Have you noticed that some results are coming from Reddit when you search for something on Google? There is also a current search trend — affixing “Reddit” to search queries, especially about product reviews. With its whopping 73.1 million daily active users and over 100,000 active subreddits, Reddit has become one of the most popular communities online and one of the most trusted sources of information, impacting SEO.
If you want your brand to increase visibility and credibility, you must pay attention to the power of Reddit. In this piece, you will learn how to leverage Reddit SEO to boost your business’s rank on search engine results pages (SERPs). Aside from that, you will learn about:
- Reddit’s Role in SEO and Why it is Important in Modern Search
- How to Use Reddit for SEO
- How to Find the Right Subreddits for SEO
- How to Create SEO-friendly Reddit Posts
- How to Build Engagement and Backlinks Through Reddit
- Case Studies
- Tracking Reddit SEO Performance
What is Reddit SEO and its Impact on Organic Traffic
Image source: Reddit’s Popular Page
Reddit SEO refers to leveraging Reddit’s platform to improve a website’s search engine rankings and boost organic traffic. Unlike traditional SEO, which focuses on optimising a website or blog for search engines, Reddit SEO involves strategically engaging with communities or subreddits to generate visibility, backlinks, and traffic.
Reddit is known for its user-driven content, and search engines like Google often rank Reddit discussions highly in SERPs. CrimsonPark Digital reported that “90% of users trust Reddit to learn about new products and brands, an amount higher than that of Google, Amazon, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat.”
Because of this high trust, Reddit can affect SEO. Posts and discussions can appear in search results, especially when they align with specific queries or niche interests. Contributing to relevant Reddit threads can help build backlinks, increase visibility for long-tail keywords, and drive highly targeted traffic to your website.
The Power of Subreddits
Most popular Subreddits, according to Exploding Topics
Subreddits are crucial for Reddit SEO because they act as highly targeted communities. Subreddits are forums dedicated to specific topics, with users deeply interested in particular subjects. Engaging with these communities means your content can directly address your target audience’s interests and pain points.
When a post in a subreddit gains traction through upvotes, comments, and engagement, it can reach a broader audience on Reddit and through search engine rankings. Google often indexes trendy Reddit threads, which increases the likelihood of a Reddit post appearing on the first page of search results for relevant keywords.
When you contribute valuable content to subreddits, you build brand awareness and establish trust and authority. For example, if your business focuses on B2B marketing tools, participating in subreddits like r/marketing or r/SEO allows you to engage with people specifically interested in those topics.
If your contributions are well-received, you may gain upvotes, boosting the visibility of your post within Reddit and potentially increasing its visibility on search engines.
The SEO Benefits of High-Authority Subreddit Posts
High-authority subreddits can offer significant SEO benefits for businesses and content creators. They are typically large, active, and focused on a specific topic, such as r/SEO, r/technology, or r/marketing.
When a post in one of these subreddits gains traction through upvotes, comments, or continued discussion, it signals to Reddit and search engines that the content is valuable, relevant, and authoritative.
The SEO benefits of posting in high-authority subreddits include:
- Increased Visibility: A high-ranking post in a popular subreddit can attract thousands of visitors, many of whom may follow links to your website, providing a direct source of organic traffic.
- Natural Backlinks: Reddit users often link to external resources to support their points or provide additional context. These links can create natural backlinks to your website, boosting your site’s domain authority.
- Relevance in SERPs: Posts in high-authority subreddits often rank well for niche or long-tail keywords. A well-crafted post with relevant keywords can occupy prime positions in Google search results, improving your overall SEO.
- Engagement Metrics: Search engines favour content that garners attention and interaction. If a Reddit post linked to your website generates comments and upvotes, it demonstrates to search engines that the content is engaging, enhancing its ranking potential.
Reddit as Social Proof
Posts that generate a high level of engagement act as social proof for search engines. Google’s algorithm considers factors such as user interaction and relevance, and threads with ongoing engagement signal that the content is valuable. Reddit’s structure also encourages sharing links within posts, which can generate natural, contextual backlinks to your website—a critical factor in improving domain authority and search rankings.
Community-driven engagement in subreddits also allows organic discussions about your product, services, or expertise. This engagement leads to high-quality, natural backlinks that search engines favour and referral traffic from interested users who may visit your site for more information.
Therefore, subreddits act as both an SEO and a community-building tool, allowing brands to foster direct engagement with their ideal audience while improving search engine visibility.
Reddit’s Advertising Power
Aside from organic traffic, Reddit has advertising power. These are some of the notable statistics advertisers are leveraging on Reddit, as reported by Backlinko:
- 73.1 million daily active users
- 267.5 million weekly active users
- 100,000+ active subreddits
- USD 804.03 million annual revenue in 2023
Because of these impressive numbers, Reddit developed an advertising arm where advertisers can create programmatic ads within the platform. For just USD 5 per day, your brand can put ads on the right-hand sidebar, which is the same size as Google Display ads. Your ads can also appear in the feed, which can look like organic user posts.
With millions of eyeballs or traffic on Reddit, your ads can give you good returns if you can properly place them in front of your target audience in the right subreddits. To help you navigate through Reddit, let’s explore the next section about using Reddit for SEO.
How To Use Reddit for SEO: Step-by-Step Guide
Because Reddit is a hybrid of a community hub and search engine-like features, you need to implement specific strategies to maximise its reach. Here is a step-by-step guide to how to leverage Reddit to boost your SEO.
Step 1: Create a Relevant Reddit Account
- Create a Reddit account that aligns with your brand or niche. Your account should have a professional username since you are a brand, not an individual user. But here’s a bit of a caveat. When choosing a username, strike a balance between being professional and personal. Since Reddit is still a community, your account and posts must still feel authentic and can touch your users on a personal level.
u/GallowBoob being one of the users with the most karma
- Karma is Reddit’s reputation system. Therefore, you must build it by engaging in subreddit discussions. You can also develop your karma by upvoting content and providing value to the community through comments and posts. The higher your karma score is, the higher your credibility may appear.
- Familiarise yourself with Reddit’s guidelines to avoid penalties and banning, especially when linking to external content. Sometimes, subreddit moderators are so strict that they delete threads that go against their guidelines.
Step 2: Identify Target Subreddits
- In Reddit’s internal search bar, look for the subreddits related to your niche. For example, your company is a digital marketing agency. Subreddits like r/digitalmarketing or r/content_marketing exist. If your products are tech and electronics, you can join r/tech, r/technology, or r/gadgets.
- Evaluate subreddits based on their activity level. Check the number of members and the daily posts. You can also check the subreddit’s rules since some have link-sharing restrictions. And most importantly, check the subreddit’s community culture to see if it aligns with your brand’s values. For your advantage, choose the subreddits that allow link sharing so you can build backlinks to your website.
How To Find Relevant Subreddits
Here are five steps to find relevant subreddits for your Reddit SEO strategy:
- Use Reddit’s Search Bar: Type keywords related to your niche or industry (e.g., “SEO,” “fashion,” or “tech”) to find subreddits that match your interests.
- Browse Reddit Directory: Visit the r/findareddit subreddit, where users recommend niche subreddits based on specific topics or needs.
- Check Competitors’ Activity: Look at where competitors or industry leaders are posting by checking their Reddit activity to discover useful subreddits.
- Explore Popular Subreddits: Browse popular subreddits on the Reddit homepage to find high-traffic communities relevant to your business.
- Use External Tools: A tool like Redditlist can help you discover subreddits based on category, activity, and size.
Image source: Redditlist
Step 3: Optimise Reddit Post Titles for SEO
- Craft attention-grabbing and keyword-rich or keyword-optimised post titles. You can utilise tools such as Google Trends, Google Keyword Planner, or Ubersuggest to find long-tail keywords relevant to your content.
- Ensure that the post title is relevant to Reddit users and search engines. For example, if you share a blog post on SEO, a title like “Top 10 Reddit SEO Tips to Boost Your Organic Traffic” might rank well both in Reddit searches and Google searches for “Reddit SEO tips.”
- Remember to keep your titles concise but descriptive. Always use your primary keyword at the beginning of your title and main content.
Step 4: Create High-Quality Content for Reddit Posts
- Since Reddit is a community, users love to read about valuable content, so make sure you contribute valuable insights instead of self-promotion. Try to provide solutions, answer queries, and even provide hot takes or opinions about the hottest topics in your niche.
- Always incorporate relevant keywords related to your target SEO strategy. This effort will help search engines index Reddit threads.
- Incorporate images, links, or infographics to make your content compelling and shareable.
Step 5: Engage with Reddit Communities
A brand responding to a Redditor. Image source: Hubspot
- Regularly comment on and upvote other users’ posts in your target subreddits to boost your presence and credibility.
- Respond to comments meaningfully. Engagement builds relationships and signals to search engines that your content is valuable and active.
- Use Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions to engage directly with your audience. If you provide value during the discussion, this can generate attention and backlinks.
Step 6: Incorporate Links to Your Website
Image source: r/node
- Find natural ways to include links in your posts. Ensure that the links are valuable to the discussion. Always check the community rules about external links.
- Redditors can sense self-promotion, so provide value first and always. Link to your site only when it genuinely contributes to the conversation. Overusing links may lead to Reddit flags or bans.
- Post helpful content with contextual backlinks to your site’s blog posts, case studies, or resources. This effort will drive traffic and may contribute to link-building if users share your links.
Step 7: Use Reddit to Build Backlinks
- Create high-quality content on your website that is shareable within relevant subreddits. Users who find your content valuable will naturally share it, earning you organic backlinks.
- Use Reddit to seed valuable content and cite sources from your website when applicable. These natural backlinks improve domain authority and SEO performance.
- Don’t focus solely on direct linking. Sometimes, building awareness in a subreddit can lead other Redditors to share your content organically, generating backlinks without posting them yourself.
Step 8: Repurpose High-Performing Reddit Posts for SEO
- Identify posts that gain significant engagement (upvotes, comments) and repurpose them into long-form blog content or guides. Include these posts in your site’s SEO strategy to drive additional organic traffic.
- Use popular Reddit questions from subreddits like r/SEO to inspire future blog posts or articles. Incorporating common user queries into your content can attract more organic search traffic from those same queries.
- Share these new pieces of content back on Reddit in relevant threads to continue building traffic and backlinks.
Tracking Reddit SEO Performance
Tracking performance using various analytics tools is crucial to maximising the benefits of using Reddit for SEO. By closely monitoring Reddit traffic and critical SEO metrics, you can refine your strategy and ensure it drives meaningful organic traffic and conversions.
Here is a tabulated breakdown of how to track Reddit SEO performance:
| Aspect | Overview |
| Analytics Tools |
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| Measuring Traffic from Reddit |
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| Key SEO Metrics to Monitor |
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| Adjusting SEO Strategy |
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Case Studies: 5 Brands That Successfully Use Reddit for SEO
Here are the five case studies of brands that effectively used Reddit for SEO and organic traffic growth. Each item includes their strategy, results, and some takeaways you can use in your brand.
Spotify: Using Reddit for Community Engagement
- Strategy: Spotify frequently engages with users in subreddits related to music, streaming, and tech. By interacting and hosting AMA (Ask Me Anything) sessions, Spotify has positioned itself as a thought leader in the streaming industry.
- Results: Spotify’s organic mentions and discussions across subreddits boosted its SEO visibility. The brand gained numerous backlinks from discussions, with posts often ranking in Google search results for related queries.
- Key Takeaway: Engagement and participation in niche communities built organic brand visibility and SEO benefits.
Glossier: Leveraging Subreddit Trends for Product Feedback
Image source: Glossier Subreddit
- Strategy: Glossier monitored beauty-related subreddits like r/SkincareAddiction to gain insights into customer feedback and product recommendations. They participated in conversations and used feedback to optimise their SEO content and product descriptions.
- Results: By being present in Reddit threads where their audience discussed products, Glossier received organic mentions and links, improving its domain authority and boosting SEO performance.
- Key Takeaway: Listening to user-generated content helped Glossier refine its product marketing and SEO efforts.
Secretlab: Leveraging Reddit for Product Visibility and Feedback
- Strategy: Singaporean gaming chair company Secretlab actively engages with the gaming and tech communities on subreddits like r/pcgaming and r/buildapc. They respond to user feedback, answer questions about their products, and share insights on chair ergonomics, often participating in AMA (Ask Me Anything) sessions.
- Results: Secretlab’s active participation in these communities led to organic discussions, positive reviews, and word-of-mouth marketing on Reddit. This drove backlinks to their website from user-shared links and product mentions, boosting their SEO rankings for gaming chair-related search terms.
- Key Takeaway: Secretlab successfully used Reddit to increase product visibility and drive SEO performance by engaging directly with its target audience and fostering organic discussions.
Audi: Hosting AMAs to Drive Engagement and Links
- Strategy: Audi hosted several AMA (Ask Me Anything) sessions in automotive-related subreddits, including r/cars. The brand used this platform to engage with potential customers directly, answer questions about their cars, and provide insights into new technologies.
- Results: The AMA generated extensive backlinks from media coverage and discussions other sites picked up and shared, improving Audi’s SEO visibility.
- Key Takeaway: Hosting interactive, transparent sessions like AMAs can lead to high engagement and authoritative backlinks.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Reddit Help Improve SEO Rankings?
Yes, Reddit can indirectly help improve SEO rankings. While Reddit links are typically no-follow, meaning they don’t pass link equity directly, Reddit posts can still drive traffic to your website. High engagement on Reddit posts can lead to organic backlinks, as other users may share your content on their websites or social media platforms, contributing to SEO.
How Can I Build Backlinks Through Reddit?
To build backlinks through Reddit, focus on adding value rather than self-promotion. Participate in niche subreddits and share informative, relevant content. When your content is valuable and well-received by the community, other users may link back to it organically from external blogs, forums, or social media, which can improve your SEO.
What Are the Best Subreddits to Target for SEO?
The best subreddits to target for SEO depend on your niche. For example, if you’re in digital marketing, subreddits like r/SEO and r/DigitalMarketing are ideal. For other industries, find subreddits that align with your target audience. Use Reddit’s search function and tools like FindAThread to discover relevant subreddits and monitor activity levels to ensure the community is active.
What Content Performs Best on Reddit for SEO Purposes?
Content that performs best on Reddit for SEO includes informative posts, tutorials, case studies, and insightful discussions. The Reddit community values high-quality, non-promotional content that genuinely helps users. Posts that offer solutions, answer questions, or engage users in thoughtful dialogue are more likely to get upvotes, shares, and potential backlinks.
How Can I Track Traffic from Reddit to My Website?
You can track Reddit traffic using tools like Google Analytics. Set up UTM parameters on the links you share to monitor how much traffic is coming from specific Reddit posts or subreddits. In Google Analytics, go to Acquisition > All traffic> Source/Medium, and filter for Reddit to see how much traffic the platform generates and its impact on metrics like time on page and bounce rate.
