Teachers who appear at the top of the list are those who logged in recently. For example if you and I are teaching the same language and I logged in italki after you, I would appear before you in the list of the language we teach.

I hope I was able to explain it correctly and easily for you, Junjun 😃

I have once asked the italki team regarding the ranking. Some months ago it depended how often you are logged in, now they use a different system: It depends what kind of slots you offer. When offering slots which are not opened by many people, they rank you first. If there are other criteria as well, I do not know. I had the impression that italki did not want to tell its 'secrets'.

@Mumtaz

Did the italki team tell you this? I am not sure if that is correct.

Alex, it’s good to see you 😃

I’m glad that you asked italki team about ranking and thank you for letting me, Junjun and everyone know about this.

<em>“Some months ago it depended how often you are logged in”.</em>

This is exactly what I noticed when I used to search for Spanish teachers. I could always see that those who logged in recently are at the top of the list and vice versa. So I never asked italki team about it because it was so obvious. Looks like this was changed in one of their new “improvements” then 😁

I’m all for improvements and to help new teachers/ tutors be more visible to students, but the idea of ranking those who offer certain slots at the top is a bit vague to me. Does that mean that teachers who open all slots 24/7 are at the top always?

Now it makes sense to me why some teachers open all slots even though when I sent lesson requests to some of them I was refused due to them being busy or at the daily work at that time 😅

I see it unfair because it’s misused by some just to stay at the top of the list while other teachers who are being completely honest about their free slots aren’t as visible as them!

Junjun, you are most welcome and I wish you the best of luck as well 🍀 Now that we have received the answer from Alex after he asked italki team about it, things are more clear to everyone 😃

Alex, Thank you for the 'italkiLeaks' 😂

I appreciate it and I hope every teacher/tutor who cares to be more visible read your comment.

I think the reason I never asked italki support about it is that I never cared to book a teacher from the top of the list. I usually keep digging until I find the suitable one and then check their profile for any corrections they gave or questions they answered. If I'm a beginner in the language, I would show their video and their corrections/answers to any of my friends who speak the language natively to evaluate them for me.

If anything, I avoid teachers/tutors suggested by italki on my dashboard whenever I login! Some of them don't even speak their 'native' language well enough, let alone teach it 😁

Hi Mumtaz, long time no read :)

These are for sure not all criteria, it seemed they did not reveal all their secrets. A teacher can increase one's visibility by offering special lessons, e.g. for kids, certain test preparations, culture, classes for writing, certain topics such as medicine, business German etc.

Regarding the open slots: I have offline students as well and to update my italki calendar every few days is a lot of work. I understand that some students are confused when they book a slot which is apparently free and the teacher declines the lesson. But I usually write them a message explaining why I do not have time.