We are constantly striving to make it easy to discover the perfect Hipcamp. Our ranking algorithms must sort through tens of thousands of potential Hipcamps and surface the best results for millions of searches each month. This monumental task has led to our algorithms growing more sophisticated over time to adapt to changes in our business and our community. However, there are a few factors that will always have an impact on how we order search results:
- Quality - the algorithm uses a variety of signals to understand the quality of a given Hipcamp such as recommendation percentage, reviews, and host response rates. Higher quality Hipcamps tend to appear higher in search.
- User Engagement - the algorithm measures engagement using a variety of signals including how users interact with a property and how often a Hipcamp is booked. Hipcamps with more user engagement tend to appear higher in search.
- Location - when Hipcampers search for a precise area (like a city), results are weighted based on their distance from that point. However, this doesn’t mean that the closest Hipcamps will always appear first. The algorithm will consider other factors such as quality and user engagement when computing final rankings.
In addition to the factors above, search results will also vary by user depending on their search criteria and their history on Hipcamp. Because of this, results may be different for multiple people searching the same terms. For example, we may consider the types of Hipcamps a user has booked in the past to better tailor search results based on their preferences.
The algorithms will also seek to provide diversity in search results in order to ensure that users are being exposed to the full range of Hipcamps including new properties and those with a variety of characteristics.
Please note that if you are searching for your own property on Hipcamp, you may have to click through a few pages of results. As you zoom in on your region on the map, your property will get closer to the top of our search results because you’re narrowing the distance to your property on the map. This is typically how Hipcampers use our search - with a particular location in mind.
Please note that overall availability does not impact your ranking. This means that you can close your property for the winter or when you go on vacation without the worry of dropping in the charts.
If your Location section includes the correct address and location and your property is live, your property will appear in our search results and will be bookable by Hipcampers.