Dear all, Open rent postcode search results are not working for their search box suggested short postcode areas like NG11, only if website visitors know the ‘full postcode’ will they be able to find your property by postcode in this postcode area. It returns no adverts from any landlords in NG11 Clifton where many landlords have adverts and I also have 2 adverts but returns results 0 properties for rent?
please correct quickly the search as a landlord in NG11 requires the property to show in the search results for NG11 - these are not new adverts and applies to all landlords in this and probably other postcodes, unless NG11 is a unique programming error of the search?
Thank you again and I hope the error is fixed ASAP
This seems to be a message best sent to Openrent, rather than a question popped onto the chat forum, as Landlords & tenants chatting here are unlikely to be able to resolve this for you.
Yes, I wondered why the help suggested I get help in the Open Rent help forum when they do not even look at the problems, strange. Now to try snd find out how to contact Open Rent, they used to have a phone number
I guess they know about the error as it is their website, if anyone knows how to talk to Open Rent please advise as the Open rent forum is not for errors with their website and just for chatting about the errors which is obviously not useful when they need correcting
In the meantime I will copy the error to the Landlords forum as they obviously need to know that the postcode search is flawed and that their properties will not appear.
Looking at @Steven45’s adverts, they’re both in Clifton, which are definitely in that search area. So I think we need further clarification / explanation from @Steven45 on what they’re seeing.
If a search is done for NG11 Clifton at 1km there are 0 properties showing, is that more clear. If you see the map OpenRent display at NG11 at 1km distance you will notice it is over the middle of nowhere and not mapped correctly to Clifton, which is an error causing all adverts to not appear.
I hope this is more crystal clear check your distance setting as 1km = 0 properties and the visible Open Rent map confirms the mapping error, so all adverts in NG11 do not display if users search in only NG11
This could obviously apply to other postcodes mapped away from the correct location to force users to do a broader search, or leave the website without even knowing there are properties in NG11 due to this fault
I reported it on the phone to Open Rent and similar to you guys the operator was only mainly concerned that the properties could be found on a bigger area search, laughingly at first telling me she had 155 properties showing as she was also looking at many km’s distance but also found 0 at 1km due to bad mapping.
It seems like a bit of a mission over an obvious mapping error as it took 15 minutes on the phone to point out that NG11 properties could not be found in NG11 as the OpenRent map wrong. Simples!
I do not really understand the slow grasp of the subject, wake up all please as it’s not rocket science to search just in a postcode area and not miles away, its a search box with a distance selector under it, only the 2 parameters, so very easy to reproduce the original error reported Thank you and maybe your all missing that there is a distance selector on their website or that the map bad?
check the 1km distance and see the 0 results error and map error, thank you. I was going to reply to everyone the same but OpenRent will not let me, hopefully all people writing will see this?
Further detail added in the thread… but basically an error caused by OpenRent incorrectly mapping NG11 far away from its true location, as you will see on their map at 1km distance. NG11 at 1km does not even have Clifton showing on the map, it’s a huge error, hence returns 0 adverts when only searching in NG11. They have a distance selector that it looks like you did not use before replying and were just commenting on your broad search of many km’s bringing you 100’s of results. Do you work there Daz and if so why did you not use the distance selector on the website to look just in NG11? It is easy as only 2 parameters, postcode and distance…0 results, then see the mapping error causing it.
This error is obvious, you will reproduce it in 30 seconds and realise the fault in 3 minutes with the map Thank you
The search term and distance are linked. If you search for London vs. Clifton you’ll see different distances come back. Now user’s can override this if they like, as it seems you have done, but then you are saying you want to see properties within only 1km of the point on the map - I’m not sure why you would want to do this (and it’s not what tenants do).
Similarly a tenant could search Clifton or NG11 and increase the search area to 50km. The actual area being covered in the search is clearly displayed on the map, so there is no ambiguity.
Users can also move the centre of the search, or expand the circle by dragging it. This allows fine-grained control over the exact search area.
Given searching for NG11 does result in your property being shown, it does seem everything is working correctly.
It’s maybe worth pointing out that NG11 is a big postcode area and includes vastly more area than simply Clifton. Here is what Google maps shows for the NG11 area:
So houses in NG11 Clifton cannot be found in NG11 Clifton with results saying 0 is not an error?
Please explain
You seem to be saying it is only possible to see houses in NG11 if also including properties in many other postcode areas like NG9 and NG2 as you have to include searching many miles away?? and if people only look in NG11 you say they must look many miles away from NG11 to find properties in NG11 hidden in the properties of all the other surrounding postcodes as only looking in NG11 will return 0 adverts, even though there are many properties there.
Obviously an error as NG2 and NG9 are not NG11 and 0 properties can be found when looking in NG11
Houses in NG11 should show when searching in NG11 and not say 0
Thank you Mark, I didn’t work out how to put a photo up
Image below shows search results in NG11 with 1km radius.
It seems it works it out based on the absolute centre point of the whole post code. If user restricts search radius to 1km it doesn’t reach as far as Clifton, which is situated in NG11.
There is a definite problem, if a 1km radius is set in NG11 the search results should extend to 1km outside of the entire postcode, not its centre point.
The problem is that once the criteria is entered and user hits search, a huge message says “0 results”. This will cause many users to disappear and not try again with a bigger search radius.
Thank you Mark and yes the search is NG11 Clifton, so why does it put a circle nowhere near Clifton… an obvious mapping error missing the location and hence giving 0 results and with the search box encouraging people to use a postcode and along with NG11 Clifton, Nottingham being the suggested search of the area this is a big fault/error that is hiding all adverts.
@Steven45 there is no error because there are no properties within 1km of the centre of postcode NG11. If you search for properties within 1km of “Clifton” you’ll get 31 properties. IOW, the search is working exactly how it should based on user-entered search parameters.
I’m assuming you have never designed UI before or taken UX into account in website design.
er… no, that’s not how geolocation or mapping data sets work.
And seriously, would you want any tenants who can’t figure this out to find your property renting from you? If they can’t use a simple search engine properly, who’s going to help them understand an AST.
As it’s currently designed, it’s a perfect Darwinian filter
check your distance setting as 1km = 0 properties and the visible Open Rent map confirms the mapping error, so all adverts in NG11 do not display if users search in only NG11
Thank you and maybe your all missing that there is a distance selector on their website or that the map bad?
Thank you
