Reddit is investing heavily in search, with CEO Steve Huffman announcing plans to position the platform as a destination for people seeking answers online.
In its Q2 shareholder letter, Reddit revealed that more than 70 million people now use its on-platform search each week.
Its AI-powered Reddit Answers feature is also gaining traction, reaching 6 million weekly users, up five times from the previous quarter.
Search Becomes a Strategic Priority
Reddit is now focusing on three key areas: improving the core product, growing its search presence, and expanding internationally.
As part of this shift, the company is scaling back work on its user economy initiatives.
Huffman stated:
“Reddit is one of the few platforms positioned to become a true search destination. We offer something special: a breadth of conversations and knowledge you can’t find anywhere else.”
The company plans to integrate Reddit Answers more deeply into its search experience, expand the feature to more markets, and launch marketing efforts to grow adoption globally.
Reddit Answers Gains Momentum
Reddit Answers, introduced earlier this year, uses the platform’s archive of human discussions to generate relevant responses to search queries.
It now has 6 million weekly active users and is available in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, and India.
Integration with Reddit’s primary search experience is also being tested to make discovery more seamless.
Why This Matters
Reddit’s focus on search may offer new visibility opportunities. Its posts already rank well in Google results, now its internal search tools are being enhanced to surface answers directly.
Reddit also emphasizes its commercial value. The company says 40% of posts demonstrate purchase intent, making it a destination for people researching products and services.
Looking Ahead
As AI-generated content becomes more widespread, Reddit is betting that human perspectives will remain valuable.
The company expects Q3 revenue between $535 million and $545 million, with deeper integration of Reddit Answers planned as it continues to build out its search capabilities.
Reddit Karma has evolved far beyond a simple upvote tally.
It plays a central role in how content spreads, how trust is earned, and how visibility is gained, especially for brands.
With Reddit’s monetization programs and algorithmic surfacing now tightly tied to karma, it has become a built-in vetting system that shapes who gets seen, who gets trusted, and who gets access to Reddit’s most valuable communities.
If you’re a brand trying to earn influence on the platform, understanding karma isn’t optional anymore. It is the first filter between your content and the audience you’re hoping to reach.
The Early Days: More Than Just Numbers
When Reddit first introduced karma, it served as a basic measure of community contribution. Upvotes added points, downvotes subtracted them. But the system was always more nuanced than it looked.
What many users don’t realize is that karma isn’t handed out one-to-one with every upvote. Instead, it’s calculated through Reddit’s own formula, which takes into account things like:
Post Karma: Points earned from submitted content.
Comment Karma: Points from community interactions.
Awards and recognitions within the community.
The Rise Of Digital Influence
Times have changed, and karma’s influence has blown up.
Take users like mvea with over 32 million karma or TooShiftyForYou with nearly 27 million karma. Those aren’t just numbers. That kind of karma reflects reach, trust, and a track record of content that resonates with the community.
Erik Martin, Reddit’s former general manager, said it best: “Karma isn’t just about popularity anymore. It’s become a crucial factor in how information flows through online communities.”
How Karma Reflects Quality And Builds Trust
Reddit has steadily increased its focus on rewarding authentic engagement and meaningful participation.
The karma system, paired with subreddit-level thresholds, encourages users to contribute value before gaining access to certain spaces.
Many communities require users to meet minimum karma scores, often starting around 10 to 100 points, before posting. Some expert-driven or niche subs push that requirement much higher.
This isn’t just about moderation. It’s part of Reddit’s broader push to promote quality signals across the platform.
As Reddit expands monetization and leans into features like Reddit Answers and the Contributor Program, karma acts as a built-in filter for trust and relevance.
In a landscape filled with AI content, bots, and throwaway accounts, karma has also become a visible sign of authenticity.
When users see a high-karma profile, they are more likely to assume it belongs to a real person who has been around and contributed consistently.
Reddit CEO Steve Huffman called karma “an indicator of how valuable you are to the website,” and that credibility influences everything from content engagement to purchase decisions.
For brands, this shift raises the bar. One-off promotions and low-effort posts won’t work here.
Gaining traction requires real participation, a history of contribution, and a willingness to be part of the conversation, not just interrupt it.
Understanding Karma Tiers And How They Vary Across Communities
Reddit karma isn’t one-size-fits-all. Where you fall on the karma ladder says a lot about how active and trusted you are, but it also depends on the communities you engage with.
Here’s how karma levels typically break down:
New Users (0–50 karma): Still learning the ropes.
Casual Users (50–500 karma): In and out, posting occasionally.
Active Users (500–2,000 karma): Contributing regularly.
Experienced Users (2,000–10,000 karma): Posting with purpose.
Power Users (10,000–100,000 karma): Major voices in multiple subs.
Reddit Celebrities (100,000+ karma): The names you see everywhere.
The average Redditor sits around a few hundred karma, but that number means very different things depending on where you’re posting.
Smaller or niche communities may only require 30 to 100 karma to participate, while top-tier subreddits may set the bar at 1,000 or more.
And karma doesn’t grow at the same pace in every community. Educational subs like r/AskScience see users rack up karma 30% faster than general entertainment ones.
Regional subreddits also vary, often influenced by local behavior, cultural tone, or even language.
Understanding where you’re posting, and how that sub rewards contribution, makes a big difference in how fast your karma builds. This matters not just for individuals but for brands looking to enter the right communities in the right way.
Where Reddit’s Scoring System Falls Short, And How It’s Evolving
While karma opens doors, it’s not perfect. The system has its share of critics, and several long-standing issues continue to shape how people interact on the platform.
Here are some common pain points:
Karma Farming: Cash incentives have encouraged spammy content and attempts to game the system, including participation in karma-exchange subreddits that Reddit strictly discourages.
Echo Chambers: People fear posting unpopular opinions, leading to self-censorship and groupthink.
Opaque Math: Reddit doesn’t fully explain its karma algorithm, making it hard for users to understand what’s working.
Gatekeeping: New users face steep entry barriers, and users with negative karma may quietly lose access to many communities, even if it’s not visibly apparent.
To Reddit’s credit, they’re working on it. In recent years, the platform has rolled out updates aimed at making karma smarter and more meaningful.
Some of those innovations include:
Enhanced Post Insights: Metrics for views, votes, and engagement trends.
Potential for Paid Subreddit Access: Future features may tie karma to premium community perks.
Reddit is clearly investing in tools that make karma more than just a vanity metric. It’s becoming a core piece of how the platform works.
Turning Reddit Karma Into Real Rewards
Here’s where it gets interesting.
In September 2023, Reddit launched the Contributor Program. Suddenly, karma started converting into real money. Eligible users can cash in Reddit gold awards at the following rates:
Contributors (100–4,999 karma): Around $0.90 per gold.
Top Contributors (5,000+ karma): $1.00 per gold.
To join, users have to be 18+, based in the U.S. (international is coming), verify their ID, have a clean account, and hit the 1,000-gold payout threshold.
Reddit’s official language doesn’t sugarcoat it: “Yes, this means participating redditors can earn money from brightening someone’s day, sharing fascinating content, developing a helpful bot, or even sh*tposting.”
Oh, and during Reddit’s 2024 IPO? Users with 25,000 to 200,000 karma were invited to buy shares before the public through the Directed Shares Program. That’s a major shift from digital clout to financial opportunity.
What Karma Means For Brands On Reddit
For brands and creators, karma isn’t just a vanity metric anymore. It influences everything from visibility to credibility.
High-karma accounts are more likely to gain traction with both the community and Reddit’s algorithm. This opens doors to AMA opportunities, trusted conversations with subreddit moderators, and real community influence.
Brands that try to shortcut the process or rely on one-off promotions are unlikely to see results. Instead, success on Reddit requires long-term community engagement and an understanding of the culture.
When brands take the time to build a solid reputation, they gain more than just karma points. They earn access to communities that gate participation behind karma thresholds, build trust that can help manage reputational risks, and unlock insights by engaging with users on their terms.
High-karma brand accounts can:
Show up better in Reddit’s ranking system.
Build trust-based relationships with subreddit moderators.
Access communities with karma thresholds.
Manage crises more effectively.
Gather feedback and insights directly from target audiences.
Reddit Karma: How It Evolved And Where It’s Going
To understand where we are, it helps to know where we’ve been:
2005–2008: The Foundation Years
Karma launches alongside Reddit’s core voting system. It appeared on user profiles by 2008.
2009–2015: System Refinements
Algorithm changes reduce over-weighted posts. Subreddit-specific karma filters appear. The idea of “softcapping” surfaces.
2016–2020: Community Features
Karma gets more visible. Reddit experiments with crypto-tied karma in limited subs.
2021–2023: Monetization Foundation
Spam protection gets better. Gold system expands. The Contributor Program starts in September 2023.
2024–2025: Advanced Integration
Karma becomes a core part of Reddit’s AI tools and business model. Daily users hit 108.1 million.
In Q4 2024, Reddit turns its first profit as a public company, pointing directly to karma-driven engagement.
Looking forward, karma’s role is only getting bigger. We’re likely to see:
Global rollout of the Contributor Program.
Subreddit-specific karma scores.
Predictive analytics for content success.
Smarter AI surfacing based on karma history.
New monetization paths for high-karma users.
As Alexis Ohanian once said, “Better to post positive things about other people’s work and then let the good karma work for you.” It’s less about gaming the system and more about adding value consistently.
Reddit Karma’s Growing Role In The Platform
Reddit karma has officially outgrown its “internet points” status. It shapes how people trust, engage, and even spend money on the platform.
Whether you’re just lurking, posting regularly, or trying to build a brand presence, karma isn’t optional. It’s your reputation. It’s your access pass. It’s your potential paycheck.
If you’re just getting started and want to build up karma the right way, check out Reddit’s own guide and resources on how to earn karma through meaningful participation.
A great place to begin is r/NewToReddit, which has a helpful list of new-user-friendly communities that don’t have strict karma requirements.
These subreddits are intentionally welcoming to new users and don’t have strict karma or account age requirements, making them a smart starting point for anyone building up their Reddit presence.
As Reddit continues evolving, karma isn’t just a score. It is a signal of credibility, opportunity, and long-term value for anyone serious about building presence on the platform.
A recent study from Reddit shows that many people are frustrated with traditional search engines and ads, pushing them to seek product recommendations on community platforms.
The study found that 47% of social media users find “irrelevant search terms” particularly annoying during online product research. This frustration drives users to Reddit, where they can engage in discussions and receive personalized advice.
These findings suggest Reddit plays an increasingly important role in consumer decision-making.
Consumer Frustrations With Search
The study suggests there’s a growing gap between what users expect from search engines and what they deliver.
Almost half (47%) of the users surveyed were unhappy with search engines because they couldn’t find relevant, helpful answers during product research.
As a result, many users are turning to Reddit for better, context-specific recommendations.
71% of respondents said that Reddit is the best social media platform for finding quick and specific answers to their questions.
Reddit’s Role in the Purchase Journey
Reddit’s research shows how important the platform is in the buying process, from discovering products to making decisions.
The study finds that ads on Reddit help create more conversations about brands, which increases their visibility.
For every 1,000 ad impressions on Reddit, advertisers get about two organic posts, averaging 3,500 views.
The study also reveals that 23% of recommendation posts on Reddit lead to “redirection.” This means users start considering brands they had not thought about before.
These redirections usually occur when users ask for help, such as when they want advice on products that better suit their needs.
Reddit vs. Other Recommendation Sources
One of the study’s more striking claims is that Reddit recommendations are more trusted than many other forms of advice.
According to the findings, 42% of social media users value Reddit recommendations over other sources, including influencer-sponsored posts, branded ads, and even some expert reviews.
While Reddit recommendations ranked slightly below expert review sites (+17%) and consumer review sites (+15%) in terms of influence, they reportedly outperformed social media ads and influencer posts.
This suggests an increasing preference for community-driven recommendations over more traditional forms of advertising.
Reddit’s Reach Compared to Influencers
The study claims that Reddit’s reach is comparable to, or in some cases greater than, traditional influencer marketing:
82 Reddit recommendation posts reportedly reach the same audience as an article on an endemic review site.
Six Reddit posts are said to match the reach of an Instagram influencer with 100,000 followers.
Eight Reddit posts equal the reach of a TikTok influencer with the same follower count.
Given that an estimated 25% of Reddit posts are recommendation-related, the platform’s potential for scale is significant.
For example, over 25,000 recommendation posts were recorded in the beauty category alone in December.
Balancing Reddit’s Claims
While Reddit’s findings highlight the platform’s potential as a discovery and recommendation tool, it’s important to view these claims in the context of the study’s source.
As a platform promoting itself as a solution to consumer frustrations, Reddit is interested in positively presenting its influence.
That said, the data does align with broader industry trends, showing a growing demand for authentic, peer-driven recommendations.
Consumers increasingly prioritize trust and personalization in their decision-making processes, and platforms like Reddit offer a space for this type of engagement.
Looking Ahead
Reddit’s research shows how consumer behavior is changing. Consumers increasingly value personalized recommendations from their communities over traditional discovery methods.
This shift could change how brands interact with consumers. Right now, Reddit’s statement that “conversation is the new influencer” highlights an important trend to watch.
Methodology
The study surveyed 1,000 social media users across seven key product verticals—laptops, TVs, cars, refrigerators, credit cards, makeup, and movie tickets—totaling 7,000 respondents.
Participants were asked to evaluate various recommendation sources, including Reddit posts, influencer-sponsored content, expert reviews, and branded ads.
Reddit has always been a tricky platform for brands to navigate.
As someone who has been active on Reddit since it launched nearly 20 years ago, I’ve seen firsthand how its fiercely loyal and highly skeptical user base can challenge brands.
This resistance has deterred many brands, but with Reddit’s explosive growth and evolution, the opportunities are becoming too significant to ignore.
With 97.2 million daily active users, an estimated 1.2 billion monthly unique visitors, and users spending an average of 25 to 30 minutes on the platform daily, Reddit commands attention as a platform where users deeply engage with content.
Reddit’s influence goes beyond its user numbers. The platform has become a cultural force, with its content shaping trends and dominating search results.
Nearly 64% of desktop visits to Reddit come from organic search, often ranking prominently in Google’s “Discussions and Forums” sections.
The recent $60 million agreement with Google and OpenAI to integrate Reddit content into AI training models highlights the platform’s long-term value as a source of authentic insights.
Entire subreddits, such as r/HailCorporate, are dedicated to exposing inauthentic or heavy-handed brand efforts.
For years, this kept brands at arm’s length and reluctant to fully engage with a platform they did not understand. But things are shifting.
The platform’s user base has become more diverse, now 50% international, with significant growth among younger audiences who are more accustomed to seeing brands participate in online spaces.
High-profile examples, like The Economist’s AMAs or Mars’ creative campaigns, have helped redefine how brands can succeed on Reddit by focusing on genuine contributions and community engagement.
Reddit itself has matured as a platform. Leadership hires from Google and Meta have bolstered its ad capabilities, while the in-house creative agency KarmaLab guides brands in navigating the nuances of Reddit culture.
New tools, such as Reddit Pro and the upcoming Reddit Answers, are designed to help brands engage more effectively while respecting the platform’s core value of being user-first.
By offering AI-driven insights, summarizing threads, and facilitating authentic participation, these tools create real opportunities for meaningful interaction.
At the same time, subreddits have clarified their rules, making it easier for brands to contribute without overstepping or compromising the community’s integrity. It’s all about showing up authentically and adding value, not disrupting the conversation.
The Growing Opportunity For Brands
Reddit’s evolution has created a rare opportunity for brands to build lasting connections.
With 342.3 million weekly active users and over 100,000 active communities, Reddit offers a level of depth and engagement that few platforms can match.
Users are not just scrolling passively; they are actively seeking discussions, reviews, and insights. The numbers tell a compelling story.
Reddit users spend significantly more time per visit than on other social platforms, and many are inactive elsewhere.
Further, surveys show that 75% of Reddit users are more likely to consider brands they discover on the platform.
This, coupled with the fact that user-generated content from Reddit frequently shapes broader online discussions, makes it clear why Reddit’s influence continues to grow.
Strategies For Success
If you are considering Reddit as part of your marketing strategy, it is important to enter with the right mindset.
Success here is not about quick wins; it is about showing up consistently and adding value to the community. Brands that thrive on Reddit do not just talk; they listen, learn, and adapt.
Understand Your Audience
Reddit is a platform where users discuss niche interests with incredible depth. Start by identifying the subreddits relevant to your industry or audience.
For example:
Use Reddit’s search functionality to find communities discussing topics related to your product or service.
Explore the sidebar and pinned posts in each subreddit to understand the community rules and norms.
Monitor discussions using tools like Reddit Pro’s trend detection or even third-party tools to spot recurring questions and pain points.
Once you have this foundational knowledge, focus on providing solutions or insights instead of selling your product outright.
A fitness brand, for instance, might share detailed, evidence-based workout tips in r/Fitness before mentioning their product as a potential aid in a comment.
That said, there are times when directly offering your product is not only appropriate but welcome.
Redditors often ask for specific recommendations or solutions, and if your product genuinely meets their needs, responding directly can add value to the conversation.
The key is to ensure your participation aligns with the community’s expectations and the context of the discussion.
Avoid injecting your product into conversations where it doesn’t belong or promoting it in a way that feels forced. Instead, focus on building trust by being honest, helpful, and responsive to genuine inquiries.
Build Trust Through Consistent Engagement
Redditors value contributions that show genuine interest in the community over time.
Consider these methods for building trust:
Comment First: Instead of posting content right away, start by commenting on existing threads. Offer insights, answer questions, or join discussions to establish your credibility.
Create Thoughtful Posts: When you post, ensure it aligns with the subreddit’s tone and rules. Avoid overly polished or promotional language, as it may feel out of place.
Engage as a Person: Whether using a brand or employee account, approach conversations as a real person. Focus on being relatable, showing up consistently, and engaging in the community daily to build trust naturally over time.
Adapt Your Strategy Based on Feedback
Reddit is dynamic, and your strategy should reflect that flexibility. Monitor how users respond to your presence and adjust accordingly:
If your posts are not resonating, look at the comments to see why and consider revising your tone or content approach.
If a specific topic garners more engagement, lean into it with follow-up posts or comments.
Tap Into Community Expertise
Reddit users appreciate brands that bring unique value to their communities.
One way to do this is by leveraging your brand’s expertise in a way that educates or entertains:
Host an AMA with a knowledgeable member of your team. These can be highly engaging and help humanize your brand.
Share behind-the-scenes stories about your processes, innovations, or the challenges your company is solving.
Create resources, like guides or infographics, tailored to the subreddit’s interests.
Building Your Long-Term Presence
Reddit is not a platform where you can drop in, run a campaign, and disappear. It is a space where relationships are built over time.
By committing to thoughtful, authentic engagement, brands can become valued members of the communities they join, shaping conversations and driving real impact.
This isn’t just about selling a product. It is about building trust, fostering dialogue, and positioning your brand as a genuine contributor to the conversation.
To help brands succeed in building this presence, I encourage an exercise inspired by a blend of Brené Brown’s Rumbles and Shitty First Drafts that can uncover the right balance for meaningful engagement:
A Four-Part Exercise To Find Your Brand’s Place On Reddit
1. What Do Redditors Really Want From Your Brand?
Take a step back and consider what value your brand can genuinely add to Reddit communities.
What are users asking about in your niche? What problems are they trying to solve?
This isn’t about what you want to share; it’s about what they need or expect.
Exercise: Spend time lurking in relevant subreddits to observe conversations. Identify recurring themes, questions, or frustrations that align with your industry.
2. What Does Your Brand Have That Redditors Can Benefit From?
Honest self-reflection is critical. What unique value does your brand bring to the table?
This could be insider knowledge, educational resources, access to product development discussions, or behind-the-scenes insights that Redditors can’t get elsewhere.
Exercise: Make a list of three things your brand can offer that would resonate with your target communities. Then, prioritize these based on their relevance and impact on Redditors.
3. What Is the User Journey For Redditors Who Interact With Your Brand?
Understanding how a Redditor might encounter and engage with your brand is crucial.
Consider the steps they might take: from seeing your comment or post and visiting your site, to making a decision about your product or service.
Exercise: Map out the likely touchpoints Redditors will have with your brand, starting with their initial discovery. Think about what content, tone, or information would ‘BeUseful’ and guide them at each step.
4. How Can You Combine These Elements?
The key is finding the overlap between what Redditors want, what your brand can provide, and the user journey.
This is where your brand can show up at the right time, in the right community, with something they genuinely want and need.
Exercise: Create a positioning statement based on the intersection of these elements. For example, “We want to be the go-to resource for X in r/[SubredditName], offering insights and answering questions to help solve Y.”
When brands approach Reddit with this balance in mind, they are far more likely to build a presence that feels authentic and valuable.
This framework ensures that your efforts are guided by a clear understanding of your audience, your capabilities, and how the two can meet in a way that benefits both parties.
Key Takeaway
By consistently aligning your strategy with these principles, your brand can become an integral and respected part of the Reddit ecosystem, positioned for lasting success.
If you’re looking for additional guidance or have questions, feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn or reach out by email, and I’ll do my best to help.
“In line with our mission to empower communities and provide human perspectives to everyone, starting today, we’re rolling out a test of Reddit Answers, a new way to get the information, recommendations, discussions, and hot takes people are looking for – on any topic – from real conversations and communities across all of Reddit.”
Transforming Search On Reddit
Reddit Answers offers a simple search tool powered by AI.
You can ask questions and get relevant answers from discussions on Reddit.
Screenshot from redditinc.com/blog/introducing-reddit-answers, December 2024.
When a question is submitted, the tool creates summaries of conversations and details from different subreddits.
It also links related communities and posts, allowing you to explore full conversations for more context.
The annoucement continues:
“People know that Reddit has answers, advice, and perspectives on almost anything they’re looking for, and AI-powered search is part of our longer-term vision to improve the search experience on Reddit – making it faster, smarter, and more relevant.”
Screenshot from reddit.com/answers, December 2024.
Why This Matters
Reddit’s search function has been a problem for users, who often find it less effective than other search engines. Reddit Answers aims to address this and help users find information more easily on the platform.
Many users turn to Google to search for Reddit content, adding “Reddit” to their queries because Reddit’s search often lacks relevant results.
By using AI to provide targeted answers and summaries, Reddit Answers could reduce this reliance on Google and keep users engaged.
Availability
Currently, the feature is available to a limited number of users in the U.S. and only works in English. The company plans to add more languages and expand to additional locations soon.
Those eager to experience the new search feature and stay informed about its availability can visit the dedicated Reddit Answers webpage for updates.
On November 7, we hosted an exclusive Ask Me Anything (AMA) event and invited three of Reddit’s top executives to share their insights.
The insights they shared about Reddit’s growth, advertising potential, and community engagement are pure gold for any marketer looking to tap into the power of Reddit.
And the best part?
They didn’t just give us high-level fluff – they dug into the nitty-gritty with real-world examples and actionable strategies.
With close to two decades of experience on Reddit, I aimed to ask the right questions to get the most value from our panel of experts. The executive panel included:
Susan Billingsley, who leads Reddit’s global business brand and audience marketing. Susan is responsible for crafting impactful narratives that resonate with audiences and drive brand loyalty.
Rob Gaige, who uses insights from Reddit’s conversations and communities to help brands stay ahead of consumer trends, turning real-time discussions into actionable marketing strategies.
Nishé Modoyan, who oversees Reddit’s core ads platform, leads go-to-market strategies, and has a passion for identifying products and opportunities for Reddit’s business partners.
Here are the key takeaways and insights they shared during the AMA:
Reddit’s Key Growth Drivers In 2024
When asked about the key elements driving Reddit’s growth in 2024, Susan explained that improvements to the platform, such as better findability and posting tools, have led to increased engagement on conversation pages.
She also highlighted strong international growth due to machine learning-based language translation. On the advertiser side, performance marketing and SMB/mid-market growth have been significant.
Overall, the key driver of growth is people’s desire for human connection and authenticity in a world overwhelmed with information and paid influencers.
As Susan put it, “Really what’s driving a lot of our user growth and even growth within the advertiser communities and the way they’re communicating is just that need for authenticity.”
I added, “I was actually thinking back to when you first broke 10 million users, and I remember saying back then, look, where do you see a company that has a ridiculous growth rate month over month? And this was 10 years ago, five years ago, two years ago, and it just continues and continues.”
Reddit’s Staying Power
Addressing whether Reddit’s growth is a temporary trend, Rob emphasized that Reddit is not a passing fad.
He also highlighted that users don’t grow out of Reddit. They may join as a 20-year-old gamer, but as they progress through life stages, there are always relevant communities for them to engage with. This results in long-term user retention and increased engagement over time.
Rob explained, “If Reddit is a trend, it’s the slowest trend on Earth, given that the platform has been around for 19 years. With half of America coming to Reddit weekly, and the platform being evenly split between men and women, Reddit is ubiquitous.”
Reddit’s Unique Advertising Proposition
Susan broke down three key factors that make Reddit unique as an advertising platform:
“Conversations are organized by interest, making it the only platform structured entirely around passions, where people actively signal, ‘I’m into this, I’m interested in this’.”
“Our audience is large, growing quickly, and full of highly engaged users with strong intent. Finally, these conversations drive real, impactful decisions.”
“Conversations are ultimately driving real decisions,” Susan said. “People come to Reddit hungry for information and validation, which leads to real actions – purchases, spending, and long-term value.”
As a result, advertising on Reddit combines the benefits of social media and search, allowing brands to reach their target audience in a context that drives business outcomes.
Balancing Organic Presence And Paid Advertising
When asked about the relationship between organic and paid presence on Reddit, Nishé explained that while combining both approaches is optimal, companies can start with either organic or paid advertising based on their resources.
She emphasized that authenticity is key and every business has expertise they can share on Reddit, regardless of category.
Nishé noted, “You do not have to take on both. You can absolutely do one or the other, but obviously what I’m going to talk about is the power of doing them together.”
She detailed how Reddit Pro can be used as a free tool to understand communities and trends, which can inform both organic engagement and paid campaigns.
I added insight about matching the approach to the user journey – using ads for purchase-ready users and organic engagement for awareness phases.
How Brands Can Join Conversations Authentically
Responding to a question about how brands can join meaningful conversations on Reddit without annoying users, Susan provided multiple real-world examples of successful brand engagement.
She emphasized treating Reddit users as humans deserving of respect and authentic interaction.
Susan advised, “Authenticity is a really big thing. Just remember that you’re talking to humans. So people on Reddit want to be talked to, just like all of us want to be talked to, you want to be talked to with respect, you want to be talked to as if your opinion matters.”
Examples ranged from Fidelity’s customer service approach to a vegan company’s community engagement, to Keith from Sonos’s personal approach to crisis management.
I highlighted how humanizing brand interactions changes user responses positively. Susan also shared how a publisher discovered new audience segments through organic content sharing.
The key themes were authenticity, human connection, and providing genuine value to communities, whether through customer service, content sharing, or community engagement.
Effective Reddit Monitoring Strategies
When asked about effective strategies for monitoring Reddit both for opportunities and reputation management, Rob explained that while monitoring Reddit can be challenging due to its massive content volume, Reddit Pro is an effective tool for tracking brand mentions and relevant conversations.
Rob cautioned, “Reddit every two weeks generates a Wikipedia worth of content. Just kind of think about the amount of content there is to go through. So it could definitely be challenging.”
He emphasized the importance of identifying subreddits where target customers are most active and understanding that opinions can vary significantly between different communities.
He used the example of Samsung’s Frame TV, which receives very different reactions in home theater versus home design subreddits, illustrating how different communities can have varying perspectives on the same product.
Creating Engaging Reddit Content
Addressing the question of best practices for creating engaging content on Reddit, Nishé emphasized the importance of using Reddit Pro to understand your audience and identify relevant conversations.
Rob then provided three specific strategies:
Creating engaging games or challenges (like the U.S. Navy’s submarine hunt).
Treating users as early adopters with exclusive access to products.
Providing unique access to expert information.
Rob elaborated, “Redditors love games, quests, and tasks. The second thing they love is being treated like early adopters. And third, they love access – give them access to an expert, to exclusive information, to things they can’t get elsewhere, and they’ll geek out with you.”
They emphasized that successful content needs to add genuine value to the community and align with how Redditors naturally engage with content.
Brand Presence Approach On Reddit
When asked about the best approach for brands to establish their presence on Reddit, Rob outlined different models:
Hybrid communities with both brand and independent moderators.
Participating in existing communities as a regular member.
As Rob pointed out, “It’s really critical here. The first model, which Susan mentioned with Fidelity, involves company-employed moderators who run and maintain the brand’s subreddit. Then there are hybrid models, and finally, the third model we’ve been discussing, where a brand simply joins an independently run community and participates just like any other member.”
Susan emphasized that there’s no single correct approach – it depends on the brand’s goals, target audience, and available resources.
They suggested that brands can start small and scale up their presence as they learn what works best for their specific situation.
Handling Negativity On Reddit
Responding to a question about how brands should handle negative comments, trolling, and criticism on Reddit, Rob shared research showing that Reddit is predominantly positive, with most negative comments actually being constructive product feedback rather than pure criticism.
He noted that true trolling makes up only 1-2% of negative interactions, and most users view brands more favorably when they respond to criticism constructively.
Rob revealed, “First thing we learned is that overwhelmingly Reddit is a positive place. So no matter what category we study, we find between four to one, seven to one positive to negative, even in insurance conversations on Reddit, it’s a two to one positive to negative.”
Nishé added tactical advice, suggesting that authentic community engagement improves brand sentiment over time.
She also provided specific guidance about managing comments on ads, recommending leaving comments on when seeking engagement but turning them off for pure conversion-focused campaigns.
The key message was that negativity on Reddit is both less common and less impactful than brands might fear, and can often be turned into positive interactions through proper engagement.
Drive Brand Growth With Reddit
Phew, that was a lot of incredible information!
We’re so lucky that Susan, Rob, and Nishé took time out of their busy schedules to share their expertise with us. It’s not every day you get to hear directly from the people driving one of the most influential platforms out there.
If you’re feeling inspired and want to start leveraging Reddit for your brand, you’ve got a couple of fantastic resources at your fingertips.
Head over to Reddit for Business to learn more about working directly with the Reddit team on your advertising and partnership opportunities.
And if you want to focus on building your organic presence and engaging with Reddit communities in a meaningful way, you can connect with me on LinkedIn to talk more.
No matter which path you choose, one thing’s for sure – with the insights from this AMA, you’re well on your way to unlocking the full potential of Reddit for your brand.
Looking forward to seeing you and your brand on Reddit!
Here are the links to each question on the AMA recording on our YouTube channel (make sure to subscribe while you are there!).
Looking to unlock the power of Reddit’s unique platform to boost your brand, build organic strategies, or foster community engagement? We’re bringing together the experts, and they’re going to tell you how to do it.
Don’t miss this exclusive opportunity to receive actionable insights directly from the experts who help shape Reddit’s advertising and marketing landscape.
You’ll get insider tips on how to engage Reddit’s vast and diverse user base, tap into real-time conversations, and leverage the platform’s unique community-driven environment to drive your brand’s growth.
Whether your focus is on organic search, paid campaigns, community engagement, or crafting a winning content strategy, this is a rare chance to ask Reddit insiders whatever you want.
Meet Your Expert Panel:
Moderated by Brent Csutoras – A seasoned expert in digital marketing and Reddit strategy, Brent has spent years helping brands leverage Reddit to achieve tangible success. His strategic guidance will help ensure you get the most from this AMA.
Susan Billingsley – As the leader of Reddit’s global business brand and audience marketing, Susan is responsible for crafting narratives that connect with Reddit’s diverse user base and drive brand loyalty. She’ll share insights into what resonates with Reddit users and how to create compelling brand stories.
Rob Gaige – Rob brings his expertise in turning Reddit’s community conversations into actionable marketing strategies. With his finger on the pulse of consumer trends, he’ll guide you on how to stay ahead of shifts in audience behavior and preferences.
Nishe Modoyan – Overseeing Reddit’s core ads platform, Nishe leads go-to-market strategies with a deep passion for identifying the most effective advertising opportunities for Reddit’s business partners. She’ll offer expert advice on optimizing ad spend and maximizing ROI.
This AMA is designed to be an interactive, no-holds-barred conversation, giving you direct access to the minds behind Reddit’s advertising and marketing strategies. You’ll walk away with real insights for crafting your next campaign, whether it’s organic or paid – insights you can only hear from the experts shaping Reddit itself.
What We’ll Be Covering:
This is a chance to get behind the scenes of Reddit’s advertising and marketing ecosystem and understand how you can make the most of the platform’s vast and engaged user base. Learn how to harness Reddit’s vibrant communities, use advanced targeting options for ads, and capitalize on emerging consumer trends.
This presentation is tailor-made for marketing leaders, digital strategists, and managers who are eager to explore Reddit’s full potential. If you’re tasked with expanding brand reach, fostering community engagement, or driving targeted ad campaigns, we want to hear your questions!
While We Typically Provide Key Takeaways, This Time You Drive the Conversation!
Wondering what you can expect? Here are a few of the burning questions we anticipate answering:
What are the most effective strategies for engaging Reddit’s highly active communities and creating meaningful interactions?
How can I use Reddit Ads to boost brand awareness, generate leads, and drive conversions?
How can insights derived from Reddit’s communities help predict emerging consumer trends and behavior?
What are the best practices for leveraging Reddit’s rich data to enhance and refine my brand strategy?
How do I find the right balance between organic engagement and paid advertising to maximize impact without losing authenticity?
Ready to Gain a Competitive Edge? Secure Your Spot Now!
Always wanted direct access to the pros at Reddit? Register today to be part of a live conversation and get answers to all your burning questions.
Can’t Make It?
No worries! Register anyway, and we’ll ensure you receive a recording of the event after, so you don’t miss out on a single insight.
In a big move for digital advertisers, Reddit has just introduced a new Keyword Targeting feature, changing the game for how marketers reach their target audiences.
This addition brings fresh potential for PPC marketers looking to tap into Reddit’s highly engaged user base.
With millions of communities and conversations happening every day, Reddit is now offering advertisers a more precise way to get in front of users at the perfect moment.
The best part? They’re leveraging AI to make the process even more powerful.
Let’s break down why this is such an exciting development for digital advertisers.
Keyword Targeting for Conversation and Feed Placements
Reddit has always been about its vibrant communities, or “subreddits,” where users connect over shared interests and discuss a wide range of topics.
Until now, keyword targeting has only been available on conversation placements. Starting today, advertisers can use keyword targeting in both feed and conversation placements.
The targeting update allows advertisers to place ads directly within these conversations, ensuring they reach people when they’re actively engaged with content that’s related to their products or services.
For PPC marketers, this level of targeting means a higher chance of delivering ads to users who are in the right mindset.
Instead of serving ads to users scrolling passively through a general feed, Reddit is giving you the tools to place your ads into specific conversations, where users are already discussing topics related to your industry.
According to Reddit, advertisers who use keyword targeting have seen a 30% increase in conversion volumes. This is a significant lift for marketers focused on performance metrics, such as conversion rates and cost per acquisition.
Scaling Performance with AI-Powered Optimization
While precision is key, Reddit knows that advertisers also need scale.
Reddit mentioned two AI-powered solutions to help balance keyword targeting and scalability within the platform:
Dynamic Audience Expansion
Placement Expansion
Dynamic Audience Expansion
This feature works in tandem with keyword targeting to help advertisers broaden their reach, without sacrificing relevance.
Reddit’s AI does the heavy lifting by analyzing signals like user behavior and ad creative performance to identify additional users who are likely to engage with your ad. In essence, it’s expanding your audience in a smart, data-driven way.
For PPC marketers, this means more exposure without having to rely solely on manually selecting every keyword or interest.
You set the initial parameters, and Reddit’s AI expands from there. This not only saves time but also ensures that your ads reach a broader audience that’s still relevant to your goals.
Reddit claims campaigns using Dynamic Audience Expansion have seen a 30% reduction in cost per action (CPA), making it a must-have for marketers focused on efficiency and budget optimization.
Placement Expansion
Another standout feature is Reddit’s multi-placement optimization. This feature uses machine learning to determine the most effective places to show your ads, whether in the feed or within specific conversation threads.
This multi-placement strategy ensures your ads are delivered in the right context to maximize user engagement and conversions.
For PPC marketers, ad placement is a critical factor in campaign success. With Reddit’s AI optimizing these placements, you can trust that your ads will appear where they have the highest likelihood of driving action—whether that’s getting users to click, convert, or engage.
Introducing AI Keyword Suggestions
Reddit’s new AI Keyword Suggestions tool helps with this by analyzing Reddit’s vast conversation data to recommend keywords you might not have thought of.
It allows you to discover new, high-performing keywords related to your campaign, expanding your reach to conversations you might not have considered. And because it’s powered by AI, the suggestions are always based on real-time data and trends happening within Reddit’s communities.
This can be particularly helpful for marketers trying to stay ahead of trending topics or those who want to ensure they’re tapping into conversations with high engagement potential.
As conversations on Reddit shift, so do the keywords that drive those discussions. Reddit’s AI Keyword Suggestions help keep your targeting fresh and relevant, ensuring you don’t miss out on key opportunities.
New Streamlined Campaign Management
Reddit has also made strides in simplifying the campaign setup and management process. They’ve introduced a unified flow that allows advertisers to combine multiple targeting options within a single ad group.
You can now mix keywords, communities, and interests in one campaign, expanding your reach without overcomplicating your structure.
From a PPC perspective, this is huge. Simplifying campaign structure means you can test more variations, optimize faster, and reduce time spent on manual adjustments.
In addition, Reddit has enhanced its reporting capabilities with keyword-level insights, allowing you to drill down into what’s working and what’s not, giving you more control over your campaigns.
The Takeaway for PPC Marketers
For marketers working with Google Ads, Facebook, or Microsoft Advertising, this new update from Reddit should be on your radar.
The combination of keyword targeting, AI-driven audience expansion, and multi-placement optimization makes Reddit a serious contender in the digital advertising space.
If you’re looking to diversify your PPC campaigns, drive higher conversions, and optimize costs, Reddit’s new offerings provide a unique opportunity.
You can read the full announcement from Reddit here.
Reddit is a dynamic social media platform that allows individuals to engage in thousands of existing communities, known as subreddits, or even create their own subreddit if an existing one doesn’t exist or suit their needs.
Users can browse, engage with, or submit content to these subreddits. There’s a voting system that determines the content’s visibility, allowing popular content to rise to the top, while less engaging content moves further down the feed.
Screenshot from Reddit, September 2024
For non-logged-in users, Reddit’s front page displays a curated view of content from various “safe” communities, which is organized by popularity.
Logged-in users see a personalized front page featuring content from their subscribed subreddits, again ranked by popularity.
Reddit’s Unique Position In Social Media
Reddit has played a significant role in shaping internet culture, including:
Influencing meme creation and propagation.
Pioneering crowdfunding initiatives.
Popularizing the AMA (Ask Me Anything) interview format.
Fostering deep, meaningful online discussions.
For marketers, Reddit presents a unique opportunity to connect with potential customers in a space where users actively seek to learn, debate, and engage with topics they’re passionate about.
Reddit’s reach and engagement are impressive:
Reddit’s user base is diverse and valuable, with a growing international presence (over 50% of traffic now originates outside the U.S.).
The platform attracts a well-educated audience with significant purchasing power, making it an attractive target for marketers.
Additionally, the platform’s influence extends beyond its own ecosystem.
In 2024, Google entered a $60 million agreement with Reddit to provide real-time content access and utilize its data in AI model training.
This partnership has increased Reddit’s visibility in search results, with users often appending “reddit” to their queries to access more authentic information.
Screenshot from search for [best electric car suv 2024], Google, September 2024
Navigating Reddit’s Ecosystem
To succeed on Reddit, it’s crucial to understand its unique characteristics and unwritten rules.
Subreddit-Specific Rules
While Reddit has overarching guidelines, each subreddit operates with its own set of rules. These can be highly specific and vary greatly between communities.
Screenshot from Reddit (/r/socialmedia), September 2024
For instance, r/dataisbeautiful, one of Reddit’s most popular subreddits, requires all diagrams to have at least one computer-generated element.
Always review a subreddit’s rules before participating to avoid potential bans.
The Value Of Pseudonymity
Reddit’s culture is built on pseudonymity. Most users, including founders and administrators, operate under usernames that don’t reveal their real-world identities.
Unless you’re managing a branded account for advertising purposes or overseeing a branded subreddit, it’s advisable to use a pseudonym.
For those with branded accounts, maintaining a separate pseudonymous account for general participation is recommended.
Reddit allows multiple accounts per user, provided they’re not used to manipulate the voting system.
Understanding Reddit’s Algorithm
Reddit’s content ranking algorithm uses a logarithmic scale based on upvotes, downvotes, and other engagement factors.
In simple terms, the first 10 votes on a submission carry as much weight as the next 100, which in turn carry as much weight as the next 1,000.
This means that initial engagement is crucial for a submission’s success. However, attempting to manipulate this system is strongly discouraged and can result in severe penalties.
Instead, focus on creating high-quality titles and descriptions, and consider adding thoughtful comments to encourage positive engagement.
Keep in mind that Reddit’s algorithm now also considers factors like comments and overall user interaction.
Becoming An Active Redditor
To truly understand and succeed on Reddit, it’s essential to become an active participant in the community.
Screenshot from Reddit, September 2024
Engage with subreddits aligned with your interests and expertise.
Familiarize yourself with the nuances of each community and contribute to discussions where you can add value.
Learn the Reddit language so that when you engage in each Subreddit, you sound like you belong.
Trust me, there are a lot of Reddit terms and phrases you definitely do not know but should if you want to have success on Reddit. Check out this handy Reddit Lingo Guide.
The Importance Of Commenting
Commenting is a fundamental aspect of Reddit participation. It’s the primary way to connect with other users, demonstrate community involvement, and even help avoid being labeled as a spammer.
To build karma efficiently, monitor the “rising” tab and contribute early to posts gaining traction, as well as participate in lower barriers to entry subreddits, like /r/meme, /r/oddlysatisfying, and /r/aww.
Avoiding The Spam Label
Reddit’s definition of spam is different from other platforms, but it’s clear they take it seriously, and if you’re not careful, you can quickly be labeled as a spammer.
Spam on Reddit isn’t just about posting links or overly promotional content – it’s more nuanced and tied to how you engage with the community.
Let’s break down the major actions that could get you flagged as spam on Reddit:
Exclusively Posting Self-Created Content
Reddit is a place to share and discuss, not just promote your own material.
If all you do is post your own stuff without engaging with others or sharing content from other sources, you’ll quickly be seen as self-serving, which will limit your success on Reddit.
Posting Without Engaging In Comments
This is one of the most common pitfalls. You can’t just drop a link and disappear.
Reddit is all about community interaction, so if you’re not jumping into the conversation around your post or others, you’re missing the point.
Comments are where the magic happens – it’s your chance to build credibility and trust.
Submitting Off-Topic Content To A Subreddit
Each subreddit has its own culture, tone, and rules.
Posting content that doesn’t align with the community’s focus is a quick way to be labeled as a spammer.
Take the time to understand what each subreddit values, and tailor your contributions accordingly.
Excessive Posting In A Single Subreddit
Overposting, even with good content, can make you look like you’re just there to push your agenda. Balance is key.
Spread your contributions across different subreddits, and ensure you add value rather than just trying to gain exposure.
Repeatedly Posting Poorly Received Content
If your posts aren’t resonating with the community, take a step back and reassess.
Maybe your content isn’t the right fit, or perhaps the way you’re presenting it doesn’t match the subreddit’s tone.
Learn from the feedback – or lack of engagement – and adjust your approach.
Cross-Posting Identical Content Across Multiple Subreddits
This feels lazy and reeks of self-promotion.
Redditors are savvy, and they can spot someone who’s trying to game the system a mile away.
If you’re going to share similar content in different subreddits, tailor it to each community to show that you’ve put in the effort to understand their specific interests.
Ultimately, Reddit values authenticity and genuine interaction. Posting is not enough – you need to participate actively.
Treat Reddit like a real-world community, focus on being part of the conversation, and you’ll avoid being seen as a spammer while building credibility and trust.
Identifying Suitable Subreddits
Identifying suitable subreddits is one of the most crucial steps to succeeding on Reddit as a marketer.
While engaging with communities that match your personal interests helps you learn the ropes, you need to go a step further and target subreddits that align with your business goals.
Remember, Reddit isn’t a one-size-fits-all platform, so your strategy has to be intentional and tailored to each community.
Here’s how to be strategic in finding the right subreddits:
Leverage Reddit’s Search Function
Use the “site:domain.com” search parameter to uncover where your content – or your competitors’ – is being discussed.
This helps you identify communities already interested in your industry or niche. It’s a quick way to figure out where conversations are happening about topics related to your business.
Refine Your Search
Once you have an idea of where your content might fit, dig deeper by going into your selected subreddit and searching “site:domain.com” (you will notice the subreddit included in the left of the search box by default).
This lets you analyze how your content performs in specific subreddits, giving you insights into which communities are most receptive.
You’ll quickly see what tone, format, and subject matter work best in each one.
Study The Sidebar Rules
Every subreddit has its own culture and guidelines, and these aren’t suggestions – they’re rules.
Before posting, always check the sidebar to ensure your content aligns with the community’s standards.
Failing to do this is one of the fastest ways to get your content removed or, worse, get banned.
Look For Emerging Subreddits
Established subreddits can be crowded and harder to break into, but newer or smaller subreddits often seek more content and engagement.
They present a fantastic opportunity to gain visibility and influence early on.
Keep an eye on trending or fast-growing communities that align with your niche. This is where you can become a go-to source before your competition even knows they exist.
When you take the time to find the right subreddits and understand their nuances, you’ll be much more effective in reaching your target audience and building genuine connections.
Creating Effective Reddit Content
Creating content that resonates on Reddit requires more than repurposing material from other platforms.
Redditors are discerning and quick to reject anything that feels overly promotional or irrelevant, so it’s crucial to understand the community’s values and engagement style.
Analyze The “TOP” Tab: Check the “TOP” posts in relevant subreddits to see which topics, formats, and tones perform best. This helps you understand what resonates with the community and tailor your content accordingly.
Use The “site:domain.com” Search Technique: Search for posts mentioning your domain or competitors to identify what’s working. Analyze titles, framing, and responses to find successful patterns you can adapt.
Create Reddit-Specific Content: Design content specifically for Reddit, such as AMAs, behind-the-scenes insights, or unique Reddit discounts. Focus on being authentic and valuable to gain traction.
Engage With The Community: Don’t just post and leave – actively participate in the comments. Engaging with users builds credibility and strengthens connections with your audience.
Adapt And Iterate: Regularly review your content’s performance across subreddits and adjust your approach based on feedback to ensure you’re always aligning with what works.
By tailoring your approach to fit the unique culture of Reddit, you’ll create content that not only gets noticed but also builds genuine connections with the community.
Maintaining Integrity On Reddit
Reddit isn’t a place to cut corners or game the system.
Its anti-spam and anti-manipulation systems are advanced and constantly evolving to catch attempts at cheating, using machine learning, domain filtering, and rate limiting.
If caught manipulating the voting system or pushing your content too aggressively, you risk both account and permanent domain bans.
The Reddit community values authenticity, and any attempt to manipulate will quickly backfire, damaging your reputation.
Instead, take a page from TikTok’s approach – engage openly and authentically, even if you face criticism.
If you want a real presence on Reddit, invest the time to understand the platform, respect its culture, and engage genuinely. Follow the rules, be transparent, and avoid tricks.
The long-term rewards far outweigh any short-term gains from gaming the system.
Start Now, Thrive Tomorrow
As Reddit’s influence continues to expand, the smartest move is to dive in now and familiarize yourself with how things work.
Reddit’s dedicated, thriving communities offer a unique chance to connect, but it’s a space that rewards genuine effort. The partnerships with Google and OpenAI show Reddit’s only going to get bigger, so this is your moment to get ahead of the curve.
By getting involved today and respecting its culture, you’ll set yourself up to tap into one of the internet’s most engaged and influential platforms.
Success on Reddit isn’t about shortcuts – it’s about being part of the conversation now, so you’re ready to win tomorrow.
The ascension of Reddit to one of the largest sites on the web over the last 15 months is quite controversial and unique. Never in the history of SEO has a site grown that fast to such a level.
In a recent interview on the Motley Fool Money podcast, CEO Steve Huffman paints a picture of how large sites can succeed on Google you shouldn’t miss.
Image Credit: Kevin Indig
I extracted the key quotes and added my own takes below. Every quote is verbatim, but I removed filler words.
The takeaway questions at the end of each section hopefully inspire you to find new growth opportunities.
I optionally uploaded this Memo to NotebookLM’s new podcast feature, so you can listen to it if you like.
I’d love to hear your opinion in the comments about whether you prefer reading or listening to Memos!
On: Growth
We made sign up much, much easier.We made both the website and the app much faster. We redesigned it in a lot of little ways so it’s easier on the eyes. There are fewer bugs. And our home feed has gotten much better at making recommendations of communities that you might like. [We’re] getting people into their home on Reddit and then finding all their interests much more effectively.
We used to be more aggressive about ‘hey, login, download the app’. That worked in the short term, but long term, it was just kind of annoying because in that moment, that person probably has a question and Reddit likely has the Answer, but they’re not looking to be on Reddit in that moment. They’re trying to do something. I’m trying to buy this thing or I’m trying to get an answer to this question.
Our attitude now is give the person what they want. Give them the answer, let them see all the content, let them go about their day and trust that we’ll see them again on the front page or opening the app when they’re more primed to have the community experience. Every time they come to Reddit and get the Answer, they’re learning ‘Reddit has the Answer to my questions’. That alone is really valuable.
Logically, the more friction you remove for users, the easier it will be for them to solve their problems, and the better the signals you send to Google.
The key point here is that these changes are related to the product, not just the website. The product experience influences SEO.
The effect of positive user signals is often masked by time, as Google takes months to collect user behavior for queries and might only slowly reward sites.
The slow pace starkly contrasts the fact that companies are often incentivized to harvest short-term gains, usually by adding friction to the experience rather than removing it. While there is a balance to be had, the result is usually worse user engagement signals.
Brand recognition in the search results plays into the same challenge: When visitors have a good experience with a site or product, they’re more likely to click on it again when they see it in the search results.
If they encounter too much friction signing up or a poor product experience, though, that opportunity goes out the window.
Takeaway questions:
How can you improve your product and onboarding experience?
Do you have too much friction in the sign-up process to allow users a good experience?
Where can you take friction away, and where do you need to find a compromise?
How do you measure user experience on the site vs. in the product?
Either you haven’t heard of Reddit or it didn’t work for you. Those are the number two we’re really focused on. There’s a third one, which is you don’t speak English. That’s the next frontier of Reddit.
We can actually translate the existing Reddit corpus into other languages at human quality. Now, not all the content is relevant, but a lot of it is. We have been testing this in France, in French in the first half this year, and it’s gone very, very well.
After winning in the U.S., international markets are a huge growth lever for Reddit, and machine translation has become good enough for most cases. The Hidden Gems update initiated Reddit’s rise in the SERPs – not just in the U.S. – and Reddit needs to capture the momentum.
As a marketplace, it faces the classic chicken-egg problem: You need content to attract users, but users need to create the content.
In the U.S., Reddit has famously solved the problem with fake users.
In international markets, Reddit can use the content it already has to stimulate new content creation and “make the site feel alive.” The key is to get the translation good enough, and that’s where Reddit uses machine learning.
Takeaway questions:
What assets do you have in your core market that you could leverage to enter new markets?
Can you use machine translation to get to “good enough” quickly?
Do you have momentum in INTL markets that you should capitalize on?
On: SEO
We made our website substantially faster – two to five times faster. We launched this in May of 2023. Googlebot likes speed, and faster pages rank higher and get indexed faster.
When our website got a lot faster, we started ranking higher. Users are having a better experience on Reddit. It creates this Flywheel that we’re really benefiting from as we see a lot of new and core users coming from search.
A lot of SEO pros miss this: Google crawls and indexes faster sites more.
As a direct ranking factor, speed and Core Web Vitals optimization have the biggest impact on ecommerce.
I don’t recommend prioritizing it for other types of sites – unless you see a high amount of discovered, not indexed or crawled, not indexed pages in your Google Search Console pages report in combination with low CWV scores. As a result, crawl and indexing rates are relevant metrics for site speed as well.
Takeaway questions:
Could (server) speed be the reason you’re seeing a high amount of discovered, not indexed or crawled, not indexed pages in GSC?
Could you slim down the amount of stuff Google has to download to render the page without a massive resource investment?
We have no idea how search works. Nobody does. Right? Right. Nobody does.
Google algorithm and product changes sometimes help, sometimes hurt, but we don’t live or die by them by any means.
The art of SEO is leaning into it really hard and then diversifying. It’s like investing: Double down on something and diversify once you have wealth.
A common approach to getting wealthy is to double down on one investment and diversify once you’ve reached a certain return to hedge your bets. SEO for marketplaces should be no different. The question here is how dependent Reddit is on Google for growth.
My take is that, Reddit depends on Google for its top-of-the-funnel (TOFU) but provides a good enough experience that users would come to Reddit even if a Search algo update brought it back to its 2022 baseline.
Over 50% of Reddit’s traffic comes from SEO and 42% direct, according to Similarweb. But Search is not Search. There is branded and non-branded SEO traffic.
A significant number of searchers append “Reddit” to their queries, which is an incredibly strong ranking signal for Google and shows that users want Reddit results specifically.
Reddit also saw strong user growth due to its exploding presence in Search. So, both are true: Reddit needs Search to grow but wouldn’t die without its front-row seat.
Takeaway questions:
Are you at the point at which you should diversify from SEO?
How can you stimulate more brand searches?
On: Brand Search
If you go to Google Trends, you can see this: Reddit is the sixth most searched word on Google in 2024 in the U.S. last year. Number five is news, and maybe number eight is maps.
People are going to Google looking for Reddit. A lot of those users are already logged in. They’re actually core Reddit users. They’re using Google to navigate Reddit. If you’re just searching on the Internet, there’s a good chance you end up on Reddit.
This quote goes back to my previous point and addresses the common criticism that Reddit’s search is so bad that users need to use Google. But isn’t that in Reddit’s interest?
If Google is Reddit’s TOFU and searches that include “Reddit” are a strong signal, why would Reddit improve its onsite search and kill that behavior?
Reddit needs to thread the needle and make the experience good enough that users signal up once they find a Reddit result but not so bad that users can’t find anything on Reddit.
To be fair, the chance of coming across a Reddit result on the web sooner or later is incredibly high since the platform is huge. It also hosts many small but passionate sub-communities that form one large community.
Other than Reddits competitors, which are mostly small niche forums, its footprint on the web is large enough to allow poor site search. Not every business can get into such a position, but some can.
Takeaway questions:
Do users love you so much that they would search your site on Google even if your onsite search were poor?
Is your footprint large enough that users would come to you either way?
On: Monetization
Our ad server doesn’t care if you’re logged out or logged in. They both have a user id. The main difference between a logged in user and a logged out user is logged in users spend more time on Reddit. So, we’ll have a more fulsome view of what your interests are, because over time, people join more and more communities on Reddit.
You might have 100 subscriptions or more and a logged out user doesn’t have any. They may have just visited a few subreddits. The main difference in value to us between a logged in user and a logged out user is time spent of the logged in accounts, they just have more inventory. But we monetize logged out users as well.
There’s broadly two ways that we’ll target an ad. One is based on your explicitly expressed interest on Reddit. If you join the skiing subreddit, you’re likely to see outdoor ads. The other is the context of what you’re looking at.
If you’re on a comments page, we call them post detail pages, that page is likely mentioning a company or companies by name and often specific products. We can target an ad based on the context as well.
We think targeting based on your explicit interests or the context of what you’re looking at are healthy and explainable and not creepy ways of targeting ads. What we don’t do is we don’t target ads based on your personal information, your Internet browsing habits.
Reddit’s ad targeting system is very similar to Google’s. Instead of tracking user behavior and interests, Reddit and Google target them based on their search query or subreddits and posts.
The benefit is not just a lower “creep factor” but also less dependency on logged-in users.
As a matter of fact, about half of Reddit’s daily active users (DAU) are logged in and half logged out.
Meta, for example, couldn’t operate under these circumstances. They need more logged-in users for ad targeting.
Takeaway question:
What intent can you derive from pages users visited, e.g., with a customer journey intelligence platform or attribution model?
30% to 60% of our users are not on the other platforms.
40% of conversations on Reddit are about products or product recommendations.
First of all, these are stunning statistics. Reddit has a unique audience, which is rare as a social platform, but speaks about the passion and engagement of its many sub-communities.
Second, the fact that almost half of Reddit’s conversations are about products might explain why Google ranks Reddit so highly for so many product-related keywords.
Reddit’s visibility in the space seems to be justified by its content and Google’s ambition to display better content for products.
Cases like House Fresh, an affiliate site that got published badly by Google for unknown reasons, while big affiliate sites seem to be sloppy with their product reviews, highlight how hard it is to find good affiliate content.
I also referenced a study from Germany that shows how easy it is to identify affiliate content based on borderline spammy optimization.
Even though Reddit is by no means perfect and needs to find ways to combat spam, it’s still a place on the web where users can find unfiltered product reviews.
Takeaway questions:
How can you be present in Reddit’s product conversations in an open, transparent way?
Should you start a Subreddit or engage more passively?
What can you learn from product conversions about your space on Reddit?
On: Moderation
Every content starts at zero points. Human beings have to vote on a piece of content up and not down to make it popular. Stuff that’s out of alignment with the community or if you’re being a jerk in the comments is likely to get voted down. In that sense, every user is a moderator on Reddit because every user can vote.
Then we have users called moderators. They’re not employees. These are the users who create communities on Reddit. They write the rules that can be as strict as they want for their communities. They write that and enforce it for themselves.
Of course, we have our own safety team. Those are our employees. We enforce our policies at scale. We have all sorts of fancy tooling for doing so. By the way, we expose much of that tooling, all the AI stuff to the user, moderators as well. They have all sorts of filtering and this and that. By and large, Reddit is a really safe and welcoming place because it’s organized by community.
Again, Google’s decision to raise Reddit’s search visibility is controversial, and Reddit is by no means clean of spam.
Yet, Reddit’s multi-layered moderation of votes, Karma, moderators, and safety teams makes it a good experience for most users.
Takeaway question:
As a user platform, how can you leverage your user base for moderation, such as Twitter’s community notes?
![Google search for [best electric car suv 2024]](https://ecommerceedu.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/reddit-2-981.png)
