A lot of marketers wonder how much website traffic does Craigslist get these days? It is a fair question. The website is not longer in its heyday but that isn’t to say that it doesn’t still get a ton of traffic. While the true numbers are only known to the Craigslist team, there are some great resources online that can help infer what those numbers might be.
Website Traffic Estimation
SimilarWeb is one of the most reputable website traffic analyzers out there. The most recent chart from SimilarWeb can be seen below with an estimate of 321 million visits a month as of December, 2019. That’s a 61% drop in traffic from only 2 years ago with a clear downward trend.
Does that mean Craigslist is not a viable sales and marketing channel? Definitely not. Craigslist might not be the darling it once was, but it still gets a ton of traffic. Its user base tends to very engaged as well. The platform isn’t shamelessly promoting itself so the visitors that show up truly want to be there and need no extra convincing.
Where is Craigslist still popular?
Turning back to Google Trends, there are where Craigslist is still very popular. Since Craigslist has a bit of a rigid list of which cities can be selected to post an ad, those metro areas tend to still have a dedicated fan base. The lists below show the most popular states and cities in the United States for Craigslist searches. The number after each location is the Google Trends score to give us an idea of how popular each term is within the Craigslist search topic.
Top US states
- Montana 100
- Idaho 94
- Alaska 93
- Hawaii 87
- Oregon 86
- New Mexico 81
- Vermont 79
- Maine 66
- Minnesota 64
- Washington 64
Top US metros
- Eureka CA 100
- Medford-Klamath Falls OR 86
- Missoula MT 83
- Bend OR 82
- Chico-Redding CA 78
- Eugene OR 73
- Helena MT 70
- Boise ID 67
- Spokane WA 66
- Butte-Bozeman MT 63
I found it funny that Bend, Oregon made the top of the list. It is famously known as the location of the last Blockbuster. Maybe they just like nostalgic companies?
Questions about Craigslist visitor traffic
While we can only guess, the data available seems to suggest that Craigslist.org draws about 300 million total visits per month as of 2021.
Not necessarily. The majority of the traffic to Craigslist is direct and most of the rest from search. Direct visitors are likely to keep returning and Google Trends seems to show a steady trend in recent years.
According to SimilarWeb, Craigslist ranks as the 67th most popular website in the world, 22nd in the county, and #1 in the classifieds segment. While the traffic is down, it still is regarded as the most popular classifieds online.
What does the future hold for Craigslist?
There is undoubtedly a great deal more competition from Facebook Marketplace, other classified websites, and even local dealer websites. But the number of internet users has also gone up a lot in the past decade. That means more traffic to go around. So how many people will use Craigslist in 2021 and beyond?
It’s impossible to tell for sure but these charts and metrics can offer some clues. For starters, SimilarWeb estimate that roughly 71% of their traffic is direct, 1.5% from email, and 24% from search. Google Trends suggests that the interest in Craigslist searches has been declining but is finding a floor in the recent year. There are also a number of related searches for Craigslist that have been on the rise.
What about the other 72.5% that are direct and email traffic? My guess is they are likely Craigslist fans since they’re going straight to the site. A lot of people still prefer the ad-free, simplicity of the platform. Posters can use basic legacy HTML and symbols/icons but it is limited to keep the experience an intuitive, familiar look for users.
While the platform has stayed true to its early days, they did recently (a few years ago) release an app for iPhone and a beta app for Android. There are also automated ad posting software solutions available now. This can help businesses scale Craigslist marketing and sales while leaving the owners section for individual sellers. It’s still going to be a stalwart in the classified ads digital space.
Update: 2022
A new AIM GROUP report has estimated that revenue dropped 26% for Craigslist over the last year. The report goes on to specifically note that job ads dropped 32% and auto ads were down 22%. While this isn’t a traffic stat, it is certainly correlated to some extent. If ads were down but traffic has not fallen as much, that could mean an opportunity as there would be less competition.
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