Ways to Optimize Your Airbnb Listing

Written by Ashley Sutphin Posted On Tuesday, 04 July 2023 00:00

Whether you’re just now listing a property on Airbnb or have been on the site for a while but want to earn more and keep it booked, your listing needs to be optimized.

People have to find your property to rent it, so how can you ensure that you’re front and center when someone’s looking for a short-term rental in your area? Once you are showing up, how can you make your listing compelling so that people choose you over the competition?

The following are five key ways to improve your bookings and earnings by optimizing your Airbnb listing.

1. Make Sure You’re Showing Up in Relevant Searches

People typically have locations and dates in mind when they go to Airbnb. They might also have amenities in mind too.

Location is a big one to focus on as far as showing up in searches. You want to ensure your listing includes how convenient it is for travelers to get from your apartment or house to the nearby attractions. Include the names of these popular places in your listing.

The Airbnb ranking algorithm is also geared towards the hosts who provide the best experiences for their guests. If you want to be seen first, one thing you can do right now is turn on the instant booking feature.

You want to decline as few bookings as you can, and you also want to be very responsive to everyone. The faster you can respond, the more you’re likely to be rewarded in the algorithm.

Of course, those reviews from previous guests are critical as well.

The more you can match your price to the Airbnb price tips, the better you’re likely to rank. If you enable Smart Pricing, the benefits are similar.

Make sure you complete your entire profile—try to put some text in all the fields.

2. Showcase Beautiful Pictures

If you haven’t yet gotten a professional photographer, it’s one of the best investments you can make into your Airbnb business. Your potential guests see your photos first and foremost, so they need to look great.

You do want to manage expectations, though. Be realistic with your photos, but frame everything in the best possible light, literally and figuratively.

Aim to have at least a dozen photos that should show all the best parts of your rental.

3. Price It Right

You need to research to ensure you’re competitively pricing your property with the other rentals in your area. You don’t need to be the cheapest to be competitive. If you’re pricing your rental too low, people will think there’s something wrong with it.

4. Know Your Audience

When you’re optimizing your listing and writing your description, you want to feel like you’re speaking directly to your ideal targeted guest. Create a guest persona, or maybe a few. Get detailed here and think about the travelers most likely to rent from you.

Are they business travelers, couples, or families, for example?

You can use marketing techniques and complete personas as if it’s an actual guest, and then as you write your description and listing content, you can be more conversational because you’ll feel like you’re talking to this person.

5. Create a Description That Converts

Finally, once you have guest personas, you might be rewriting or sprucing up your listing. Again, think like a marketer. You want a listing that converts. Once you’re showing up in the Airbnb search engine and you have the attention of potential renters, you need to convince them to stay with you.

In your description, define your main selling points. These are three to five things that make your rental unique above all the others.

You also want to write your description in a way that can be scanned easily. People are just looking for the key points, so keep everything brief and to the point. Use bullet points and subheadings whenever you can.

As mentioned above, make sure you’re using local attractions and landmarks.

You can then wrap it all up with a call-to-action.

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