The Importance of Keywords in Craigslist Posts

There are a number of tried and true best practices to optimize your Craigslist ads, but none may be more important than using the right keywords. As you begin building any Craigslist post, you’ll obviously want to get it in front of not only the most eyes, but also the right eyes, to make your content more discoverable.

  • Be Relevant
    • Volume isn’t everything. It’s all about positioning your ads in a way that your target audience will see it. The most important ad advice: Be in front of your target consumers, not just the most consumers. Volume to the wrong audience is wasted efforts. Volume to the viewers who you want to apply will pay off financially.
  • Be Descriptive
    • When it comes to building your ads, the difference is in the details. The more descriptive you can be with your job posts, the more likely you’ll be to increase discoverability. Including details more catered to your audience can seriously impact discoverability among your target demographic. For example, use ‘CDL Driver’ instead of ‘Driver’ if you’re in the world of trucking, or ‘hair stylist’ instead of ‘stylist’ if you’re in cosmetology. Small additions like these can have big implications on getting the right eyes on your posts. Not everyone uses the exact same vernacular as your company might, so you need to think of all key words a qualified candidate would use to search for your position.
  • Show AND Tell
    • A picture may be worth a thousand words, and it can truly help the validity of your ad, but unfortunately, it won’t help you from an SEO perspective. RocketPost’s image editor is obviously a powerful tool to take your aesthetics up a notch, but it should be used to complement strong copy rather than fully replace it. With both clear, descriptive text and eye-catching visuals, your ad will be both optimized for SEO and stand out from your competitors.
  • Short & Sweet Titles
    • On Craigslist, users typically see only the headline of your posts. To make your ads stand out, use a call-to-action (CTA), a great benefit or catchy headline to concisely share your message with your audience. This will be the best way to make your ads stand out in a sea of posts within your category.
  • Transparency Reigns Supreme
    • While a title with punchy copy, explicit benefits, and CTAs draw visibility, not backing up your big headline forces candidates into a bait-and-switch situation. This will leave you with high-looks but low-applicants, AKA poor bottom funnel metrics. Accurate, transparent information focuses strictly on your key demographics and ultimately results in a better click-to-conversion rate.