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What Is Listing Priority?

Listing priority is the ranking MyListing uses to decide which listings appear first in search, Explore results, listing feeds, and similar listings. Think of it this way: A Normal listing waits in the regular line. A Featured listing steps ahead of Normal listings. A Promoted listing steps ahead of Featured listings. Custom Priority lets you place a listing even higher than Promoted. Every listing starts at Normal. Higher priority does not change the listing’s content. It changes how often visitors see it first.

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The Four Priority Levels

MyListing stores priority as a number. The named levels map to those numbers.

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Where Do You Manage Listing Priority?

You do not turn priority on as a site-wide switch. You set it on listings, listing plans, promotion products, and sort options. The Priority box on a listing includes Normal, Featured, Promoted, and Custom priorities. The description reads: Set what priority will be given to this listing in search results. Use Learn More in that box for the theme’s built-in explanation. If the listing already has an active promotion package, changing the radio buttons asks you to confirm. That change overrides the package’s priority.

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Where Listing Owners See Priority

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Preview Cards and Search Results

Featured and Promoted listings can show a flash badge on the preview card. Hovering the badge shows Featured or Promoted. Normal listings have no badge. Custom values of 2 or higher use the Promoted badge style. The All Listings table still labels any value other than 0, 1, or 2 as Custom.

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My Account > My Listings

On a published listing, owners see:
  • Promote: opens the Promote Listing modal
  • Promoted: appears instead when that listing already has an active promotion
The modal lists promotion products they can buy, plus Owned packages they already purchased and have not used yet.

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My Account > Promotions

Owners can review active promotions, see expiry, and cancel a package. Example URL: https://yoursite.com/my-account/promotions

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Dashboard Stats

When you turn on Enable Active Promotions under Theme Tools > Listing Stats, the dashboard shows an Active Promotions count that links to the Promotions page.

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How Listings Gain Higher Priority

MyListing’s own docs describe three paths.
  1. Featured listing plan. During Add Listing, the owner buys a Listing Package or Listing Subscription with Feature Listings? enabled. The listing is marked Featured for as long as that package applies. This is not a timed promotion.
  2. Promotion package. The owner buys a WooCommerce product of type Promotion Package and then applies it to a published listing. The listing is marked Promoted (or whatever number you set on the product) for a set number of days.
  3. Manual assignment. You edit the listing in wp-admin and choose Normal, Featured, Promoted, or Custom priority.
By default, nothing extra is applied. Listings stay Normal until one of those paths changes them. On a Listing Package or Listing Subscription product, Feature Listings? is described as: Feature this listing, it will be styled differently and sticky. Use this option for paid plans that should always rank above free listings, without a separate promotion purchase.

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Promotion Packages

Create a WooCommerce product and set the product type to Promotion Package. Two settings appear: When a promotion starts, MyListing stores the listing’s previous priority and applies the product’s number. When the package expires (checked twice daily), the listing returns to that previous priority or to Normal if it had none. You can sell more than one promotion product at different numbers (for example, 2, 3, and 4) if you want bronze, silver, and gold boosts. That is optional. One product at the default of 2 is enough for most sites. Download pre-built Product Packages from MyListing Club if you want listing plans and promotion products ready to import.

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Custom Priority

Custom Priority is an admin-only number on the listing’s Priority box. Higher values rank first in search results. Use it when a listing should outrank even Promoted listings: a partner, a staff pick, or a homepage highlight that should not depend on a timed package. MyListing has a known save issue: choosing Custom priority and updating the listing can reset it to Normal. MyListing Pro’s Save Custom Listing Priority toggle (off by default) stores Custom as 3 or higher, so the value sticks.

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How Sorting Uses Priority

On Explore, listings are ordered by priority first, then by the selected Order By option (Latest, A-Z, and so on). A Promoted listing appears before a Featured listing, which appears before a Normal listing, even when visitors sort by date. Each ordering option has an Ignore listing priority option. Turn it on when that sort should ignore the boost. Defaults:
  • Latest and Random: priority still applies
  • Top rated: Ignore listing priority is on, so ratings are not buried under promotions
On a MyListing Listing Feed widget, Order by priority first? defaults to Yes. Turn it off if the feed should follow Order by only (date, rating, random, etc.). On Similar Listings, Order listings by defaults to Priority.** Rating** and Proximity ignore priority. Random still respects it unless you change that behavior.

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Priority in Listing Feeds

Use Filter by Priority on MyListing Listing Feed to include Normal, Featured, Promoted, or Custom. Leave it blank to include all levels. A homepage carousel filtered to Featured is a common pattern. See Listing Feeds for layout, pagination, and caching.

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How the Pieces Fit Together

A practical example for a restaurant directory:
  1. Free plan: Feature Listings? off. New restaurants stay Normal.
  2. Paid plan: Feature Listings? on. Paying owners stay Featured while the plan applies.
  3. Promotion product: 7-day Promotion Package with Promotion priority 2. Owners click Promote on My Listings for a short boost above Featured listings.
  4. Explore: Listing Order keeps **Latest **with Ignore listing priority off, so Promoted and Featured restaurants still appear first among new results.
  5. Homepage: a MyListing Listing Feed carousel with Filter by Priority set to Featured.
  6. Staff pick: you edit one restaurant, choose Custom priority, and set 5 so it stays above paid promotions.

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Common Priority Setups

There is no single required setup. Start with Normal vs. Featured if you sell plans. Add promotions when you want a separate, time-limited upsell.

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Helpful Tips

  • Keep Featured and Promoted distinct. Featured is an ongoing perk of a listing plan. Promoted is a timed boost that owners buy later. Mixing the two in your pricing copy confuses buyers.
  • One promotion product is enough at first. Duration of 14 days and priority 2 match the theme placeholders. Add extra tiers only when you need them.
  • Leave the latest respecting priority. Visitors still see “newest” listings, with paid and promoted cards first. That is usually what you want on Explore.
  • Use Top rated when fairness matters. That option ignores priority by default, so a well-reviewed Normal listing can outrank a Promoted listing with a weak rating.
  • Hide badges only when the feed is already filtered. If a homepage row is “Featured restaurants,” you can turn off Show badge for featured/promoted listings? to reduce clutter.
  • Promote works on published listings only. Draft, pending, and expired listings do not show the Promote action.
  • Switching a listing plan does not cancel a promotion. Removing or changing the listing package clears Featured (priority 1) but leaves a higher promotion value in place.

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Quick Reference

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Where to Go Next

  • Listing Feeds: Filter homepage and landing-page widgets by Normal, Featured, Promoted, or Custom.
  • WooCommerce: Listing Package vs. Listing Subscription, Feature Listings?, and Checkout.
  • Add Listing Flow: When owners pick a plan that can mark the listing as Featured.
  • Listing Types: Search Forms > Listing Order and Similar Listings.
  • Listing Stats: Enable Active Promotions on the owner dashboard.

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Common Questions

  • What is the difference between Featured and Promoted? Featured usually comes from a listing plan and lasts as long as that plan applies. Promoted usually comes from a Promotion Package and lasts a set number of days, then falls back to the previous level.
  • Do Normal listings ever appear first? Yes, when every matching listing is Normal, when you turn on Ignore listing priority for that sort, or when you filter a feed to Normal only.
  • Can a Custom listing rank above Promoted listings? Yes. Use a number higher than 2. 3 already beats the default Promoted value of 2.
  • Why does Custom keep saving as Normal? That is a MyListing save bug. Enable Save Custom Listing Priority in MyListing Pro’s MyListing Fixes module, then set Custom to 3 or higher.
  • Does the preview badge say Custom? No. Values of 1 show Featured. Values of 2 or higher show Promoted. The All Listings column is what labels nonstandard numbers as Custom.
  • What happens when a promotion expires? The listing returns to the priority it had before the boost. If it had none, it returns to Normal. Expired packages appear under Users > Promotion Packages in the Expired view.
  • Can I promote a listing for a client without checkout? Yes. Add a package under Users > Promotion Packages (Promote a Listing), choose the listing, duration, and Listing Priority, then save.
  • Do map markers and Quick View follow the same levels? Yes. Promoted (2+) and Featured (1) get the same level classes and tooltips as preview cards.