by Scully Wan
posted on August 22, 2018
FrançaisUPDATE: For the most up-to-date search ranking info, check out this Help Center article “Improving vehicle visibility in search.”
How to make your Turo listing more visible
When travelers search for a car on Turo, they see a lineup of listings available for the time and place of the trip. Travelers can add a range of filters to their search and sort by price if they’d like, but otherwise, the options get ranked and displayed in an order determined by our search algorithm. The algorithm uses a wide variety of factors to rank listings for would-be guests.
If you’re a host, of course you want your listings to rank higher in search — cars that appear higher in the search results will likely get booked more often. The most important thing you can do to rank higher in search is to be a good host — responding to requests, fulfilling trips, and getting five-star feedback all heavily influence your listing’s search ranking. But there is a handful of settings and rules you can quickly implement that will also help you along the way.
We’ll walk through the easiest and most controllable aspects of the search algorithm, but remember, there are many other factors at play. And more than just increasing your listing’s chance to rank higher in search, these six items are simply good practices for effective Turo hosts. Try these out to maximize your listing’s search ranking:
1. Enable Book Instantly
Enabling Book Instantly helps listings rank higher. Book Instantly allows guests to book your car immediately and without your confirmation, which also helps keep your approval rate high. If you turn on Book Instantly, remember to update your car’s availability frequently to avoid cancelling unwanted requests. You can enable Book Instantly under the Trip Preferences section of your listing settings.
2. Price reasonably
Setting prices at or below the current market rate (according to the model, year, condition, and location) helps listings rank higher than listings that are overpriced. When setting your daily prices, look around on Turo, consider the prices of comparable cars in your neighborhood or city, and set your pricing accordingly.
The easiest way to make sure your listing is offered at a competitive rate is to use Automatic Pricing. Automatic Pricing is a feature that automatically adjusts your pricing to match demand and boost your earnings. You can find Automatic Pricing settings in the Pricing section of your listing settings.
3. Write detailed descriptions
Writing thorough, detailed descriptions helps listings rank higher. Not only do listings with comprehensive descriptions rank higher, but also articulating to guests what makes your car great will encourage them to hit “Book.” Include helpful information like how much space your car has and any instructions on how to operate it.
The description is the perfect place to set expectations for trips and note any special directions for pick up and drop off. And make sure to fill out the Features section completely and accurately — guests often filter for features like all-wheel drive. Here’s an example of a great listing description:
4. Update your calendar often and accurately
Updating your calendar often will help boost your listing’s search rank. Frequently updating your calendar helps you stay on top of your schedule and ensures guests won’t book your car when it’s unavailable. If you have to decline requests because your car is unavailable and you forgot to update your calendar, your acceptance rate will take a hit, which may have an effect on your search rank. So make sure you block off days you won’t be able to fulfill any trips well ahead of time.
5. Allow for higher daily mileage
When you create a listing, the default distance included is 200 miles per day — restricting a listing to fewer than 200 miles per day hurts its search ranking, so think hard before you lower the daily distance included with your cars. You also have the flexibility to set distance included per week and per month.
6. Upload better and more photos
Adding lots of photos helps listings rank higher. And besides boosting your search ranking, adding plenty of good photos to your listing is one of the best ways to get people to book your car. Guests usually aren’t comfortable booking cars with photos that are blurry, low-resolution, zoomed in too far, or taken in bad lighting.
Take high-quality photos that clearly show your car’s condition. Be sure to show the exterior from all angles and include multiple interior shots. You can add up to 20 photos to your listing.
The best way to ensure your listing has amazing photos is by using the Turo professional photography program, which is free and available in most major markets! Our photographers work around your schedule to set up a photo shoot to make your car look nice and pretty, covering all the angles with professional quality photos. Listings displaying verified photos from our photography program get 30% more requests on average. Did we mention it’s free?
Scully Wan
Scully is the Marketing Program Manager at Turo. After touring around many places in Asia and Europe, she now lives in San Francisco with her sassy Shiba Inu named Fuji.
