The Tresle search ranking algorithm is designed to help buyers discover the best business listings created by motivated, responsive sellers. We look at several factors that influence each listing’s placement within our search results in order for our buyers to find their perfect match. Outside of the required fields in a listing, how various optional fields are filled can greatly impact a listing’s ranking, and therefore, its likelihood of driving buyer engagement. 

While the specifics of our algorithm are confidential, we are happy to advise sellers on how best to optimize their listings to maximize their visibility:

1. Include Accurate Financial Information
There are four categories in total that appear with each listing: Revenue, Gross Profit, Expenses, and Net Income. 

While it is not mandatory to provide information for each of these fields, doing so will allow buyers to confidently assess the business and be armed with the necessary information to make a decision on the next steps. Below are definitions of each category:

• Revenue: Total income the business received before any expenses have been subtracted.
• Gross Profit: The value after subtracting costs of goods sold (COGS) from revenue
• Expenses: Total amount spent on normal business operations. Ex: rent, marketing, payroll, etc.
• Net Income: The amount of earnings after expenses are subtracted. 

Note: if you are a QuickBooks Online customer, please take a look at how you can confidentiality integrate your QuickBooks account with your Tresle listing. 

2. Include High-Quality Photos
Showcasing your business listing with high-quality images can help you stand out from the rest. However, there are some do’s and don'ts to consider.

Do:

• Include photos of your space (business name will be blurred if visible) 
• Include photos of your product(s), if applicable 
• Include photos of company events, etc.

Don’t:

• Select blurry images
• Select photos that look like marketing ads
• Select photos that reveal sensitive information about your business (the business’s name, street address, contact information, etc.)
  

Quick Tip: if you’re struggling with finding images for your listing, consider using a stock image. You can find millions of high-quality stock photos for free here. 

3. Write A Detailed Description
Including a well-written description of your business gives buyers an opportunity to get to further understand your company. Here are some questions you’ll want to answer in your description:

• What does the company do?
• How does the business make money?
• Who, generally speaking, are your customers?
• What makes the business unique from its competitors?
• What makes your business a great investment
• What kind of buyer are you looking for?

4. Fill In The Blanks
Tresle offers plenty of optional dropdown and checkbox fields throughout the listing creation process to provide buyers with more context into your operation. The more these are filled out, the better. Items like number of employees, year the company was founded, reason for selling, if seller financing is available, etc. are all items a buyer will need to know and are attributes of a complete and high ranking listing. 

5. Be Responsive
The single best way to keep the selling process moving forward and to maintain a high ranking within Tresle is to efficiently communicate with interested buyers. While this sounds obvious, many deals fall through due to poor responsiveness and communication. Be sure to engage with buyers as soon as possible in order to get the answers to their questions and keep the dialog going. Doing so will positively affect your ranking and push your current conversion(s) further down the line. 

We are constantly updating our system to obtain the best results for buyers and sellers on the Tresle platform. If you have any additional questions about our ranking algorithm that were not addressed in this article, please contact us.