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People have long trusted their friends and family for recommendations on products, new places to travel, and better ways to get things done. This deep-rooted inclination to “ask a friend” feeds the popularity of community-based forums such as Reddit and Quora. At the end of 2024, Reddit had over 97.2 million daily active users on the site, with 49.59% located in the U.S.
Not surprisingly, the popularity of these forums, many of which focus on a niche topic, now plays an important role in SEO. Organizations in all industries must understand the role community search plays in their SEO journey and, most importantly, how to use these forums to improve their own rankings.
Changing Search Behavior
The introduction of Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) has changed both the look of SERPs as and user behavior. Instead of only a list of links, searchers often see an AI Overview at the top of the page. AI generates this text, which directly answers the person’s question using a compilation of sources and includes citations. As a result, click-thru rates on SERPs are declining, with Google’s organic click-thru rate dropping from 28% to 19% after the AI Overview expansion.
Not surprisingly, many users have become very frustrated with using traditional search. In a recent survey by Verge and Vox Media, 42% of the US adults surveyed said they find search engines like Google becoming less useful. Common complaints included the quality of information deteriorating (66%) and that more than one-quarter of search results are sponsored (76%). As a result, 55% of respondents are now relying on their communities for information rather than search engines.
For many people, especially younger generations, their community is much larger than the friends, family, and people they know in real life. As a result, online communities and forums have increased in popularity. Additionally, Google’s expanded partnership with Reddit means that Google is using more information from Reddit in its search results. The partnership gives Google access to Reddit’s Data API, making it possible for Google to share real-time and structured data from Reddit.
What Is Community Search?
A community search occurs when a user goes to a specific online community of user-generated content and searches for information within the community. For example, a traveler planning a trip goes to Reddit and searches “Best Hiking Trails in Smoky Mountain National Park” to find links to threads discussing hiking trails. The user can do a search on the main Reddit home page, which searches all Reddit forums, including /hiking and /Tennessee. Or the user can search the specific forum /GSMNP for the park. The results can then be sorted by New, Best, or Relevance, and the user sees a list of threads on the topic sorted according to their preference.
With traditional search, the results shown could be from anywhere on the internet, including a community forum. For example, if a traveler searches on Google for “Best Hiking Trails in Smoky Mountain National Park,” the results may include an article from the American Hiking Society, the National Park Service page for GSMNP, the home page for Hiking in the Smoky Mountains, and Friends of the Smokies, all of which are traditional webpages. The search results may also include the Great Smoky Mountains page for All Trails and a Reddit discussion on the topic, both of which are community forums.
Popular community forums include:
- Reddit – This community forum is often called the “Front Page of the Internet” and has general and specific subreddits for most every topic under the sun. With over 138,000 subreddits and over 500 having over 1 million subscribers each, Reddit is largely regarded as the most popular community forum today. Because each subreddit is moderated by designated users, each one has different rules and a distinct culture.
- Quora – This knowledge-sharing community uses a Q&A format, where people post their question and other community members answer it. Topic experts can also post their credentials when answering to give their answers more rank. Quora includes sections for philosophical questions, personal advice, and fact-based questions.
- Stack Exchange – People with technical questions about coding, math or engineering can get information on this highly structured and moderated site. Additionally, Stack Overflow is widely regarded as a top source for developers.
- Niche sites – Other communities host their own sites, such as Hacker News, AVS Forum for home theatre, and Bodybuilding.com.Each of these sites has their own look and feel as well as community rules.
Why Reddit and Forums Are Gaining SEO Influence
While many organizations have dismissed community forums as not relevant to traditional SEO, businesses must now pay attention to these sites, as they are increasingly important in SEO. Organizations that do not include these communities as part of their strategy are overlooking a key part of modern internet culture and opportunities for ranking.
It’s easy to be surprised to see Reddit and other community forum conversations ranking highly in search results. However, these sites hold high domain authority, which is a key factor search engines use in determining rank. The domain is gained through the extensive number of backlinks made to these communities as well as the high level of user engagement on these sites, which results in high trust from Google. For example, “time on site” is considered a key metric, and many users spend considerable time on these sites, creating this high-level engagement.
Many websites have a narrow focus, which brings a limited perspective, while community sites represent a wide range of depth and diversity in the answers found there. Additionally, the discussions bring real-world context to a topic, which is often lacking in traditional websites. Because people often use long tail keywords naturally when conversing in community discussions, these topics also often rank for lower competition phrases, especially in narrow niches that often have high levels of engagement.
When ranking websites, search engines take relevance and recency into consideration. Because community forums provide content in real time, they often rank high on recency and offer a freshness that’s simply not possible for traditional sites. Community forums can also provide content about trending and current events in an exceptionally timely manner and rank quickly for new topics.
How to Use Community Forums in Your SEO Strategy
Organizations need to revisit their SEO strategy to include community forums. Here are four ways to use community forums to improve your SEO:
1. Monitor forums to learn about your target audience.
Marketers often struggle to find focus groups, especially when moving into a new niche. For example, a data storage company that focuses on government agencies is now moving into the healthcare sector. As part of the expansion, they need to learn more about healthcare IT pain points, but with their current customers, they do not have easy access to people in this field. By following the /healthIT/ forum, the organization can learn more about their new target audience.
Because manually monitoring community forums can be time consuming, organizations are increasingly turning to digital platforms to do much of the tedious work. These tools also make it easier to spot trends for specific audiences, such as calculating upvotes and comments. For example, GummySearch provides detailed analytics and allows narrow focusing on specific subreddits. Businesses wanting to monitor multiple forums beyond Reddit can use tools such as Syften, Boardreader or FAQFox.
2. Look for content gaps and new ideas.
While creating new content is key to improving SEO, it’s often challenging to come up with new ideas for content. By following communities related to your topic, you can often spot common questions, especially related to new trends. For example, a skin care company can learn that a significant concern of adults of both genders is adult acne. With this knowledge, they can then create content about adult acne and begin targeting the keywords associated with this concern.
While Reddit often gets the most attention in terms of topics, Quora is a prime platform for identifying common questions. First, use the free Quora Ad Manager to search for keywords in your niche, and look for questions generating a high volume of impressions to find the hot topics. Be sure to also look at new questions to spot trends and emerging topics. Additionally, look for questions that have a high number of follows but few answers related to your companies expertise, which shows opportunity for your brand to provide guidance.
3. Participate in Reddit discussions.
While there is a fine line between promotion and participation, brands that can find this balance can also gain trust from their community. Start by creating a Reddit company account, referred to as Reddit Pro, that all employees use when posting on Reddit. Remember that every post your staff makes represents your company and also must follow all Reddit rules. Additionally, posters should be sure to include your company name, link, and their role in each posts as a signature to make sure it’s transparent.
While it’s tempting to want to talk about your company in your posts, aim to keep it below the 10% rule for self-promotion. Instead, focus on answering questions and offering advice that does not involve purchasing anything from your company. Look especially for posts that do not directly benefit your company, and weigh in on these topics to build trust. Because subreddits include regular posters, try to focus on two or three subreddits related to your topic and aim to become a valued member of these communities.
Because Reddit conversations can sometimes get heated, be careful about engaging in controversial topics. If you do engage, make sure that you represent your brand’s positions on these topics, but don’t get embroiled in verbal throwdowns. Additionally, consider avoiding threads discussing your competitors, especially in a negative light. If a thread comes up discussing a customer considering your brand, consider staying out of it and letting other community members do the talking for you. However, if there is an inaccuracy shared, you can tactfully correct the information.
While Reddit can help build backlinks, it’s important to do it carefully to not be flagged or turn off potential customers. Instead of dropping in links on unrelated topics, consider adding links to your content that provides additional information but does not push your product. Because it’s easy to overdo links, follow the “less is more” philosophy.
4. Create a subreddit for your brand.
Large brands or those that are influential in a niche should consider creating their own subreddit, which allows for higher SEO as well as the ability to control the discussion about your company. One of the best ways to create a successful brand subreddit is to invite moderators who are in the target audience, but not employees.
Be sure to use your brand logo and other brand elements for the banner to create consistency in brand voice. You should also clearly disclose that the brand runs the subreddit and clearly pin any rules, especially those related to competitors. Brands should also share key resources and events as pinned posts, as well as a welcome thread.
Resist the urge to turn the subreddit into a marketing platform by keeping with the 80% educational content and 20% promotion rune. Consider using polls and questions to help learn about the industry and challenges. Consider doing promotion posts indirectly, such as sharing your favorite feature in the new release or asking for best tips for creating custom reports. Many brands find that having regular weekly threads can keep the subreddit active.
Many brands also find that Ask Me Anything events bring new users to the subreddit and can gain high engagement. By selecting a host who is either high in the organization or well-known in the industry, you can draw new members to the subreddit while at the same time adding value.
The Future of Online Communities and SEO
With Reddit and other online communities continuing to grow, it’s likely that this type of content will only increase in importance in regard to SEO. Businesses that are not already using online communities should prioritize this action on their marketing plan. However, search engine algorithms change constantly. Although many include Reddit and other communities in their results now, it’s possible that could change. By using online communities as part of a comprehensive SEO strategy but not the only focus, brands can improve their visibility, customer knowledge, and SEO rankings.
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