Craigslist question: What's with the "hidden" text?

[SunnyD]

I've always been wondering about some of the listings on craigslist - what's with the hidden text? If you don't know what I'm talking about... take this listing for example. Looks fine for the most part, but then select all the text in the listing and you'll see a line of randomness show up that usually has nothing to do with the listing itself.

My most recent thought is people do this to get by the multiple-reposting tracker craigslist uses, but I see it a lot. At first I was thinking it was a great way for terrorists or something like that to slide messages around... or something stupid like that.

So what gives? Anyone know the real reason for it?

 

[SAWYER]

What is odd about it? But I see cl ads with random crap in it, and that looks like a scam ad, the font is different. You could probably find that same add on different cl sites

 

[nboy22]

My bet is that it is used for the search engine to get your ad to show up more in people's searches. Other than that, as mentioned by Sawyer, there's random crap in scam ads.

 

[Vehemence]

Adding hidden keywords for searches? Dunno

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: Sawyer
What is odd about it? But I see cl ads with random crap in it, and that looks like a scam ad, the font is different. You could probably find that same add on different cl sites

That was an example. I've seen it tons, in lots of ads, font isn't the issue. It's crossed my mind that the ads are scams, but still - what's with the hidden text?

 

[Crono]

Originally posted by: SunnyD

Originally posted by: Sawyer
What is odd about it? But I see cl ads with random crap in it, and that looks like a scam ad, the font is different. You could probably find that same add on different cl sites

That was an example. I've seen it tons, in lots of ads, font isn't the issue. It's crossed my mind that the ads are scams, but still - what's with the hidden text?

Possibly SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

 

[CrazyLazy]

Could be cloaking text for the purpose for the benefit of search engines.

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: dNor
Adding hidden keywords for searches? Dunno

Okay - why random jibberish? Why not more targeted keywords with respect to the item(s) being offered? In the example's case, what the hell do blazers have to do with a Wii? 😕

 

[SunnyD]

Actually - this seems to answer the question. Spammer tool.

 

[olds]

Answer