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Posted on January 23, 2008
Title Words and Click Through Rate on Craigslist
BY JENNIFER EUBANKS
The other day I came across a blog post written by Jane Copland over at SEOmoz about "title tags" in Craigslist and how they can determine whether or not an ad is clicked. I've already written a post singing the praises of Craigslist, and a year later I am still an avid browser.
I still love to read the strictly platonics, the missed connections, see how outrageous apartment rental prices are, and whether there are any interesting groups I would like to join. Unlike Jane, I am not actively seeking anything specific, so I don't often perform keyword or other parameter searches to narrow down the results. But I will admit that if I am busy or if there are too many new entries, I will not take the time to read them all.
So what gets me to click?
Like Jane, I tend to avoid ad titles that are poorly worded, badly misspelled, too vague, or otherwise boring and uninteresting. If I am looking to be amused or satisfy curiosity, I will often click on entries that I know don't pertain to me, simply because their title caught my eye. Maybe it made me laugh, maybe it was a bit shocking, but whatever the case, it got me to click through.
I will of course click on ads that mention an activity I like, or ones that show the poster is of the same age. The point here is that they have provided enough detail in the title that I already know there is a commonality between me and the ad. For instance "hey what's up" as a title doesn't say what you want, but "Scrabble and other Board Games Group"lets you at least know that this will be an ad about playing board games. Having an idea of what you're going to get when you click improves the chances that an ad will be read by those most likely to be interested in what you have to offer. Taking a slightly different path and coming up with a funny or eye-catching tagline that doesn't say exactly what is inside, but entices the reader to learn more, is also a way to get more clicks to your ad. This in turn can increase your chance of success, be it in renting your apartment, adding members to your group, or getting that hot date. Which method you choose depends on what type of crowd you want to attract and how much you're willing to spend weeding out the non-serious replies.
Craigslist ad headlines can indeed be aptly compared to webpage title tags, and like any good title tag, some thought should go into their creation. Think about the searches one might conduct to reach your ad and then find a way to make it compelling enough to click in what still might be a large sea of similar offerings.
