Swipe left or right, how do you know which girls to swipe on as you navigate Tinder for the first time?
First off, and before answering this question, let’s agree on the fact that online dating is here to stay. According to recent surveys, 20 percent of committed relationships in America have started online. Some studies even claim that it’s a 40 percent ratio if we include hookups and non-exclusive arrangements.
Apps Dating Experts Recommend If Tinder Doesn't Work Out
Tinder is great and all, but it's not for everyone. If you're tired of the endless swiping, ghosting, and gamification of your dating life, there are other options out there. Here are some of the best dating sites that might work out better for you:
| Site | Our Experience | Our Rating | Free Trial Link |
|---|---|---|---|
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Best For Relationships
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Experience Highlights
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9
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Try eHarmony |
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Best For Casual Fun
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Experience Highlights
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9
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Keep in mind that with popularity comes competition. You need to use great Tinder photos and a bio that's catchy. This will ensure that even if there are lots of guys on the app, you have a chance at standing out. In line with that, you might also want to check out our course on online dating mastery, which can help you land more dates.
Now, if it's your first time on the app and you're intimidated by all the users who have been on Tinder for a while, we've got some useful tips for you.
First Time on Tinder?
When it comes to online dating, Tinder is the king. It’s not the oldest app but still the most popular. Almost everywhere you go there will be people using Tinder over their local dating apps. In March 2020, during the pandemic, Tinder’s systems have recorded a record of 3 billion swipes in a single day which is almost twice as much the number of swipes that the other competing apps received combined.
So yes, Tinder is where busy men go to meet women when they don’t have time to go elsewhere…. And you should learn how to maximize it for your own benefit.
We already have dozens of guides that teach you how to set up Tinder, choose the right Tinder photos and get more matches, so in this article, I will show you what you should look for exactly before swiping either right or left on a Tinder girl.
Texting and meeting women require some skill and practice. Over the years we decoded a few rules that can make your life easier as you surf Tinder, and we summed them down into the following three golden rules:
Rule #1: Do NOT swipe right on every hot chick
When you try Tinder for the first time, the app will send you hot women to swipe right on because it’s still rating your profile.
Tinder wants to know how those chicks will respond to your moves so it can match you with women of the same caliber. If many hot women swipe right on you then that’s what Tinder will throw your way. But if the hot ladies ignore you, then the app will send you less attractive women to swipe on.
This process will hurt you if you have an okay or above-average profile, and the best way to maneuver it is to swipe right at a 1/10 ratio. In other words, for every ten hot girls that Tinder sends you, swipe right on one. This tells the app that you’re picky and that it should only send you quality women.
It’s important that you assess the competition first before setting up your Tinder profile. Ask your friends to show you their profiles and matches. This will show you where you stand among your peers and it's also a cool way to copy their photo poses and bio lines.
Also, avoid swiping on hot young girls with no bios if you’re not sure they will like you. These girls are so hot they get swipes anyway without needing to write a sentence in their profile. Ignore them if you can’t match with them because they’ll probably swipe left on you and reduce your Tinder score.
Rule #2: Text her as soon as you match together
We are addicted to shiny new objects. New clothes, new places, new relationships, and new matches, all stimulate dopamine and make us chase them… that’s how the brain is wired.
Let this newness effect work for you and text girls as soon as you match with them. You probably know by now that all hot Tinder girls have busy DMs. So unless you make your mark “fast” she’ll send you to the ghosted zone.
Tinder also uses how long you text women to determine your overall score. The longer your average set lasts the higher your score will be as it tells the app that women are having fun chatting with you.
Rule #3: Never ever, under all circumstances, delete Tinder more than twice
After a while of using Tinder, you may notice that your matches stagnate and you either get bad matches or fewer of the good ones. This is okay and can be solved with a better profile and a couple of boosts.
What is not okay, however, is to delete Tinder and start another account with the same profile, photos, and phone number. Restarting your profile this way can be good in the short term as it tricks Tinder into treating you as a newbie and may get you a surge of hot matches.
The only problem, however, is that men have abused this trick over the years. And since it screws with its algorithm, Tinder responded by soft-banning anyone who deletes and restarts their account more than twice. We call this ban a “shadow ban.”
Why shadow?
Because it may take you weeks, or even months before you realize that you’ve been banned.
Tinder won’t tell you they shadow banned you, and will still charge you money if you pay for a premium account. Worse, Tinder will keep sending you a mix of good and horrible choices and will rarely match you with anyone within your league. Those right swipes you made on hot girls won’t show on notifications. Instead, Tinder will send you the less popular profiles or even guys' profiles that were added to the "searching for men" category by mistake.
I had that problem years ago, and it wasn’t good at all. The only hot match I got during that time was from a crazy – yet super hot – English girl who offered to get me coke (as in cocaine) before the date.
I only got out of this ban by deleting my Tinder, email, and all of my old photos and got new ones. I also got a new credit card to substitute the one I used to pay for Tinder Gold.
There are other ways to improve your Tinder profile and get more matches, including using timed boosts on specific days of the week. We have several guides dedicated to this topic. Make sure you check all of them. They have great value.
To Swipe Left or Right: The Ultimate Guide
I have a long list of Tinder red flags and a short one for the things that you should look for before swiping right on a girl.
I’ll begin with the shortlist now and keep the red flags to the next section.
What to swipe right on:
1. Four or more good photos
Guys who use more than 6 photos tend to be perceived as try-hard by women. However, I find that women who use more than 5 photos tend to be less flakey. They’re here to get dates, not validation, which is basically what this app is designed for.
2. Long, detailed bios (plus: a Spotify account)
As I said, most women don’t need a bio to get Tinder matches. But still, those who put the effort into building a solid Tinder profile tend to be picky and responsive once the right guy – hopefully, you - shows up.
3. Closeness
There’s no need to swipe right on a girl who lives tens of miles away. You may have fun texting but all that will go down the drain if, and when, you realize that you can’t meet. You’re better off texting and matching with girls who are a mile or two away.
4. Something in common
Yes, Tinder is a heavily photo-based dating app. That's the beauty of it. But if you take the time to read a woman's bio and check out her photos, and she seems like fun, give her a chance. If you see that she's into a hobby of yours or a band that you like, she could be worth the right swipe. Keep in mind that even if her photos aren't amazing, it's possible that she has a great personality.
Worst Tinder profiles: When to Swipe Left
Now that we covered what to look for before swiping right on a girl, it’s time to discover the red flags that should make you swipe left on any girl no matter how hot.
Here they are:
1. Girls with fewer than 3 photos
Either she doesn’t go out much or she doesn’t have good photos. In both cases, she isn’t a lot of fun.
2. Girls with face only photos
I just got catfished a few days ago by a pro. She had 4 or 5 profile pictures none of which included a full-body photo. The girl was so cute, and smart, I didn’t pay much attention that all her full body photos were sideways (that’s how girls pose to hide the extra weight).
She looked hot when we video-chatted and no sign showed that she was overweight (not even a double chin). Unfortunately, she couldn’t hide that on the date, which was a big turn-off. Not that curvy chicks are bad, but lying about how you really look is a huge red flag.
3. Girls who stare at the camera in a creepy way
This is my personal preference but I noticed that those who give the camera a stone-cold or empty look tend to be the creepiest. With the popularity of taking selfies, you'd think that a girl would be able to take a photo where she doesn't look like she'd be a stalker, right?
4. Girls who crop their friend’s face
Everyone, no matter how private, has a bunch of pictures out there somewhere. So if you spot a profile on Tinder that only has one photo AND it's one that's cropped from a group photo, it only tells you one thing. Out of the dozens of photos this person has, this cropped photo is the only one where she thinks she looks passable. That either means she's probably not that attractive in real life or she has serious self-esteem issues.
5. Four hot photos and a horrible one
The quality of a girls' looks is determined by her worst photo. If a girl looks hot in 3 photos and average in the fourth, then she probably looks like the fourth in real life and the rest are just well-enhanced. If her average photo is fine by you, swipe right. If not, add her to the swipe left pile.
6. No bio, only an Instagram handle
She’s not here to get matches. She just wants to turn you into one of her Instagram followers. Don't waste your right swipe on her.
7. BONUS: The bad vibes
We all have preferences when it comes to meeting women. Sometimes we even have pretty high standards. But when you spot a profile that's full of your non-negotiables (e.g. trashy tattoos, super filtered photos, a messy background, too many MLM mentions, etc.), don't lower your standards for the sake of getting a match. Tinder is full of beautiful women who are actually worthwhile to go on a date with. So if you sense some bad vibes from a profile, swipe left and never look back.
To swipe left or right, that is the question. With this guide, you can confidently use Tinder to find better, high-quality dates. No more wasting your swipes on women who'll never match with you!
