STR Listing SEO Audit Spreadsheet – Airbnb Search Ranking Checklist (Excel/Sheets)

Run your rentals before they run you. Listing SEO audit for Airbnb and STR hosts. Scores your listing across 25 weighted criteria, gives you a specific fix for every red flag. Editable Excel.

Your occupancy is sitting at 65%. Comps in your market are hitting 80%. You don't know if it's the title, the photos, the cancellation policy, or your response time. Most "Airbnb tips" articles tell you to "improve your photos" — they don't tell you that your cover should be exterior, not the bedroom, and that 19 photos is six short of the threshold where the algorithm stops penalizing you.

This audit scores your listing across 25 criteria in 5 categories — Title, Description, Photos, Amenities, Trust Signals — and pairs every red flag with a same-row specific fix. No "improve your photos." Real fixes you can ship in an afternoon.

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WHAT'S INCLUDED
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Excel workbook (4 tabs in Lite, 6 in Full):

- Start — overall score 0-100, top 3 fixes prioritized by impact, re-audit date input
- Listing Inputs — paste your title, description, amenity list, photo notes, response metrics, cancellation policy. ~30 fields.
- Audit Score — 25 weighted criteria (40 in Full), each scored Yes / No / Partial. Each row includes the criterion, the weight, your points, and a same-row specific fix. 5 category subtotals plus an overall percentage.
- Re-audit Tracker — date scheduling and a 5-row score history so you can see your trajectory across audits

Full version (own-site $47) adds two tabs:
- Top-5 Comp Compare — paste 5 competitor listings, see a side-by-side weakness map across all 40 criteria. Reveals exactly where you're behind comps.
- Methodology — How We Score — public scoring rubric. Every criterion includes its weight, why it matters, the source (Airbnb published / host community / data study), and the last-verified date. Most Etsy SEO audits are black boxes. This one shows its work.

Two-problem separation: Airbnb's algorithm factors (response time, instant book, cancellation, completeness) are scored separately from guest-conversion factors (photos, copy, amenities). Hosts conflate these and fix the wrong one. The audit doesn't.

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WHY THIS PAYS FOR ITSELF
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A 5-point occupancy lift on a $245 ADR property at 30 booked nights/month is roughly $440/month — call it $5,000/year. That's a $27 audit returning a four-figure annual lift if even one fix lands.

Real listings don't score 92%. They score 60-75%. The gap between those scores and 90% is six concrete fixes — most of them free, most of them shippable in a single afternoon.

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WHO IT'S FOR
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- Airbnb and VRBO hosts watching occupancy lag market comps
- Hosts who've read 30 "Airbnb tips" blog posts and want a checklist instead
- Multi-property operators auditing each listing separately
- Co-hosts or property managers auditing client listings before takeover
- New hosts setting up their first listing — the audit catches mistakes before they cost you bookings

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HOW IT WORKS
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1. Purchase → instant download
2. Open Listing Inputs — paste your title, description, photo metrics, amenities, response stats (15 minutes)
3. Open Audit Score — every criterion auto-scores. Red rows are your top fixes.
4. Open Start — see your overall score and the top 3 fixes ranked by impact
5. Ship the fixes. Re-audit in 30 days. Log the new score in the Re-audit Tracker.

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LITE VS FULL
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Lite (this listing, $27): 25 most-impactful criteria. Audit + fix list + re-audit tracker. ~70% of the value.

Full ($47 at thestrledger.com): full 40 criteria, public Methodology tab (every criterion sourced and dated), and the Top-5 Comp Compare tab. Upgrade link included inside the Lite workbook.

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FILE COMPATIBILITY
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Microsoft Excel 2016+ (Windows and Mac)
Microsoft Excel 365
Google Sheets (imports cleanly)

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FAQ
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Q: Does this scrape my listing automatically?
A: No. You paste your title, description, amenity count, and metrics manually. We don't scrape Airbnb because their terms prohibit it and the data goes stale fast either way.

Q: Will following the audit guarantee higher rankings?
A: No. Airbnb's algorithm is opaque and weights signals we can't see. The audit covers Airbnb's published ranking factors, host-community consensus, and documented data studies. Following it raises your score on the things we know matter — it does not promise position #1.

Q: Why does my real listing only score 67%?...