Boosting your Airbnb ranking can significantly increase your property’s visibility and booking rates. With over 6.6 million active listings, you need strategic efforts to make your short-term rental stand out and rank higher in Airbnb searches. 

Reaching the ranking of #1 of your Airbnb listing comes with numerous benefits. The more guests see your listing, the more likely you are to receive bookings. Increased bookings lead to better occupancy rates, more revenue, and higher Airbnb cap rates.

When guests search for a place to stay, they use specific keywords related to the location, space, and experience they want. These keywords are essential for Airbnb SEO. However, simply including the right keywords in your listing title and description isn’t enough to secure the top spot in search results.

So, what else can you do to improve your Airbnb ranking? Let’s explore the additional strategies that can help your listing stand out and rank higher.

While paid tools and services can offer advantages, there are plenty of free tools that can help you enhance your listing, optimize your profile, and ultimately improve your ranking on Airbnb. Here’s a list of the best free tools to help you achieve that goal.

How does the Airbnb SEO algorithm work:

When sorting listings for guest searches, the algorithm places significant emphasis on three main aspects: quality, popularity, and price. Quality encompasses listing photos, features, title, description, reviews, and more. Popularity indicates how frequently guests interact with the listing, including saving it, booking it, and communicating with the host. Price reflects the nightly rates compared to similar properties in the local market, with lower prices receiving preference to benefit guests.

Photography and media for your Airbnb:

 

Which Airbnb listing will get more bookings?

A picture is worth a thousand words. Do it by yourself at no-cost or hire a pro

 Airbnb allows you to add up to 100 photos for a listing. However, it’s important to remember the quality over quantity principle. 

To attract potential guests and differentiate your rental from others in the area, ensure your listing includes comprehensive photos and floor plans covering all rooms and spaces. Present different angles and highlight the amenities your property offers. This straightforward approach convinces guests that your rental is better than your competition and encourages them to book with you.

If you’re unsure about coordinating the photography process yourself, Airbnb offers professional photography services in select markets. Alternatively, you can find a real estate photographer in your area.

Upload professional photos as soon as you create your Airbnb listing – this can have an immediate effect and get your listing to rank higher on Airbnb. Even adding a floor plan is a green sign for Airbnb to take it into consideration for their algorithms. Whenever you make significant improvements to the property, update the visuals. It’s essential to highlight the positives of your property and ensure that the rental matches the listing accurately to avoid negative comments that could impact your ranking.

CubiCasa App for Free floor plans 

Website: https://www.cubi.casa/

CubiCasa is an easy-to-use mobile app that you can use to create free 2D floor plans for your Airbnb listings. Stand out from competition by including the second most valuable feature according to Zillow. LITE floor plans automatically include room dimensions and room labels and shows the flow of the rooms. Help your potential guests understand all the special features of your property and how the rooms connect. This strategy will leave a lasting impression, as your prospective clients will be able to imagine how they will utilize the space for their vacation or staycation at a glance. The best part? It takes only 5 minutes of your time to scan a property with this app. As a result, you will receive a professional floor plan in high resolution in JPG or PNG format.

If you want to try their PLUS 3D features, you can also purchase a professional 3D video render walkthrough of your property, from the same 5-minutes scan. You’ll be amazed how easy it is.

@cubicasa

🏡 Step into luxury living at 5325 Legend Oaks! 🌟 🔑 Tyler Smith from Royl Photography completed a 3D render for this custom-built masterpiece (just from a CubiCasa scan). With 6 Bedrooms and 5.5 Bathrooms sprawled across 4,000 SQFT includes an attached 36-Foot RV garage, expansive game room and a guest room — this is a perfect retreat for family fun and entertainment. #3drenders #realestatehacks #walkthrough #realestatemarketing #floorplanapp

♬ original sound – CubiCasa – CubiCasa

Canva

Website: https://www.canva.com/en_gb/

A valuable strategy to enhance your Airbnb SEO is by incorporating a guidebook into your listing. Airbnb provides a dedicated feature for this purpose, enabling you to offer personalized recommendations to potential guests. You can provide insights on maximizing their experience at your property and exploring the surrounding area by highlighting top attractions, personal favorites, and must-do activities. According to Airbnb, listings with guidebooks often experience higher booking rates. Guest satisfaction is key!

Even if you’re a remote investor with limited knowledge of the local market and attractions, starting with a basic guidebook and gradually expanding it over time is beneficial. Adding content to the guidebook when you first list your property can provide an immediate boost to its appeal.

Canva is a graphic design tool that enables you to create free high-quality visuals for your Airbnb listing. You can search for existing templates on Canva and start updating it with your own details. Alternatively, you can use it to enhance your photos and create compelling marketing materials.

How It Helps:

• Easy to generate guidebooks for your Airbnb guests
• Design stunning images and infographics that highlight your property’s features.
• Create eye-catching social media posts to promote your listing.
• Improve the overall visual appeal of your listing, making it more attractive to potential guests.

CapCut

Website: https://www.capcut.com/

CapCut is a mobile app that you can use for free for multiple purposes, even for social media posts and reels. 

You can easily make Promotional Videos of your listings and share them on social media platforms (Instagram, Facebook, TikTok) or other marketing channels to attract more guests.

Capcut also allows you to enhance your Listing Photos by adjusting brightness, contrast, and colors. You can also add Text and Graphics to highlight key features of the property or adding captions to listing photos.

Chat GPT

Website: https://openai.com/index/chatgpt/

Chat GPT is an AI tool that can help you write engaging descriptions for all your Airbnb listings. You can also ask Chat GPT to correct the grammar, rewrite the listings in a shorter and more clear way. Consider it your writing assistant that helps you create clear and error-free content. 

Pro tip: Improve your local SEO on Airbnb with AI

Highlight nearby local attractions (for any category) and public transportation options. This will help you rank for more keywords both on Airbnb and Google. Chat GPT can help you a ton if you ask this question: “What are the top local attractions next to my city (write your city name)? 

Your location has no local attractions? Worry not, write how your Airbnb can be the perfect spot for a retreat, couple vacation or stargazing (anything that makes your property different or the best for your clients). Have amenities that can wow your guests? Write them down and ask Chat GPT to prepare a well-optimized description to appeal to your target audiences.

How It Helps:

• Ensures your listing descriptions and communications highlight the best features of your Airbnb and its surroundings in an error-free manner
• Improves readability and engagement with suggestions for better phrasing.
• Helps maintain a professional tone in all your written materials.

Pro tip:

During the listing process, you have the option to enter amenities, and you can continue to add more as they become available. The more amenities you can provide and check off on your listing, the better it is for Airbnb SEO and occupancy rates. 

Airbnb Smart Pricing

Website: airbnb.com

Airbnb’s own Smart Pricing tool helps you automatically adjust your nightly prices based on market demand and other factors.

How It Helps:

• Ensures your pricing is competitive and attractive to potential guests.
• Increases the likelihood of bookings by adapting to market trends.
• Helps maintain high occupancy rates by adjusting prices in real-time.

Reviews

In certain real estate markets, competition is fierce, with comparable properties boasting over 500+ guest reviews. In such cases, obtaining just a few dozen reviews may not significantly impact your listing. Aim to surpass the 500 review count to stand out in these highly competitive markets.

Conversely, in other markets, listings may have only 5-20 reviews on average. If you manage to accumulate 20 reviews for your property, you’ll already be ahead of the competition in one aspect of Airbnb SEO. Therefore, understanding the dynamics of your specific market is crucial for setting realistic goals and optimizing your listing effectively.

Set up a high goal: To achieve Superhost Status. You will get it once you reach these numbers: 4.8+ overall rating, 10+ stays, <1% cancellation rate, and 90%+ response rate.

Here is a free way to reach more reviews:

Airbnb has implemented an effective solution to encourage mutual reviews between hosts and guests. They’ve introduced double-blind reviews, where guests are notified once a host leaves a review. However, guests can only view the review if they also leave one for the host or after a 14-day period.

To maximize your chances of receiving reviews, take advantage of this system by reviewing every guest who stays with you. This proactive approach significantly enhances the likelihood of receiving reviews in return.

STR Success Stories

Terri-Leigh Huleis

Find out how a stay-at-home mom turned into “Accidental” Investor with a $600k/year real estate business.

Terri-Leigh Huleis turned her passion for interior design and her skills to build a successful portfolio with short-term rentals.

Her team use CubiCasa scans for detailed floor plans and they work closely with real estate photographers.

Watch the BiggerPockets podcast to learn more about this inspiring story.

Tara Jenkins

Mid-term Rentals Saved Tara After Losing $30k In The Stock Market

In this week’s riveting episode of Furnished Finder’s podcast, The Landlord Diaries, we sit down with Tara Jenkins from Chicago, Illinois. Tara is not only a mother of three with multiple degrees in hospitality, but she also has a profound love for travel. She masterfully manages five hybrid short-term/mid-term rental (STR/MTR) properties—four local and one out-of-state in Palm Harbor, FL.

Essential Tools: See why Tara recommends adding CubiCasa to your MTR toolkit.
Join us for an episode filled with valuable insights and practical tips that can help transform your rental business. Don’t miss out on learning how Tara bounced back from a significant financial loss to create a safer and more profitable landlording strategy!

Conclusion

Improving your Airbnb ranking doesn’t require a big budget. By leveraging these free tools, you can enhance your listing, optimize your marketing strategies, and attract more guests. Start using these tools today to see a noticeable improvement in your Airbnb ranking and booking rates. Happy hosting!

Regularly update your listing to reflect any changes in your property or guest demand. Whether you add new amenities, mention local attractions, or offer experiences, keeping your listing up-to-date is crucial for maximizing its performance.