How ads are ordered
Search results start in "Best match" order. It puts fresh ads from advertisers we have checked, with good photos and quick replies, near the top. Nobody can pay for a better place: StayLister has no paid boosts.
What "Best match" looks at
- Freshness (up to 40 points): Ads posted, or confirmed as still available by the advertiser, in the last few days come first. The points go down day by day and are gone after 30 days, so an old ad nobody has confirmed sinks.
- Advertiser checks (up to 30 points): Mobile number confirmed by text message (10), email confirmed (5) and ID checked (15). These are the same ticks you see on each ad. The checks are free for every advertiser.
- Photos (up to 15 points): More real photos of the room help you decide, so ads with photos rank higher, counting up to 5 photos.
- Reply speed (up to 15 points): Advertisers who usually reply within an hour or a few hours rank higher. New advertisers without a reply record yet get a middle score, so being new is not a penalty.
Good to know
- Ads with the same score are shown newest first.
- No paid boosts or paid placement: nobody can pay StayLister to rank higher. If we ever offer paid options, they will be clearly marked as paid and explained here first.
- Every ad is checked before it goes live. The order never decides whether an ad is shown, only where.
- You can change the order any time with "Sort by": newest first, price low to high, price high to low, or available soonest. On college and hospital pages, "Nearest first" orders by distance.
- Filters (area, price, type of room, "Verified advertisers only" and others) decide which ads are shown; the order only decides which come first.