Craigslist SEO
If you’re trying to get the word out about your products and services, you want to connect with people who are in the market for your kind of wares. Try turning to the classifieds, which are primarily visited by people searching for that certain something. Specifically, look into adding Craigslist, the Internet’s answer to the wanted pages, into your Internet marketing plan.
According to Compete.com, this ever-popular barebones online classifieds receives more than 50 million unique visitors per month. The site is divided into metropolitan areas and product categories, allowing you to target interested locals. Moreover, listing on Craigslist is inexpensive; actually, in most cases, it is free. Here are a few tips for using Craigslist as part of your SEO strategy.
Use keywords in anchor text.
Using keywords within the anchor text of your Craigslist ad helps in the same way as it does with regular SEO and inbound marketing campaigns. When the search engines see keywords in the anchor of inbound links to your website, this will give your website a boost for those keywords. Also, the closer to the top of the page the links are placed the better. With strategic linking, you will get not only direct users from Craigslist to your website, but you’ll be able to track how many leads or sales are coming from Craigslist. Also, if you’re looking to get new site content Googlebot crawls Craigslist frequently, so if you link to new information on your website it should get indexed by Google quicker.
Optimize the content of your ad.
Just as with regular SEO, keywords and keyword proximity to links may help give you a boost. Having your targeted keywords in your copy will also help visitors who search Craigslist find your ad.
Re-post often but not too often.
In heavily used categories in big cities, Craigslist ads more than a few days old tend to stop garnering traffic. Keep your product fresh in customers’ minds by re-posting your ad about every three days. Re-posting also helps with your SEO. But be careful not to over-post. Craigslist’s algorithm may delete you for posting too frequently.
Use HTML tags within your ad.
Sometimes, Craigslist ads can rank in the search engines. To help your ads rank, use HTML tags to better optimize it. Use H1 tags and add your main keywords within the H1. And, as mentioned above, make sure to use keyword-rich anchor text. By using HTML tags, your Craigslist ad will also look more professional, which may help convert visitors to sales.
Post ethically.
If you’re selling furniture, don’t post ads in the Lost and Found Pets section. The search engines will give you a bigger boost if you are in categories that are the same theme as your website. Over-using this kind of blanket marketing strategy not only takes away from your legitimacy as a seller, but it can get your ad deleted. Post only in categories relevant to your products and services.
