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Indeed ghost jobs: what the sightings say.

11.7% of scored active Indeed postings carry at least one ghost-job warning sign, against 17.8% across all ten boards JobsPipe collects. Here is the full picture for Indeed: score bands, the reasons behind them, reposts, age and how quickly postings close.

11.7%
Score 25 or higher
all boards 17.8%
4.8%
Reposted after a 10+ day gap
all boards 8.0%
25.1%
Older than 30 days
all boards 28.6%
30
Median days live when closed
closures cluster at the 30-day expiry

How Indeed scores

Indeed hosts both employer postings and aggregated ones, and its listings sit until the employer closes them or the 30-day expiry runs out. Indeed carries the largest share of low-score postings among the boards JobsPipe collects, and its reposted share is well under the all-board figure.

Share of scored active postings by ghost-score band, Indeed against all ten boards.
Ghost score bandIndeedAll boards
0-24: looks live88.3%82.3%
25-49: one warning sign11.5%16.4%
50-74: several warning signs<0.5%1.3%
75-100: almost certainly stale0.0%<0.5%
  • No salary stated58.5%
  • Posted by a mass poster (500+ open roles)15.5%
  • Reposted (seen again after a gap of 10+ days)4.5%
  • Posted date far behind first sighting4.5%
  • Thin description (under 400 characters)1.0%
  • Open for 45 days or more<0.5%
Reasons attached to the ghost score on Indeed, share of scored active postings. A posting can carry several.

How long Indeed postings stay up

Indeed listings sit until the employer closes them or the 30-day listing expiry runs out, and JobsPipe records the closure at the next check after that. Days live on Indeed therefore clusters at the 30-day mark (median 30 days among postings closed in the last 60 days), and 8.4% of closures happened within a week. For a board where removals are visible immediately, compare Greenhouse.

The cross-board comparison is on How long do job postings stay up?

Check a Indeed posting

Paste the Indeed job URL. The answer comes from the JobsPipe index, not from Indeed.

Works with LinkedIn, Indeed, Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby, Workable, SmartRecruiters and Workday URLs. Reads the JobsPipe index, never the board.

Exclude Indeed ghost jobs from a feed

curl -X POST https://api.jobspipe.dev/v1/jobs/search \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $JOBSPIPE_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "source_or": ["indeed"], "max_ghost_score": 24, "status": "active", "posted_at_max_age_days": 30, "limit": 25 }'

FAQ

How common are ghost jobs on Indeed?

11.7% of scored active Indeed postings carry at least one warning sign, against 17.8% across all ten boards JobsPipe collects. 4.8% of active Indeed postings were seen again after a gap of ten days or more, and 25.1% were first sighted more than 30 days ago.

Why does Indeed score the way it does?

Indeed hosts both employer postings and aggregated ones, and its listings sit until the employer closes them or the 30-day expiry runs out. Indeed carries the largest share of low-score postings among the boards JobsPipe collects, and its reposted share is well under the all-board figure.

How do I check whether a Indeed job is still open?

Paste the Indeed posting URL into the checker on this page. JobsPipe returns the first and last sighting, the status, and the ghost score with its reasons.

How do I exclude Indeed ghost jobs from an API feed?

Send max_ghost_score 24 with status active and source_or ["indeed"] to the jobs search endpoint. Raise the score cap to 49 if a missing salary is acceptable.

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