Matthew Widdop
Matty is a Junior SEO Executive at Intelligency, helping our clients to improve their digital performance. Matty is currently studying for his Level 3 Multi-Channel Marketer apprenticeship and has completed a Sport Journalism Degree at the University of Huddersfield.
Reddits appearance on Google search results have quadrupled in the last year (Up 400% from July 2023) and with Google announcing their partnership with Reddit earlier this year, we take a look at what this means for the future of search and the SEO industry.
Google and Reddit Partnership
In February, Google announced they would be formalising their partnership with Reddit after a long standing relationship over a number of years. At the time Google said this about the partnership,
‘’Over the years, we’ve seen that people increasingly use Google to search for helpful content on Reddit to find product recommendations, travel advice and much more. We know people find this information useful, so we’re developing ways to make it even easier to access across Google products. This partnership will facilitate more content-forward displays of Reddit information that will make our products more helpful for our users and make it easier to participate in Reddit communities and conversations.’’
Since the partnership, anonymous redditors have dominated Google search, mainly appearing high up on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) for question and review based queries.
SEO Experts and Author Credibility
As the SERP continues to pivot towards Reddit for FAQs, many SEOs may be wondering where this leaves their efforts with Google. SEOs focus on producing authoritative content from industry experts, by doing this they hope Google will recognise their content as being reliable and informative for the end user. However, Google is seemingly prioritising anonymous content from Reddit users, not industry experts, throwing SEO best practices into doubt.
Google’s John Mueller responded to an SEO on X about why an anonymous reddit user can outrank a credible author by saying that there are multiple kinds of sites that can be useful to an end user and not all of them have to be from ‘credible’ sources.
‘’Finding the right tools for your needs, the right platforms for your audience and for your messages – it’s worth looking at more than just a simplification like that. Google aims to provide search results that are relevant & useful for users, and there’s a lot involved in that.’’
According to Mueller, Google still holds credibility as a ranking factor, but the process is multidimensional and content can still rank without author credibility, hence why an anonymous post from a Reddit user can still appear high up on the SERP. We cannot determine how much weight Google gives each of their ranking factors and should still strive to follow all of Google’s best practices when creating content, including using credible authors.
Reddit’s Credibility
The credibility of content appearing on Reddit relies on the first-hand experience of its users. It gives Google users the opportunity to have questions answered by consumers rather than business’, giving honest opinions and reviews. This is reliable to Google as people are much more likely to believe another end user rather than a ‘credible’ business trying to market a product or service that doesn’t give a first-hand user experience.
However, due to the nature of Reddit’s content, anyone can post information and opinions, without any checks and balances. Therefore, there will be disinformation on the platform, as appears on any form of social media platform open to public discourse. Google needs to make sure this ill informed content doesn’t pull through onto the SERP, which has already happened when Google introduced AI Overviews, in order to continue giving users the most accurate information.
The Future of Search and Reddit
Given the progress made in the last year, we would expect to see Reddit responses continue to appear more frequently onGoogle. SEOs and Social Media Managers should think about building up their visibility on Reddit, as its popularity increases, in order to continue to compete at the top of the SERP.
