How to avoid flagging on craigslist

Flagging is a wide controversial feature of craigslist.org.

Following are some tips to reduce flagging by the visitors:

• Make the ads non-commercial looking
• Make the ads local looking
• Choose the appropriate category. Don't post to non-related sections.
  
• Use as many different titles as possible. Titles should match with the theme of the respective category.
  
• Use as many different descriptions as possible.
• Avoid using a particular word or phrase in the titles and descriptions. So avoid using your telephone number, website address, email address or company name in each and every posts. Make some variations in this regard. In one posting you can use telephone number, in another posting you can use website address etc...
• If you want to receive emails from the visitors use craigslsit's anonymous email feature.
• If you see a sudden increase in flagging then take a hold on posting for few days and restart again.
  
• Read this Unofficial craigslsit Flag FAQ carefully. It will help you greatly to understand why your ads are getting flagged by the visitors.
  
• Post your question regarding flagging problem in craigslsit flag help forum. You can also contact craigslsit's support directly if you feel that your ads are being flagged while you are obeying craigslist's TOS. Here is the contact form.
• Finally, don't post too many. Leave some room for other posters.

How to write a good ad for craigslist posting

When you post on craigslist you need to keep a check and balance between attractive nice looking ads and ads which have high survival probability. Highly HTML decorated nice looking ads may catch more visitors but may reduce the probability of going live, at the same time.

Following are some tips for writing a good ad for posting on craigslist.org:

1. Avoid HTML unless you are posting under the services section. Plain text ads increase the possibility of going live.
   
2. Avoid hyperlink to an website. Put the domain name as text without www. or put it into an image.
3. Titles must match corresponding category you are posting to.
4. Avoid using a particular word/phrase (i.e. brand name, email, telephone number etc) in the titles or descriptions.
5. If you need to receive query from visitors use anonymous email feature of craigslsit, don't insert your actual email in body of the ads.
6. Don't use external image using HTML tag in the categories which allow image uploading. Upload the images during posting your ads in such categories.
7. Check spelling and punctuation. A badly punctuated ad with wrong spelling can really be a nuisance and compel the visitor to flag.
8. Short relevant descriptions works well in terms ad survival rate. So use a lot of short variations of your description instead of using a few long descriptions.
9. Don't use too many special characters in titles.
10. Avoid using blacklisted keywords. criagslist has a long list of blacklisted keywords for each category. For expample: "instant cash" may be a blacklisted keyword phrase for "financial services" category but not for "small biz" category. Study the posted ads under your intended category before you start writing your ads and try to identify the blacklisted keywords for that category.

I hope this will help you to write ads for craigslist which will actually be listed on craigslist's listing page.

How to search craigslist multiple cities and categories

craigslist.org doesn't allow to search multiple cities or multiple categories at a time. For this reason searching craigslsist is a panic. But this problem can be overcome using google's advanced search feature.

Following are some examples:

1. To Search the whole craigslist for a specific keyword:
   keyword site:craigslist.org OR site:craigslist.ca
2. To search some specific cities:
   keyword site:sfbay.craigslist.org OR site:nyc.craigslist.org OR site:bos.craigslist.org
   (nyc for New York, bos for Boston, aus for Austin, den for Denver etc.)
3. To search some specific categories:
   keyword site:criagslist.org OR site:craigslist.ca inurl:sss OR inurl:hhh OR inurl: OR inurl:jjj OR inurl:bbb
   (sss 4 'for sale' category, hhh for housing category, jjj for jobs categoreis, bbb for services categories etc.)
4. Use any combination of above rules to create more comprehensive craigslist search.

Type a keyword or phrase in the box below to search the entire craigslist site:

Following are some popular craigs list searches:

tickets Rolex watch Toyota car Honda car web hosting SEO Furniture biz opps home business Cellular Phone foreclosure small biz ads vacation rentals iPhone web design insurance cash loan mortgage Free items Coupons antiques auto parts bike parts bikes boat parts boats books cell phones collectibles computer jewelry motorcycle parts motorcycles photo album tools toy trailer trucks used cars sublet rideshare