eschlwc

i always have a parts listing on craigslist. recently, i noticed craigslist searches on certain words i knew were in my ad would not return results to include my listing. i immediately thought it was a conspiracy. B^)

i finally realized the failure was due to either html or punctuation butted next to the terms in my ad.

for example, if i use the craigslist search for "suntour cyclone" it will not return results if the ad reads "suntour cyclone." with the period in the ad immediately following the word, "cyclone."

or if there is html to bold a phrase in the ad, like "<b>suntour cyclone</b>" the search results will miss the listing completely.

the craigslist search ****ion does not seem as robust as the most simple of databases.

so, for sellers, place a 'search key' at the bottom of your ad to include all those 'naked' terms without any punctuation that you want available to potential buyers. it might look silly, but it doesn't hurt to repeat yourself here.

for buyers, be aware that you may miss a great listing through your craigslist search due to punctuation, misspellings, and html.

good luck!