How to write SEO Optimized Airbnb Captions/Descriptions?

[Scott K.]

Its come to light that airbnb and vrbo use pretty aggressive SEO algorithms to put some listings higher than others. Do we have any personal knowledge, or articles, or data to try and figure out how to optimize our listings? Should we put '4 bedroom/2 bath' in the title or does airbnb penalize that because we already have it on our listing? Should we write bullet points about best features on our description, or does airbnb prefer us to write flowery prose that just talks about how much fun it'll be to stay there? What about captions? What about photos even? I know that airbnb has a color-sorting algorithm for photos, preferring certain colors and images to others.

What have you guys seen, or do you have any articles you've found from insiders with actual knowledge of the industry's tactics?

[Kenneth Rolfe]

I'm no expert as we just closed on our first STR last week (we should actually be going live tonight!), but from what I've researched here are some things that are supposed to help:

1) Good reviews

2) Good scoring on your response rates to inquiries

3) Be an active host!  Update your pricing regularly, update your listing regularly.  When Airbnb sees activity it interprets that as a host being active and the algorithm then gives more confidence to the accuracy of your listing.

4) Enable instant book.  Airbnb wants guests booking quickly.

Again, I’m just getting started and haven’t proven any of these yet so take it for what it’s worth.  Good luck!