SEO for Reddit: A beginner’s guide

Sitting alongside the likes of YouTube and Instagram in the list of the top most visited websites in the world, Reddit is hugely influential within the online search landscape. Here are four key reasons to incorporate Reddit SEO into your marketing strategy: 

1. Improve your chances of surfacing content within Reddit itself

If your audience is on Reddit, you should be too. That means optimising posts and comments so that they surface in response to individuals searching for information -similarly to how we optimise website content within traditional SEO. Same strategy, different environment. You don’t want to leave it to pure chance to determine what information is shown about you; take control of your brand’s narrative and influence what is seen. 

2. Gain additional SERP features in Google

Videos, products, reviews, AI responses, recipes… there are a whole host of result types you might see when you search on Google, depending on what you are looking for. “Discussions and Forums” is an important example of these SERP Features. One recent study found that the Discussions and Forums SERP feature showed for over 70% of product related queries, and when it did show, Reddit was present an incredible 97.5% of the time. Brand mentions on Reddit can lead to valuable real estate in Google. 

3. Influence the AI narrative

Most LLMs appear to consider Reddit a useful, trusted source. Whilst recent reports suggest that Reddit is being cited less frequently than previously, it still regularly appears as an LLM cited source across many industries and topic areas. Our own research shows that Reddit is heavily cited even within highly regulated industries like healthcare. Influencing the Reddit narrative can therefore help you to influence the wider AI search narrative. 

4. Mine data around keywords, topics and queries

Over the years, keyword research for SEO has grown more and more sophisticated. From collating simple lists of relevant terms to mapping topics and subject clusters to prioritising search intent – we now think more about the broader purpose behind a search rather than the specific words used. Today, we also need to think about Query Fan Out, which is the process LLMs use when looking for information to answer a prompt. Instead of just finding the best answer to a simple, single question, they ask a series of related questions, allowing them to curate a broader picture of a specific topic. This means that keyword research now becomes an exercise in clustering groups of topically related questions and queries, attempting to reflect the kinds of research journeys your customers or target audience (as well as AI bots) are likely to follow. 

Reddit is a great resource to understand these research journeys. Not only can you gain inspiration around the initial questions that are being asked, you can see the responses that are considered most useful, what kinds of follow-up questions are likely, and how these relate to other topics. Reddit forums are natural, organically flowing conversations which give invaluable insight into how real people think and communicate on the topics that are important to your business. And Reddit’s system of upvotes and downvotes gives clear insight into the types of questions and comments that people find most relevant or insightful. 

Reddit SEO isn’t necessarily right for every organisation. It takes time, commitment, and resources to get it right. Before committing to adding it to your marketing strategy, it is worth weighing up the challenges and opportunities to judge if it’s a good fit.

Reddit and SEO: The challenges

Reddit is a highly controlled environment. Reddit isn’t like most social media channels, where brands can simply create an account and start posting about whatever they like. Individual subreddits have their own guidelines and rules about who can post, and how to do so. Moderators are generally active, and happy to ban accounts they perceive as breaking the rules. You will need to do your research to find the most relevant subreddits, and understand if and how you can contribute to these. And your contributions need to be genuinely useful – not spammy or promotional. Finally, don’t be tempted to pose as a customer or member of the public to circumvent the rules; you are likely to be spotted and do more harm than good!

Building a trusted account takes time and effort. Once you’ve found the most appropriate subreddits for your brand, you can contribute by joining discussions and answering questions. Rather than simply promoting your products or services, post content that helps customers, demonstrates expertise, and helps you to build trust with the community. You may need to think about creating new non-promotional website content or a helpful tool that you can share. Some brands use individuals as brand ambassadors, which is a good way to maintain a human connection – as long as the brand relationship is made clear. But you will need to consider if you have the resources to build this trust over weeks and months with consistent, thoughtful, and helpful posts. 

Reputation can go both ways. The ultimate purpose of contributing to Reddit is to influence the narrative around your industry and products in a positive way – and for this to then feed into both traditional search results and LLM answers. However, bear in mind that if Reddit users perceive your contributions as false, low-quality, inauthentic, overly-promotional or spammy, they may respond harshly. You could end up actually harming your brand reputation. Therefore if you are committing to a Reddit SEO strategy, you need to spend time reading and listening, to understand what the communities you are joining care about, and what your brand can offer of real value. 

Reddit and SEO: The opportunities

Influence the narrative around your brand. Your customers or target audience are likely already on Reddit, talking about your industry. Perhaps even discussing your brand itself. Join the conversation to influence not only what Redditors think of your brand, but what LLMs understand about you too. As with general SEO, consider the type of question that might lead someone to your post or comment, and reflect relevant terms and keywords in your language – without being spammy or inauthentic. This is a great opportunity to answer FAQs and respond to genuine customer pain points. Keep it helpful, friendly and only discuss your products or services when clearly and immediately relevant. 

Understand customer pain points and information gaps. Up and down votes provide real data from real people; you can use this information to develop your broader marketing strategy. Create content that answers the questions and concerns raised on Reddit. 

Reddit-specific formats and trends. Every social media channel develops its own ways of doing things over time. In the case of Reddit, this can lead to some excellent opportunities to build trust and visibility. Take AMA for example, a Reddit trend where a celebrity or expert invites a forum to “Ask Me Anything”. This could offer an opportunity for a brand to team up with a thought-leader, industry expert, or even a customer with an interesting story to tell, to run an AMA on a relevant topic. Just remember to,check with the relevant moderators first – not only to find out if you are allowed, but if they think it would be valuable content for their community. If you get the go-ahead, make sure all your responses prioritise authenticity over promotion.

Expertise and thought leadership are highly valued on Reddit. Success on Reddit is all about finding the right conversations and channels, the places where your knowledge and expertise are sought-after commodities. Spend time looking for the right niche to contribute to, and thinking about the value you can offer – that’s when your brands’ industry knowledge becomes your biggest asset. 

Still need help incorporating Reddit into your SEO strategy ; or adding SEO to your social media roadmap? At Varn we’re experts in all things search, starting with traditional search engines but also spanning LLMs, social platforms and all online content. Get in touch to find out how we can support you.