Does Craigslist Support Anchor Text?

Give Criagslist buyers something to click by adding anchors to your ads.

If you want to make your Craigslist ad more informative, add a dash of interactivity to it using HTML anchors. Anchor text, used to create links in Web pages, allow you to show the world websites you want them to see. Craigslist not only permits sellers to use anchors, but they explain how insert them as well. You may not need to add anchor text to every Craigslist ad, but if the need arrives, you will know how to do create them after learning how they work.

Craigslist Ad Design

Many Craigslist sellers simply type plain text into their ads and click "Submit." Craigslist buyers viewing those ads see plain simple text. Some sellers, however, add HTML tags to their ads. HTML tags, used by Web designers, allow them to add color to text, set font size and even turn ordinary text into links using "anchor" tags. Links that you include in an ad can point to anything on the Web that has a URL. Add an anchor to a Craigslist ad by pasting a link into your ad or by constructing an HTML anchor tag consisting of text and placing it in the ad instead.

Anchor Tag Definition

An anchor tag consists of two components; a URL, pointing to a location on the Web, and a text string that describes that location. Anchor URLs may point to Web pages, images, videos, audio files, PDFs or any other object that exists on the Internet. Every entity on the Web has a URL, even thumbnail images you see on Web pages and MP3 files that you hear A typical anchor looks like the HTML code shown below:

<a href="http://www.irs.gov">Visit the IRS Website</a>

The string appearing after "href=" is the anchor's URL. That URL points to the IRS website in this example. The text appearing after the URL describes the URL. You are free to use any text you like in an anchor's descriptive text. Place anchor tags anywhere on a Web page or inside a Craigslist ad. In fact, you could create a page consisting of nothing but anchors if you desired. Most pages, however, consist of a limited number of anchors that serve specific purposes.

When to use Craigslist Anchors

Suppose you had a boat for sale. If you did not include an anchor tag in your ad, potential buyers could only view information about the boat that you placed in the ad. Compare that scenario to one where your ad contains a link to a website containing reviews about the boat and even a link to an online video of the boat sailing down the river. By adding anchors to an ad, you give interested Craigslist buyers the ability to view additional information that may close the sale. If you had a music keyboard for sale, you might even include a link to an online MP3 file that played samples of the keyboard in action when users clicked a link named "Listen to the keyboard."

Adding Anchors to Craigslist

URLs can sometimes be long and confusing. They take up valuable space on a page and interrupt the natural flow of your text in an ad. You are free to paste a URL into your ad any time. However, when you do, Craigslist readers will see the entire URL mixed with your ad content. A better way to add a relevant link to an ad is to use an anchor instead. Since browsers do not display an anchor's URL, Craigslist visitors will only see the descriptive text you add to the anchor. Using anchors this way enables you to convert a single word into a clickable link. Your ad suddenly begins to resemble an actual Web page when you insert anchors wisely. Craigslist buyers, used to clicking links on real Web pages, will feel at home clicking links in your ad and discovering the helpful information provided by the URLS included in your anchors.

References

• W3Schools: HTML A Tag

Resources

• Craigslist: About > Help > HTML in Craigslist Postings