
  • A kitchen
  • Free parking
  • A basking tub
  • A washing instrumentality aliases dryer
  • Air conditioning aliases heating
  • Self check-in
  • TV aliases cable
  • A fireplace

When a imaginable impermanent uses the select function, Airbnb will automatically propose immoderate of those celebrated amenities for illustration Wi-Fi, aerial conditioning, and a hairsbreadth dryer:

Amenities select shows options for basking tub, tv, pool, free parking, gym, and more.

If you don’t connection these perks, see whether you tin adhd them to amended your listing’s visibility.

4. Get More Reviews & Ratings

Airbnb uses some reviews and prima ratings arsenic ranking factors successful their hunt algorithm, which intends collecting impermanent feedback tin amended your listing's visibility successful hunt results.

Guests tin time off 2 types of feedback wrong 14 days of checkout: a prima standing crossed six categories (cleanliness, accuracy, check-in, communication, location, and value) and a written reappraisal of their experience.

Review conception of the space's listing shows an wide people and reviews from group who had stayed successful the space.

To promote much (hopefully positive) ratings and reviews:

  • Leave a reappraisal aliases standing of your guests first, which mightiness promote them to do the aforesaid for you
  • Address issues quickly and respond promptly to impermanent concerns during their stays
  • Go supra expectations—small touches for illustration a invited statement aliases a database of recommended activities make memorable stays that guests mightiness beryllium much apt to complaint aliases review
  • Send a friends connection aft checkout thanking guests and politely asking for their feedback

5. Reply to Guests

Airbnb’s algorithm considers your responses to guests erstwhile ranking listings, truthful purpose to judge the mostly of bookings and beryllium arsenic punctual arsenic possible.

Airbnb considers two metrics related to replies:

  • Response rate: The percent of caller inquiries and preservation requests you responded to wrong 24 hours complete the past 30 days
  • Response time: The mean magnitude of clip it took for you to respond to each caller messages complete the past 30 days

You tin find your existent consequence capacity connected your dashboard to spot really you’re doing and whether there’s room to improve.

Those specifications are besides publically displayed connected your listing:

Meet your big conception shows your consequence complaint and time.

6. Turn On Instant Book

Turning connected Airbnb’s Instant Book feature—which lets guests book without needing your approval—can boost your listing’s visibility. 

This is because you’ll look successful searches erstwhile users person filtered for Instant Book. And it indirectly has a affirmative effect connected rankings because it speeds up your consequence time.

Instant Book is highlighted successful the hunt filters.

Before activating Instant Book, make judge it’s correct for you. 

You won’t get the chance to vet your guests earlier confirming their stays. If you person circumstantial requirements aliases preferences, it mightiness not beryllium the champion option.

8. Offer Competitive Pricing

Offering pricing that’s a spot debased compared to akin listings adjacent tin summation your visibility and besides thrust much bookings. 

Airbnb automatically shows affordable listings higher up.

And guests tin select by price. Like this:

Price scope is highlighted successful the hunt filters and shows a barroom floor plan of wherever listings autumn wrong that value range.

To boost your hunt performance, see adjusting your value aliases offering discounts. Especially during quiet periods aliases if your listing is new.

9. Maximize Your Listing’s Availability

The much elasticity you connection astir erstwhile and really agelong guests tin stay, the much apt your listing is to show for the dates guests person selected. 

(You won’t show successful results astatine each if your listing isn’t disposable during a specified day range.) 

Here are immoderate tips for optimizing your calendar:

  • Display readiness into the early arsenic acold arsenic possible
  • Block retired periods of unavailability to debar rejecting imaginable guests
  • Decrease aliases region your minimum enactment length

The higher your availability, the much chances you person to show up successful search. 

That said, don’t perpetrate to hosting personification if you won’t beryllium capable to accommodate them. Cancelations negatively effect hunt performance. 

10. Become a Superhost 

Earning Superhost position tin importantly boost your listing's visibility successful Airbnb hunt results, and it signals to imaginable guests that you connection high-quality hospitality. 

Airbnb rewards Superhosts pinch accrued vulnerability and a typical badge that appears prominently successful hunt results.

To execute Superhost status, you request to support these capacity metrics complete a 12-month period:

  • Achieve a 4.8+ wide impermanent rating
  • Host astatine slightest 10 stays aliases 3 stays that together span 100 days
  • Keep your cancellation complaint beneath 1%
  • Respond to 90% of caller messages wrong 24 hours

Airbnb evaluates these criteria each 3 months, and you'll automatically gain Superhost position erstwhile you meet each requirements. 

The badge remains connected your listing arsenic agelong arsenic you support these standards, helping it guidelines retired successful hunt results and perchance attracting much bookings.

Getting your listing to rank successful Google tin thief you look successful search results pages beyond the Airbnb level and yet lead to much bookings. 

To optimize your listing for Google, you request to find the correct keywords (terms applicable audiences participate into hunt engines) and see them successful your listing.

The process of uncovering keywords is known arsenic keyword research, and you tin do it utilizing Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool.

Open the tool, participate a seed keyword (a wide word related to your listing), for illustration “airbnb miami beach.” And click “Search.”

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You’ll spot a database of related position that users hunt for:

Keywords database to usage for Airbnb SEO efforts on pinch hunt measurement and keyword difficulty.

Look for position that are astir applicable to your listing. For example, if your listing is located successful the confederate information of Miami Beach and includes a pool, attraction connected position that align pinch that.

Then, salary typical attraction to the search volume (how often the position are searched for connected mean per month) and keyword difficulty (how competitory a keyword is).

Ideally, you’ll want to attraction connected keywords that are somewhat celebrated but not excessively competitory truthful you person a bully chance of ranking. 

Drive More Visibility pinch Airbnb SEO

SEO is 1 of the astir effective ways to maximize your listing’s capacity successful search. And you tin do it some for the Airbnb level and for hunt engines for illustration Google.

To find the applicable keywords that tin amended your listing’s visibility, effort the Keyword Magic Tool today. 

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