How to Search Craigslist Nationwide Using
Google Secret Codes & Tricks

Google provides the quickest and easiest way to search Craigslist. Hans-down, it's clearly the best general-purpose search engine on the Web. The advantages of using Google search on Craigslist are 1) your search will be updated with new postings during each search, and 2) you can narrow your search to specific Craigslist categories. Best of all, Google can help you be first to some "awful good deals" and free stuff on Craigslist. 

Syntax Search Tricks

Using a special syntax is a way to tell Google that you want to restrict your searches to certain elements or characteristics of Web pages. Here are some advanced operators that can help narrow down your search results.

Site: restricts results to top-level domains such as...
site:craigslist.org

To conduct a nationwide search on Craigslist for Dodge Viper SRT...
site:craigslist.org "Dodge Viper SRT"

To add a specific Craigslist category, "Cars and Trucks by Owner" or "cto" / "Cars and Trucks by Dealer" or "ctd"
site:craigslist.org "Dodge Viper SRT"  inurl:cto

Inurl: a "specific category code" within the Craigslist url you are searching (see a few listings of these codes below)

for sale codes: appliances - app, antiques - atq, barter - bar, bikes - bik, boats - boa, books - bks, business - bfs, computer - sys, free - zip, furniture - fuo and fud, general - for, jewelry - jwl,  materials - mat, rvs - rvs, sporting - spo, tickets - tix, tools - tls, wanted - wan, arts+crafts - art, auto parts - pts, baby+kids - bab, beauty+hlth - hab, cars+trucks - cto or ctd, cds/dvd/vhs - emd, cell phones - mob, clothes+acc - clo, collectibles - clt, electronics - ele, farm+garden - grd, garage sale - gms, household - hsh, motorcycles - mcy, music instr - msg, photo+video - pho, toys+games - tag, video gaming - vgm

housing codes: apts / housing - apa, rooms / shared - roo, sublets / temporary - sub, housing wanted - hou, housing swap - swp, vacation rentals - vac, parking / storage - prk, office / commercial - off, real estate for sale - reo

If you want to search for Dodge Viper SRT in California on Craigslist, the search string becomes...
site:craigslist.org "Dodge Viper SRT" (California | CA) inurl:cto
 

Intitle: at the beginning of a query word or phrase (intitle:"Apple iPhone 3GS") restricts your search results to just the titles of web pages.
site:craigslist.org intitle:"Apple iPhone 3GS"
 

Intext: does the opposite of intitle:, searching only the body text, ignoring titles, links, and so forth.
site:craigslist.org intext:"Apple iPhone 3GS"

&as_qdr=d: add this syntax to the google search web address after finding what you want. It narrows your search with a special date/time stamp. For example, if you are looking for current job postings (chef jobs) within the last two days  in Maryland, your search string would be..

site:craigslist.org "Chef" (Maryland | MD) inurl:fbh
or
site:craigslist.org/ Chef Jobs
(To searches all Craigslist sites nationwide - type in a specific job + jobs, then press search)

After Google finds the results, add the date/time stamp to the long search string in the web address...
http://www.google.com/long web address&as_qdr=d2
 
Other date/time stamp codes: d or d6 for 6 days,  w or w2 for 2 weeks, m or m5 for 5 months, y or y2 for 2 years
 

As you can see, most people don't use Google or Craigslist to their best advantage. Experiment with mixing various elements; you'll develop several strategies for finding the stuff you want more effectively. The Google site: command is very powerful alternative to Craigslist built-in search engine.
 

Great Reference Articles...
12 Quick Tips To Search Google Like An Expert - Click Here
How to conduct a countrywide search on Craigslist? - Click Here
Google Syntax Search Tricks - http://www.google.com/help/operators.html