Airbnb Algorithm | What you NEED to know to get more bookings
Summary
TLDRThis video script outlines a comprehensive framework for optimizing Airbnb listings to increase bookings. It covers factors influencing visibility and attractiveness, such as listing details, price, ratings, and responsiveness. The speaker shares tips on improving search impressions, click-through rates, and conversion, suggesting strategies like competitive pricing, appealing thumbnails, and thorough descriptions. Additionally, maintaining a low cancellation rate is highlighted as crucial for maintaining a good algorithmic standing.
Takeaways
- 🔍 The Airbnb algorithm is not fully transparent, but understanding factors that influence it can help optimize listings for more bookings.
- 📈 Demand, or the number of potential guests looking for a specific type of accommodation, can be assessed through analytics tools like AirDNA and Price Labs.
- 🏠 Listing visibility is influenced by factors such as availability, minimum stay requirements, pricing, ratings, and how new the listing is.
- 💰 Airbnb tends to favor listings that are reasonably priced, and pricing strategies can affect a listing's visibility and attractiveness to guests.
- 🏅 Ratings are important for listing visibility, with a threshold around 4.8 suggested as a minimum to aim for.
- ❤️ The number of times a listing is wishlisted by guests can signal interest and potentially improve search ranking.
- 📸 High-quality photos and an appealing thumbnail are crucial for increasing click-through rates from search results.
- 📝 A comprehensive listing description that answers potential guest questions can reduce inquiries and increase the likelihood of a booking.
- 📲 Quick and warm responses to guest inquiries can enhance the booking conversion rate.
- 📅 A flexible cancellation policy may be more appealing to guests and is a trend observed in the market.
- 💌 Post-booking communication can help solidify the booking and reduce the likelihood of cancellations.
Q & A
What is the main topic of the video script?
-The main topic of the video script is about understanding and leveraging the Airbnb algorithm to increase bookings, based on the host's experience and observations.
How long has the host been observing the Airbnb algorithm?
-The host has been observing the Airbnb algorithm for about a year and a half.
What are the factors that affect the visibility of a listing on Airbnb search results?
-Factors affecting listing visibility include availability, minimum stay requirements, pricing, ratings, newness of the listing, and the number of times a listing has been wish-listed.
Why does the host suggest setting a minimum stay requirement of two days or less for weekend bookings?
-The host suggests this to increase the chances of the listing showing up in search results, as listings with a minimum stay of two days or less seem to appear more frequently.
What is the host's opinion on strikethrough pricing on Airbnb listings?
-The host is unsure about the effectiveness of strikethrough pricing, as they personally do not consider the original price but only look at the final price. However, they acknowledge that some guests might find it appealing as it signals a discount.
What is the significance of ratings in the Airbnb algorithm?
-Ratings are significant, as listings with higher ratings (around 4.8 or above) are less likely to be filtered out in search results, increasing their visibility.
How does the host suggest dealing with the challenge of new listings getting a boost in visibility?
-The host acknowledges that newness is beyond a host's control but suggests focusing on optimizing other factors such as ratings, pricing, and responsiveness to improve visibility.
What is the host's strategy for dealing with slow booking periods?
-The host suggests tweaking the listing description, rearranging pictures, and refreshing the listing to potentially trigger an update in search results, which they believe might generate bookings.
Why is responsiveness important in the Airbnb hosting process?
-Responsiveness is important because it is a metric that Airbnb considers favorably. Quick responses to inquiries can improve a host's standing in the algorithm and increase the likelihood of bookings.
What is the host's advice regarding the cancellation policy for Airbnb listings?
-The host suggests reviewing the market trends and adapting the cancellation policy accordingly, as a more flexible policy might be preferred by guests and could potentially reduce cancellations.
What is the host's approach to maintaining a good relationship with Airbnb guests after booking?
-The host recommends sending a personal confirmation message to convey warmth and excitement about hosting the guest, which can help prevent cancellations and build a positive relationship.
Outlines
🔍 Understanding the Airbnb Algorithm
The speaker discusses developing a framework to understand and leverage the Airbnb algorithm for increased bookings. Based on over a year of hosting experience, the framework includes factors like demand, listing visibility, and guest booking process. The speaker emphasizes the importance of analyzing market demand, optimizing listing visibility through factors like availability and pricing, and the impact of ratings and newness on search results. They also mention the influence of wish lists and click-through rates on the algorithm.
🏠 Optimizing Listing Visibility and Conversion
This paragraph delves into strategies to enhance the visibility of a listing on Airbnb, such as ensuring it meets the minimum stay requirements, competitive pricing, and maintaining a high rating threshold. The speaker also touches on the benefits of updating listings to refresh their appearance and possibly trigger bookings. They discuss the importance of listing amenities accurately, being responsive to inquiries, and considering the impact of being a Superhost. The paragraph concludes with the significance of click-through rates, thumbnail images, and pricing in attracting potential guests to view the listing.
📈 Enhancing Conversion and Reducing Cancellations
The final paragraph focuses on the conversion process, where potential guests decide to book a listing. The speaker advises on enabling direct booking with guest screening measures, providing comprehensive information to minimize inquiries, and responding quickly and warmly to any questions. They also discuss the importance of a flexible cancellation policy in line with market trends to reduce the likelihood of guests canceling. The speaker concludes by emphasizing the role of post-booking communication in solidifying the booking and potentially influencing the algorithm through reduced cancellation rates.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Algorithm
💡Impressions
💡Minimum stay requirements
💡Price
💡Ratings
💡Newness
💡Wishlist
💡Click-through rate (CTR)
💡Conversion
💡Cancellation policy
Highlights
Developed a comprehensive framework to understand and leverage the Airbnb algorithm for increased bookings.
Observations are based on over a year and a half of hosting experience with two different listings.
Algorithms can change, and the exact workings of Airbnb's are unknown, but the framework offers a robust approach to problem-solving.
Demand is the first step in the booking process, and it can be analyzed using analytics websites like AirDNA and PriceLabs.
Listing impressions are crucial; they indicate how often a listing thumbnail appears in search results.
Availability and minimum stay requirements can affect a listing's visibility in search results.
Airbnb favors listings with reasonable pricing relative to others in the area.
High ratings seem to improve a listing's position in search results, with a suggested threshold of 4.8.
New listings receive an automatic boost in search results regardless of photo quality.
The number of times a listing is wish-listed can influence its search ranking.
Click-through rate, conversion, and number of views are factors that feed back into the number of impressions a listing receives.
Categories can help a listing reach more people if it fits the criteria of what someone is searching for.
Updating a listing can potentially generate bookings, possibly due to a perceived freshness signal to the algorithm.
Listing the right amenities and being inclusive of pets and children can prevent filtering out potential guests.
Responsiveness is key; quick replies to inquiries are viewed favorably by Airbnb.
Being a Superhost may not directly impact the algorithm but is important for the verbal algorithm and overall reputation.
Click-through rate is influenced by the thumbnail image, title, and price, which should be optimized for吸引力.
Conversion is the action taken by a guest after viewing the listing; it can be improved with thorough information and quick responses to inquiries.
Cancellation policies may affect bookings and should be in line with market trends to minimize cancellations.
A personal touch in confirmation messages can reduce cancellations and improve guest-host relationships.
Transcripts
hi guys I've developed a framework of
how to look at the Airbnb algorithm and
ultimately how to use it to my advantage
to get more bookings this is based on my
observations on hosting for about a year
and a half on the two different listings
and of course algorithms can change and
no one truly really knows what's behind
the scenes at airbnbs and what the
official algorithm is but this framework
should give you at least a comprehensive
approach to problem solving now when we
think of when a guest books a house on
Airbnb there are actually many steps in
that process some are affected by the
algorithm some affect the algorithm and
some kind of have nothing to do at all
with algorithm and are completely beyond
your control first starting with the
existence of this potential guest who is
looking for a house that fits that
certain category like a beach category
tiny house category or someone who is
looking for that specific location
whether a guest exists is also just
called the demand are there a ton of
potential guests or just a few who are
looking for this specific product this
kind of information you can find on
analytics websites like air DNA and
price labs and I'll leave links to those
below you can also find just General
market information on like travel
tourism websites of that specific
location the next thing is that when
there is a potential guest looking for a
house in your area is your listing
actually showing up how many Impressions
does your listing have AKA how many
times does the little thumbnail of your
listing show up when someone searches
and also how often is this thumbnail
showing up on the first page as one of
the first few results because we all
know the lower down the list you are on
the search results the less likely
someone will eventually click on it and
eventually book there are a few factors
that I have found that impacts how my
listing is showing up on the first page
or not the first obvious one is
availability obviously if the weekend is
already booked it's not going to show up
in search anymore but the one aspect of
this you can change is in your minimum
stay requirements if someone is flexible
and they're looking for any weekend in
June for example but your minimum night
requirement is like five nights that's
not gonna show up listings seem to only
show up when the minimum night
requirement is two days or less for the
any weekend kind of booking now I
understand a lot of us especially in
weekend heavy markets we may not want to
have only short one or two night stays
on the weekend that might not be
profitable I think the way to get around
it is to set the prices maybe higher and
then counteract that with three day four
day type of discounts but your objective
here with optimizing availability from a
search result point of view is to
basically just remove barriers that
filter you out unnecessarily the second
piece of this is price Airbnb seems to
favor listings that are reasonably
priced relative to everyone else and
then I guess as a side note to this
bullet point is like the strikethrough
pricing I don't know that I as a guest
now necessarily find that to be that
appealing like I don't actually look at
the number that got strucken through
strike striked stricken through I don't
know I just look at the final number but
I could see the argument that someone
looks at that whole thing and sees that
it's discounted and like a good deal I
don't subscribe to that psychology so I
can't fully tell you but that could be
something to consider the third thing
that affects whether you show up high on
search is your ratings now it doesn't
seem like it's a linear thing like if
you have 5.0 it doesn't mean you'll
necessarily be placed in front of
someone who has a 4.9 but I believe
there is some sort of a cut off like the
first few listings rarely are places
that have like a 4.5 so I'd say like 4.8
or so is kind of the maybe a minimum
threshold you want to aim for the fourth
component is newness now that's not
something you can control but something
I want you to think about in terms of if
there are a lot of new listings in your
area they kind of automatically get a
boost regardless of how ugly their
pictures are and I see this in search
results when I test it there would
always be a couple new listings with
just strange pictures like not optimized
at all but they're new and that's why
they're there on the first page the next
factor I want to share is the hearts or
how many times someone has wish listed
your listing that tells Airbnb that your
listing is interesting at least to
somebody and I think it feeds into the
algorithm and gets you a little higher
in search to reach more people similarly
the better your next steps are in this
process like your click-through rate
your conversion your number of views
that also feeds back into the number of
Impressions you are more likely to make
next is categories obviously if someone
is searching for a category and you fit
that criteria that will help you reach
more people through that category in
that search I feel like I said category
so many times in that one sentence the
next bullet point is a question mark for
me and it might be Superstition but back
when I started I saw this video and I'm
so sorry I don't remember who made that
video but they said somehow when they
update their listing usually they get a
booking in a couple days and maybe it's
just coincidence maybe it's just in my
head but it does actually seem to work
out so uh sometimes when it's a slow
month or a slow day I just kind of go in
I tweak my description a little bit I
tweak the title a little bit I rearrange
the pictures add some more to the
caption and just kind of refreshes it so
that on the listing page it says last
updated whatever date like I said it's
probably just Superstition but it does
seem to generate results so no harm in
trying right the next couple bullet
points are pretty self-explanatory in
terms of not filtering yourself out to
potential guests so listing the right
amenities making sure you have all the
boxes checked and then allowing pets and
kids if that is right for your listing
in my opinion kind of the value
proposition of an Airbnb is not really
cost anymore unless you're doing like
the room and house thing it's more so
you get to have a big group together
where otherwise you would have had to
book separate hotel rooms and there's no
place to congregate if you're filtering
out people with kids you're really
taking out a big chunk of the market hey
real quick if you're getting value out
of this video it would really really
really really help me if you could a
subscribe and B if you end up hosting on
Airbnb consider using my link below
because you would get forty dollars as a
referral bonus and I also get a little
bit of money and it really helps to
support the channel so that I can
continue to make good free content on
YouTube so anyway thank you for your
support thank you for watching let's get
back to the video the next factor is
your responsiveness you know how on
Airbnb there's a metric of how quickly a
host responds sometimes they would say
usually within an hour or usually within
24 hours and the faster you respond
that's looked upon favorably one kind of
rabbit hole that I went down is whether
replying to an inquiry in messages count
as a response or per their official
definition you actually need to either
pre-approve or decline someone who sends
in an inquiry for it to count as a
response within that certain time frame
I don't know if I'm just reading too
much into it and I always reply in a
form of a message anyway but I think I'm
trying to get better at actually
deciding pre-approve or decline as
quickly as I can within reason just to
kind of meet this metric the last factor
that I have considered is maybe being a
super host now I don't think this
actually matters very much on Airbnb
however this is looked upon very highly
favorably in the verbal algorithm which
I'm not covering at all in this video
now moving on to the next step after
someone has seen your listing on search
results what determines whether they
will click on it to see some more right
that percentage of people who click
through to see the page is your
click-through rate or in absolute terms
the number of views you're getting on
the page on your Airbnb metrics it is
shown as the percentage impression to
listing and the main factor is that
determine how successful you are are
with this metric is of course the
thumbnail is that picture really drawing
someone in is it peaking their curiosity
there's been many other videos done on
this topic and it seems like pictures
that are at Sunset with a good view if
there's a pool it's highlighted and
something that really stands out from
the rest of the crowd for me personally
I've kind of played around with which
picture to use as my thumbnail picture
and it seems like the tropical yard by
far does the best I was hesitant to use
it because it shows nothing of the
actual house nothing on the inside
nothing of the actual structure of the
house it's just a backyard but it does
have really cool tropical plants and it
conveys the vibe and I think it's good
enough of a picture that people usually
scroll to the next one and once you
scroll you kind of keep scrolling and
you want to find a little bit more
that's my theory of why it does better
for me I think eventually I want a
thumbnail picture shot from inside the
house that can show the backyard but
also show a little bit of the house that
was actually the plan for my previous
trip to the house but that didn't pan
out and I'll link the video below where
I talked about how I failed but anyway
the title also shows up here so what are
the first few words you can use to
describe this listing some people use it
for amenities some people use it for
like a kind of a branded name I'm not
quite sure if the verdict is out yet on
which way would be the better option but
something you can play around with going
back to pictures the first few pictures
are important because if the first one
is cool people will usually scroll to
the next one and maybe the next one
after that so make sure your first few
pictures are arranged in a way that
showcases multiple parts of the house
they don't have to be like chronological
and I would argue that it shouldn't be
repetitive and make sure they're all
formatted to function well as a square
picture because that's what shows up as
a thumbnail but you also need to make
sure they work as a horizontal picture
because once someone Clicks in and that
picture expands it's a landscape picture
the last component that affects whether
someone clicks on the thumbnail is the
price if something is out of somebody's
price point they probably won't click
unless it's really that fascinating and
they just need to click on it just to
look if they're just window shopping so
my advice here is to check your
competition and make sure you're priced
appropriately say if someone is getting
a page of 10 search results and you are
one of them do you stand out in quality
in pictures in price compared to
everything else that could be showing up
on the search page all right moving on
to the fourth step of the whole booking
process is the conversion AKA is someone
who is looking at your listing on your
listing page are they eventually
deciding to take some action and the
action they take could be either
deciding not to book it at all because
they don't like what you have or they
might book it directly which would be
the most ideal option so yeah make sure
you have direct booking turned on and
you can set your settings to require
guest ID and to require positive reviews
as kind of a safety guest screening type
of measure to protect you the Third Kind
of action they might take is to ask you
a question ideally your listing has
enough information you have pictures of
every room all the different angles of
each room all the Sleeping Arrangements
all the bathrooms kind of all the things
people could ask about and you have
written out all of your descriptive
amenities what you have what's nearby
that people don't even have to have that
question because that is another barrier
someone has to go through right it's
weird but sometimes people just don't
even want to ask that question if they
see another listing that has everything
they needed and they have zero questions
left they're more likely to book the
other place the strategy should be to
minimize the number of questions you get
by having a good listing description but
when you do get questions get a really
quick response and also convey some kind
of warmth and Hospitality to anyone who
is reaching out and make sure they feel
welcoming you are excited to host them
the last piece in conversion is the
cancellation policy personally in my
market all the listings have sort of
shifted away from the strict policy that
used to be the majority now majority of
them are in The Firm cancellation policy
which is a little bit looser than strict
this kind of data you can either find on
air DNA or Price labs and I personally
use the price Labs Market dashboards and
I try to review them at least once a
month just to keep up with the trends in
the market and then finally on the fifth
step of booking hooray you got the
booking but you're not quite done yet
you want to make sure people aren't
going to cancel especially if you have a
cancellation policy that allows them to
cancel up to however many days I am not
100 certain but I have a feeling that
the percentage of cancellations if it's
really high that could impact how you
show up in search through the algorithm
people cancel for all sorts of reasons
that are beyond your control but I like
to send people a confirmation message
kind of separate from the one that
Airbnb already sends just to convey that
I am a person I am warm I am excited to
host you and I am ready to answer any
questions you have just setting that
tone will go a long way to someone
reaching out to you first to
troubleshoot something they have versus
just yeah let's just cancel whatever
let's book another place I hope this was
helpful and and if I missed anything
please leave a comment so that we can
all learn now going forward I plan to
have at least one Airbnb related video
like at least once a month however I
plan to also sprinkle in some travel
related content and house related
content and then also I've been really
excited to share with you guys a project
that I've been working on don't worry
it's not like a scammy thing it's not a
course I'm not selling you anything it's
just like a fun project that I'm just
starting and I want to take you along on
the journey but that's the next video
and I just wanted to give you a heads up
that I want to leave a little bit of
room on my channel to share that with
you guys anyway I really appreciate all
of you spending time with me and being
part of my journey here on YouTube thank
you for all your support and I will see
you again next week bye
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