Why Am I Not Getting Likes on Badoo?

Almost always it is one of five things: your photos, the women near you, an unfinished page, how you swipe, or how few people see you. Photos do the most work, so start there. Badoo does not publish how many likes a man should get, so compare yourself with your own numbers from last week, not with a stranger's story. Change one thing at a time and count for two weeks.

Likes arrive in the Likes tab, the heart icon. On the free version you can see that they came in, but the faces are blurred. That count is still your best free feedback. Write down the number each morning for a week.

If a few arrive most days, women are responding and the real work is turning likes into chats. If almost none arrive, one of the five causes below is in your way.

Women decide in seconds. a dating coach's rule is that a woman judges a man by his worst photo, not his best. So one blurry, dark or group picture can sink an otherwise good set.

Lead with a clear, recent photo of your face in daylight, not a group where she has to guess which man you are. Add a few from different days showing a real life: a full-body shot, a place you like, something with warmth in it. Cut any photo that is only all right. Badoo's own advice for better results is recent photos, photo verification and a short description.

coach says the same app can be busy in one city and quiet in the next. Open Encounters and look at the first twenty women. If the photos are old and the details empty, few women are active near you, and no photo will fix that.

Check your filters too. A narrow age range and a short distance can leave you showing up to almost nobody, and the reverse is true for the people you see. Choose a distance you would really travel for a weeknight drink, and widen the age range to the women you would genuinely take out.

Add photo verification so the blue checkmark tells her the person in the photos is you. Fill in your details and write two or three short, specific lines in your own voice. A page with nothing on it gives her nothing to say yes to.

My warning for every app is that it treats a man who likes almost everyone as less attractive and shows him to fewer of the women he wants. He has seen students who liked nearly everybody get better results after they cut back.

Spend two honest seconds on each card. Heart the women you would be glad to hear from, and pass on the rest without guilt. Votes also have a daily limit that refreshes 24 hours after you reach it, so a binge in one sitting gives you less than short daily sessions.

Reach is partly in your hands. The green, red and grey dots show how recently a woman was on the app, so a quiet account is seen less than a busy one. Use Badoo in short sessions most days instead of one long evening.

Badoo also sells Extra Shows with Credits, which put your page in front of more people in Encounters. Treat that as a test, not a fix. If your photos are weak, more people seeing them means more passes.

A low count in one week is not a verdict. Likes come from women who happen to be online while your card is on their screen, and that depends on the day. Compare two full weeks against two full weeks, not Tuesday against Friday.

Also keep the goal in view. A hundred likes with no conversation is worth less than five likes that turn into plans. My advice is to move from a match to a number in about four to seven messages, so judge Badoo by the dates you set, with likes as an early warning only.

Week one: fix the lead photo, add verification, finish the page, set honest filters. Do not change anything else.

Week two: vote in short daily sessions and log likes received each morning.

If the count rises, keep going and work on your first lines. If it stays flat with good photos in a lively pool, Badoo is the wrong app where you live. Put the time into another one.