Appearing higher in booking channel search results can significantly boost visibility, increase bookings, and ultimately, drive revenue. However, with a vast number of properties competing for attention, standing out requires a solid understanding of how ranking algorithms work and how to optimize your listing accordingly. This guide outlines the key factors influencing your ranking and offers actionable tips to help you rank better.
Recommendations to boost your ranking
Ranking algorithms prioritize listings that best match guest preferences, market trends, and property performance. The ratio of property views to bookings is also critical. If users frequently view your listing but do not book, the algorithm may affect your ranking. To improve your listing's visibility and attract more bookings, follow these targeted recommendations.
Availability and pricing
Listings with higher availability and competitive pricing are more likely to appear at the top of search results. Listings with similar guest capacity and amenities that are priced lower than comparable ones in the area generally achieve a higher ranking in search results. To optimize your availability and pricing strategy, consider the following actions:
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Manage your rates and availability
Regularly update your rates to stay competitive. Guesty provides a robust suite of pricing tools and availability tools to manage your rates and control when a listing can be booked, maximize income, and increase occupancy to make your listing stand out. Use rate strategies and/or Guesty's PriceOptimizer to adjust listing prices in real-time according to specific rules and market trends. Create customized rate plans to attract a wider variety of guests.
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Offer attractive promotions
Create special offers and packages to entice potential guests. Price reductions such as coupons, discounts, and promotions can help you stand out from the competition and increase your chances of securing bookings. Learn how to apply multiple price reductions on a listing.
Guest reviews and ratings
Positive reviews and high ratings can significantly improve your ranking. Booking channels value the experiences of previous guests and rewards properties that consistently provide excellent service. To improve your guest reviews and ratings, consider the following strategies:
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Secure positive guest reviews
Encourage guests to leave reviews after their stay and facilitate trust by responding whenever possible. Positive reviews not only attract potential guests but also improve your credibility and ranking. Read our best practices on how to increase your guest review ratings.
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Streamline communications
Streamline your workflow and ensure timely, consistent and personalized communication with your guests to maintain a high response rate. Set up saved replies to ensure prompt responses and use message automations to automate communication throughout the reservation timeline.
Location and proximity to landmarks
The convenience and accessibility of a property’s location, particularly its proximity to popular tourist attractions and transportation hubs, are important factors in the ranking algorithm. To make your property's location stand out, follow these recommendations:
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Optimize your property description
Ensure your property description is detailed, accurate, and highlights unique selling points. Use SEO keywords relevant to your location and amenities to improve search engine rankings. Learn more about listing descriptions to attract guests.
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Highlight nearby attractions
Emphasize the convenience of your property’s location by highlighting nearby attractions, restaurants, and transportation options in your description. This can make your listing more appealing to travelers. Leverage Guesty's links widget to find services near the listing's property that could be useful to send to your guests.
Performance and engagement
A property’s overall performance, including responsiveness to guest inquiries, the number of bookings, and interaction with the platform, can influence its ranking. To enhance your property's performance and engagement, consider these key strategies:
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Engage with potential guests
Respond promptly to guest inquiries and messages. Responsiveness is often a ranking factor for booking channels, so prioritize communication to improve your chances of securing bookings. Leverage Guesty's integrated AI-generated response tool, ReplyAI, to handle queries 24/7.
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Provide accurate and detailed amenities information
List all amenities accurately to manage guest expectations. Include details such as Wi-Fi availability, parking facilities, and breakfast options to help guests make informed decisions.
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Showcase high-quality photos
Invest in professional photography to create a positive first impression. High-quality images can significantly increase the likelihood of bookings, as they help potential guests visualize their experience. Learn more about managing your listing's photos.
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Add custom host profile
Stand out from the competition, and set expectations with guests by adding company information to your listings.
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Go sustainable
Incorporate sustainable practices into your property management. By highlighting eco-friendly accommodations, and promoting your sustainability efforts, you can attract a niche market and improve your ranking.
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Consider accessibility
Implement accessibility features such as ramps, elevators, and accessible rooms. Highlighting these features can attract guests with specific needs and improve your ranking.
Advanced strategies to enhance performance
In addition to these recommendations, read below to learn more about advanced, channel-specific strategies to further boost the performance of your listings.
Airbnb
Become a Superhost
Top-performing hosts enjoy benefits such as increased visibility and access to special rewards, with a distinct badge on profiles and listings to highlight their outstanding hosting abilities. Learn more about what's required to be a Superhost.
Maximize communication efforts
Airbnb users can set up auto responses in Guesty to ensure potential guests receive a prompt response.
Utilize Airbnb Pro Photography
For no upfront costs, Airbnb provides professional photographers help you elevate your listing to attract more guests. Learn more about Airbnb's pro photography program.
Set up instant booking
Instant Book can simplify the booking process and help your listing stand out. Learn more to understand how instant book benefits both hosts and guests.
Implement Airbnb categories
Airbnb categories help guests discover unique properties based on their specific needs. Learn more about how Airbnb categories work.
Learn more about how Airbnb search results work or read their top tips to help improve your ranking in search results.
Booking.com
Leverage Extranet tools
Booking.com’s Extranet offers valuable tools for property management. Use the Price-related dashboard to compare your prices with competitors, and monitor your ranking and performance using the Ranking dashboard. The Analytics dashboard provides real-time insights into bookings, customer behavior, and sales statistics, helping you optimize your listing.
Exercise dynamic pricing
Implement dynamic pricing strategies based on market conditions and demand. Adjust room rates according to the season, day of the week, or booking trends to maximize revenue.
Join Booking.com’s programs
Consider joining the Genius Program or the Preferred Partner Program to boost your visibility. These programs offer special tagging, custom banners, and listing badges that can increase your page views and bookings.
Boost visibility with tools
Use Booking.com’s visibility booster tool to gain visibility during low periods or in-demand times like long weekends. This tool can help you maintain a strong presence even when market conditions fluctuate.
Participate in Booking Network Sponsored Ads
Reach a wider audience, attract more bookings, and increase exposure by participating in Booking Sponsored Ads.
Learn more about Booking.con's commercial insights for success to grow your business.
Vrbo
Aim for Vrbo Premier Host status
Vrbo recognizes hosts who consistently provide exceptional guest experiences by granting Premier Host badges, evaluated every quarter.
Set up instant booking
Vrbo acknowledges hosts who enable instant booking to eliminate any uncertainties during the booking process, creating trust with guests.
Join the Fast Start program
The Vrbo Fast Start program helps new vacation rental owners quickly gain visibility and reach Premier Host status by reducing barriers like listing optimization and boosting search rankings. It allows importing reviews from other platforms to build trust.
Implement MarketMarker to ensure competitive rates
MarketMaker is a tool that lets you analyze your market's average nightly rates for both booked and unbooked properties over the coming year. It provides data to help you set competitive rates for your listings based on the market trends..
Direct bookings
Read our article about best practices for Guesty direct bookings to further boost the performance of your listings for direct bookings from your website.