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I’ve heard that having numerous photos helps in the ranking. Has anyone experimented to see if this is true?
I just added about 8 more photos to my listing and Airbnb added notations that one is too blurry (has a shallow depth of field), too bright or too dark. This doesn’t affect my stats or anything, right? It’s just helpful hints based on some algorithm?
You really don’t want more than say 20-25 pictures. Much more is visual overload. Photos is probably one of the MANY things that affect standings – I wouldn’t worry about it. Good photos definitely affect the impression of potential guests, which is much more important. Make sure they are exposed properly, focused correctly, and show you listing at its best. Cell phones, even the best, aren’t the best for taking pix – or I should say the raw photos aren’t that good. Download your cellphone pix to a photo adjustment program or app to adjust color, cropping, brightness, etc. Then upload those tweaked pix to your listing.
Photos affect your listing more than just search rankings. Its always the first thing guests look out for. I strongly advocate professionally taken photos.
I couldn’t agree more (is that a double negative?), when I am booking places, I look at the photos first, then the reviews and finally the written info.
Booking.com know this as you aren’t allowed to write your own copy (rumour has it that they employ college students to do this). I was very upset when the first line of their description of my house said that the bathroom had a shower and I couldn’t get them to change it!
Their site is based on keeping descriptions to the minimum as it is all about the photos and reviews.
Booking.com and Airbnb are the only two sites I use for travelling, I oscillate between the two depending on the length of stay and price.
Yes, your photos are one of the things that will affect your ranking on Airbnb. A photo is particularly important. The listing that you have will really benefit from a professional photo shoot as this is going to highlight the perks of your accommodation. This will eventually increase your booking rate. Also, the site is going to watermark the shoots and this will boost your SEO rankings considerably too.
I would spend some time on taking some nice pictures. As mentioned earlier this is the first thing people look at. Most important is the cover photo, as you need to draw people into clicking your listing once they search your area. Make sure everything is staged perfect when taking the picture.
Funny I just got the “superhost newsletter” via email last night. They have an article on how to take professional looking pics and edit them with your iphone. I guess if you have android you can muddle through on your own. Anyway my critical eye noticed that everything was not perfectly staged. In the closeup pic of a succulent (it’s supposed to be one of those artsy pics that make your place look like it’s featured in Architectural Digest, lol) there is a hair and some other debris on the mat in front of the plant pot. In another pic the leather sofa has a cushion out of place.
And when I had professional pics done he also didn’t stage things perfectly.
A perfectionist like me wouldn’t have published those errors.
