Bump Up an Ad on Craigslist

Bump Up Your Ads on Craigslist

Keeping your ad at the top of its Craigslist category makes it the first thing visitors see when they view the section. Don't make the mistake of thinking that position doesn't make a difference in results! A 2004 Cornell University report that studied the way people behaved while searching Google showed that the top two links received the majority of clicks and browsing time; interest dropped precipitously after that, especially around six links in. There's no way to bump an already posted ad on Craigslist, but you can delete and re-post your ad every 48 hours to get the same effect.


Step 1: Navigate to Craigslist at craigslist.org and then click the "My Account" link in the upper-left corner.


Step 2: Sign in to the account you used to post the ad. Your Craigslist dashboard will load. On it, you'll find links to all of your posted ads.

Step 3: Click on the title of the post you'd like to bump. It will appear onscreen.


Step 4: Open either Notepad or the word processor of your choice.


Step 5: Highlight the subject and body of the ad back in your Craigslist account and then right-click on it and select "Copy."


Step 6: Return to Notepad (or your open word processor). Right-click in the body of the program and then click "Paste." A copy of your Craigslist ad will appear.


Step 7: Return to your Web browser and click "Delete This Posting" at the top of your ad. The ad will be deleted.


Step 8: Navigate to Craigslist's main page again. Click "Post to Classifieds."


Step 9: Walk through the steps of location and categorization for the ad. Copy and paste the text from the original ad into the "Post Description" and "Post Title" sections of the posting details page and then click "Continue."


Step 10: Click "Continue" on the next page to confirm the posting and bump the ad to the top of its designated Craigslist category.