Hi @DebbyAndDazzle: Yes, stick to your position. I mean, it’s what works for you, right? It’s like what’s your favorite flavor of ice cream?
I don’t know if anyone’s mentioned this, but the main reason most listings have a home photo first is probably due to the UI from the PP side. Home photos are added first in the “Your home” section. Then pet photos are added in “Your pets,” so they come later. What’s a bit quirky is that the cover photo can be only a photo from “Your home.” So to get the first photo to be a pet, you’d have to “rock the boat” and purposely upload a pet photo when it asks for photos of bedroom/bathroom/etc.
Also, you can rearrange only photos in “Your home,” not “Your pets.” To do the latter, you’d have to manually delete and re-upload to get the order you want. (Yes, I’ve reported that to Member Services.)
Personally, my view is more “meta”: A cover photo should spark joy, but it should also stand out from the other listings around them. And the “spark-joy” can be focused on one’s ideal sitter, as we can’t please everyone. If I want a sitter who loves cats, then I’ll put a cat photo first. If I want a sitter who loves my tiny home, I’ll put a photo of the outside first.
But in general, I think a good pet photo will stand out more … neurologically. For example, did you know that our brain has a region dedicated solely to distinguishing and recognizing faces? I don’t think that’s true for rooms/houses. And a pet is a lot closer to a human face than a house.
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(Identifying the Brain’s Own Facial Recognition System) Science | AAAS
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(The face detective) https://media.nature.com/original/magazine-assets/d41586-018-07668-4/d41586-018-07668-4.pdf
Back to the original question by @GardenCat (hi again!): Your cat photos are sooo amazing! I love how close-up they are! And this one in particular:
That’s an incredible thumbnail! The cat’s huge, the cat’s pose stands out, and it just happens to also show part of your home!
But just as compelling could be your image of your Airbnb ratings:
If I see that as the cover photo, am I going to click thru to read more? Of course I am. 532 5* reviews?!
I wish PPs had more metrics to help A/B test something like this. I have also reported this to Membership Services. Hopefully someday!
Edit: Thinking some more, another option for a cover photo is a collage photo.