Reddit has seen tremendous visibility growth on the Google SERPs in 2024. There have been many theories as to why Reddit has skyrocketed in Google visibility, including Google’s focus on promoting helpful content via real person perspectives found in discussion forums, Google acknowledging the popularity of users appending “Reddit” to search queries, and a new collaboration with Reddit. 

Lily Ray, Vice President, SEO Strategy & Research at Amsive, has been following the Reddit developments closely, and has shared eye-popping data and insights. 

Here at Trisolute, we conducted a News Dashboard analysis of Reddit’s Google visibility data and its potential impact on news publishers. While no one can predict the future, there is some belief among the SEO community that we are in a period of high volatility due to the series of Google updates over the last several months. Reddit appears to have benefited greatly in visibility by one or more of these algorithm updates, but after any update, Google often makes adjustments if unintended results occurred. Did Google overcorrect in surfacing more user experience content as part of its helpful content campaign?

There are also a couple of other factors to consider moving forward. There are rumors that Google’s generative AI-powered search product, Search Generative Experience (SGE), may be released to the general public in May during the Google I/O. How this will impact search visibility remains to be seen.

Google also recently announced a partnership with Reddit, and the more cynical of SEO analysts can’t help but wonder if this is having an impact on Reddit’s rise in search visibility. In the partnership announcement, Google makes clear its plans in promoting Reddit results: 

“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.”

According to a Business Insider report, Google stated that the Reddit collaboration agreement did not include ranking its content higher in search.

News Dashboard analysis

There’s no denying Reddit’s skyrocketing Google search visibility. Take a look at these graphs.

A snapshot of Reddit’s overall mobile visibility on Google for January-April 2024.

Reddit soared in Google visibility rankings for mobile news boxes in March 2024, then took a bit of a dip in early April before rising again. March 20, 2024 was the specific date when Reddit began earning visibility rankings in mobile news boxes on Google. 

Reddit’s mobile visibility in news boxes on Google for January-April 2024.

Sports news, specifically about the NBA, MLB, and NHL leagues earned Reddit the most mobile news box rankings for the period of January-April 2024.

Reddit vs. Wikipedia

Wikipedia is perhaps being most impacted by Reddit’s meteoric rise in mobile visibility. Beginning March 20, 2024, Reddit began to pull away from Wikipedia in mobile news-related ranking types which includes news boxes, video carousel, publisher carousel and other carousels. You can see in these graphs compiled by Lily Ray how Reddit has often replaced Wikipedia as a competitor for major news publishers.

While Reddit made major gains in news-related rankings, Wikipedia still dominates organic rankings by a large margin over Reddit.

Which categories earn the most mobile visibility rankings for Reddit?

Sports, entertainment, and business were the categories that performed the best on Reddit during the period of January-April 2024. Post-game threads for sports, along with celebrities, movies, and music for entertainment, and business news related to the stock market and major brands were the top performers. It’s not surprising as these are the type of conversation-starter topics that attract fans to Reddit in the first place. 

An analysis of Reddit’s top 50 keywords in Google’s news-related mobile visibility rankings for the time period of January-April 2024.

What about Reddit’s desktop visibility rankings?

Reddit began registering news box visibility rankings on the desktop SERPs in October 2023. After a modest performance to end the year, Reddit’s desktop news box visibility rankings really took off in January 2024, earning over 15,000 rankings for the month. February desktop visibility rankings for Reddit experienced a severe case of whiplash, dropping almost to zero before rebounding nicely and finishing April with over 23,000 desktop rankings. Sports and technology dominated Reddit’s news box visibility rankings on the desktop SERPs.

A review of Reddit’s desktop news box visibility on Google over the last year.

Post March core update status

The March core update ended on April 19, according to Google. Reddit’s visibility rankings on mobile remain volatile, while maintaining a strong performance in mobile news boxes. We’ll be keeping an eye on Reddit’s visibility rankings on Google’s mobile and desktop SERPs throughout the year.

Takeaways for News Publishers

• Sports and entertainment are the categories in which Reddit is seeing the most visibility gains on the mobile news SERPs. On the desktop news SERPs, sports and technology topics earned the most visibility rankings. Publishers in these verticals should be monitoring Reddit performance closely and be plugged into the Reddit community to stay on top of the latest trends that are driving discussion. Reddit has a strict platform-wide content policy, and each subreddit may have further guidelines, so news publishers should be mindful to be authentic in their interactions or risk being banned.
• Per a review of the top 50 keywords in mobile news ranking visibility data for the period of Jan-April 2024, Reddit posts included a link to a news article just over 60 percent of the time. Larger publishers fared better, but niche sites, especially those reporting on technology news, also were cited frequently on Reddit.
• Be prepared for continued SERP volatility when it comes to Reddit. Google may make algorithm adjustments if any of the recent updates overcorrected or led to unintentional outcomes. 
• Reddit could make further SERP visibility gains with the release of Google’s Search Generative Experience. Any content that benefits from user feedback, such as product reviews, travel, etc. should be monitored by news publishers for SERP visibility impact. Review “SEO lessons from Reddit” posted on Wix for additional content strategy tips.
• For those using the Trisolute News Dashboard, create a competitor cluster that includes Reddit for easy Google visibility tracking over time. Review the keywords Reddit ranks for the most in the mobile and desktop KPI Dashboard reports and create a keyword cluster in the News Dashboard for the overlapping keywords that your publication covers.

Not yet part of the Trisolute News Dashboard family? Request your FREE demo today and find out how your articles rank on Google Discover, Google News and the SERPs!