Reddit is at the top of Google Search results and growing ad revenues. Should marketers be taking note?

Reddit was the fifth highest-visibility domain in Google’s organic search results in July 2024, up from No. 68 in July 2023, according to Sistrix. And since going public in March 2024, the company has introduced new ad products and search improvements.

“Reddit has definitely become a more common social platform for us to recommend [to advertisers],” said Taylor Strickland, director of media channel strategy at VML. As third-party cookies become less prominent, Reddit is a powerful platform for contextual targeting due to its niche communities, Strickland said.

VML has seen success in upper-funnel marketing on Reddit, making use of its conversational and AMA (Ask Me Anything) ads as these formats appear native to users. The platform has not been as useful for lower-funnel ads, but this could change as Reddit builds out its product ads, said Strickland.

Ad improvements:

• Reddit reported a 41% YoY growth in online ad revenues in Q2.
• Reddit’s US ad revenues will grow by 27.9% this year, per our March 2024 forecast. That’s faster than every other social platform we monitor except TikTok (38.1%).
• Reddit has boosted its ad revenues by launching new ad products, expanding agency partnerships, and improving its AI search.

Search’s up: Reddit has had increased visibility in Google Search results and its AI summaries, according to Amsive vice president of SEO strategy and research Lily Ray and SEO data analyst and content writer Silvia Gituto.

• Reddit.com saw a 1,328% increase in SEO visibility on Google between July 2023 and April 2024, according to Sistrix data cited by Amsive.
• Google increased visibility of forums like Reddit and Quora overall, per Ray and Gituto.
• Reddit has a partnership with Google in which its data is being used to train Google’s AI. This doesn’t mean Google is giving Reddit preference in search results, but it emphasizes how the two companies are working symbiotically.

These changes don’t mean advertisers should dump their social media budgets into Reddit. The platform still accounts for less than 1% of social network ad spend in the US, per our forecast. And Google could change its algorithm at any time and alter Reddit’s prominence in search results. But paid social, brand marketing, and SEO teams should be working together to make sure they are making the most of Reddit.

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