The goal of the Kopa search ranking algorithm is to help renters find the perfect listing for their stay—and help hosts find renters who are a great fit for their space.
Our data has shown that the biggest deciding factor for renters is trust. This is why listings are sorted by reviews by default.
Understanding searchers
To understand how renters have responded to your listing in previous searches, we look at numerous signals, but two important factors are:
- Clicks in search results: When a listing is shown in search results, we consider it a good sign if a user clicks on that listing to learn more. To ensure that this is fair for our whole host community, we make sure to only count clicks from different users.
- Requests from a listing page: We look at how often renters request to book when they look at your listing. We find that successful listings do a good job of helping renters decide to book.
Understanding listings
These are some of the factors that hosts have the most control over:
- Reviews: Renters sort by reviews the most. The number of reviews is the most important factor, before the ratings themselves. While good reviews are essential to performing well in search, a small number of negative ratings or missed reviews from renters will not necessarily have a substantial impact on your ranking.
- Price: After reviews, we find that price is the biggest deciding factor that our renters look at when comparing listings. For that reason, it’s important to set a competitive price within your market.
Renter booking experience
The best way to ensure renters continue to choose Kopa is to make sure their experience is positive, so we elevate listings with hosts that have a proven track record of responsiveness.
- Response rate and response time: Responding to requests within 24 hours will boost your ranking in search.
- Rejections: Search ranking tracks how many renters request to book but are denied. Occasionally rejections are necessary, so similar to other factors in search ranking we’re interested in broad patterns over months, rather than individual rejections.
Location
Search ranking attempts to show listings in locations that renters are most interested in booking. We’ve found that this helps renters find a listing for their stay, and also generates more bookings for our host community. To do this, we consider previous bookings from our traveling professional community. We are able to learn that when a renter searches a particular town or city, where they are most likely to book.