Craigs list

Leroy · Apr 13, 2018

In searching for machinery I finally found how to type in name of implement I want. In my case I typed in hay rake and come up with 42 adds for hay rake but mixed in with them there were 50 for other things including tractors, balers, wagons, elevators and even yes cows. My question is when you put in the item you are searching for how do you get rid of all those other adds that have nothing in common with what you are looking for. And in those hay rake adds there are 2 that have been on for at least 5 months now. Out of 92 adds that come up only 42 are of what was typed in looking for. And then several are for what I would not call a hay rake but others think they are. So that puts total rakes adds to about 35. Agrivation. Wish could figure out a way to actually get the ones I want.

bjb in TX from Ne · Apr 13, 2018

You need to flag those posts. Craigslist is somewhat self moderated and if you scroll way down on the post for shipping containers that come up, they have lists and lists and list of search term "Meta data" to ensure they come up in EVERY search. This technically is a violation of the craigslist terms of use so start flagging them.

You can use Ctrl + F (find function) in the browser to find the word "hay" or "rake" in the bogus ads to see what I mean. Once you flag a post it will not come up in the future searches unless they repost. That will help minimize the results on subsequent days by eliminating posts that are left to die.

Roger Tomfohrde · Apr 13, 2018

I know what you mean. Sometimes the search brings up things using keywords the poster added in as keywords and you will have no control over that. Some times the search engine also uses one of the words and collects postings for that word, like hay for example. Or a lawn and garden rake for a rake.

hydro70guy · Apr 13, 2018

Not sure about CL but putting hay rake in quotations should bring up hay racks but exclude things with only the term hay or rake.

sotxbill · Apr 13, 2018

you can check off TITLE ONLY and that will cull a lot of it.. How ever more people are illegally using key words that FOOL the search engine. As others said... "Flag" those post will help.

ss55 · Apr 13, 2018

I have found some good deals in ads that are misspelled, poorly described or poorly written. If you have the time, sometimes it pays to search a little wider.

dhermesc · Apr 13, 2018

Try going through car ads that way. Dealers are the worst - they automatically add every model known to man on their ad so it will always come up no matter what you are looking for.

Jiles · Apr 13, 2018

Flagging a post will only prevent that post from showing up.
One particular scammer has had an item listed for over a year and it still comes up after a time (repost).
I knew it is a scam because I inquired through mail and they wanted to sell sight unseen!
I guess a listing has to get flagged by several different people before it is marked "flagged"

WI Dan · Apr 13, 2018

Craigslist search function is primitive. It will search for any matches containing the words, characters you type in. Just a function of the computer's algorithm.
You could try searching for exact words only or putting them in quotation marks. Here's what I would type:
"hay rake"

that would result in very narrow results. Depending on if the seller typed those exact words. I wouldn't see ads with words like hayrake or hay rack.

paul · Apr 13, 2018

What I view as unethical advertisers will add every word possible tot he bottom of their ads. Some use white font, so you don't see the words, but they are there. This makes their ad show up on almost every search.

There is no good way to leave them out. You can't throw out the baby with the bath water......

It is funny - and sometimes rewarding - to look up commonly misspelled words and see the ads that show up.

So, if you were looking for a Deere, you might want to search for dear in the farm section, and see the ads you would have missed. As a simple example.

When writing an ad, don't do the flooding of every possible brand and word you can think of. But as you describe your item, it is good to mention several different words that truely relate to your item.

Paul

Paul

Hay hay hay · Apr 13, 2018

Yes...but then you would miss the ad for a "Hey Rack".....sadly more common than one would expect in an educated
nation.

BarnyardEngineering · Apr 13, 2018

Yup, called "keyword stuffing" and totally prohibited by Craigslist. Unfortunately there's no effective way to prevent it. All you can do is flag the posts after the fact.

The people that do it think it's getting them more views and increasing their chances of selling. What it really does is pi$$ people off because it ruins their searches for what they really want.

Sadly not enough people can be bothered to flag bad ads, because when enough do, the ads get removed.

Traditional Farmer · Apr 13, 2018

Doesn't pay to sweat the small stuff.

Gary Mitchell · Apr 13, 2018

,,,,,yeah, especially the FREE stuff,,,,,,,, gm

Traditional Farmer · Apr 13, 2018

What's the old saying? Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

Russ from MN · Apr 13, 2018

I flagged a bunch of them this morning! They always have a shiny JD tractor or an almost new side by side ATV for $2134, and they want you
to reply to a gmail address.

dhermesc · Apr 13, 2018

Agreed. Look up convertable cars - all kinds of them for sale cheap.

JOCCO · Apr 13, 2018

Might try to do more detailed search like John Deere hay rake. Also check to see if they have search title only and check it off.

DoubleO7 · Apr 13, 2018

(quoted from post at 13:27:26 04/13/18) Yup, called "keyword stuffing" and [b:757c3c0f13]totally prohibited[/b:757c3c0f13] by Craigslist. .

No, it is not prohibited until the ad exceeds the character or word count which seems to be around 30,000.

I thought it was prohibited also and spent a lot of time trying to find where it was prohibited by CL.

The only rule an ad like that would break is ad size.

As far as I could tell. But that was a few years ago.

Royse · Apr 13, 2018

Try adding a minus sign and key word to your search.
For example search for hay rake and add -cow to the end.
hay rake -cow
That should eliminate the ones with the word cow in them.
hay rake -"new holland" would eliminate ads with new holland in them.

sjh · Apr 13, 2018

it's simple. Type in hay rake hit enter. Look to left of screen see that line that says search titles only. Click on the box in front of it. You will only get hay rake items that say hay rake in the title
Everyone is trying to make it hard. This is the easyist way to do it.

Leroy · Apr 14, 2018

It suprised me that the amount of non hay related items came up. I could under stand Hay baler, hay elevator, hay wagon or hay mower but there were no mowers come up. For a tractor or a cow I could not see how that could relate to what I had put in of hay rake. So much of the time I try to find out something with search nothing I am looking for will come up and every thing not related comes up.

Craigs list

Well-known Member

Member

Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Similar threads