Niche and topical communities are one of the most important pillars of a social SEO approach to audience building.

Only by contributing to communities you are able to deeply connect with your peers and “prove your E-E-A-T“.

These “engagers” you met in communities often support you elsewhere on the Web.

I’ve actively contributed to many industry communities in the past.

These venues here are best for

• bloggers
• business people
• entrepreneurs

who don’t focus solely on gatekeepers like Google and Facebook.

Thus I’d like to introduce these communities for bloggers, business people and entrepreneurs!

These are just some of the ones that have caught my attention over the years.

I recommend these communities:

Product Hunt

Here start-ups present themselves or are covered by community members.

I have found some useful new tools on this site.

You can follow me as @onreact there.

As of 2026 Product Hunt is still a prime example of a successful community and a household name.

Showing up on Product Hunt is often a starting point for growth for software startups.

It’s not just the frontpage where you can show off your product.

The site has also a dedicated and very lively “forums” community feature.

Even SEO legend Brian Dean recommends using PH for discussing your industry.

This way you can find out what people really need. In his own words:

jot down the words people use to describe their problem.

Brian Dean

I do not engage very often there as I don’t have products to sell, just services.

Yet for business people who have it’s a must IMHO.

Facebook and LinkedIn groups

For many years I’m a member of the Search Engine Land group on LinkedIn.

I was long before I started writing for SEL regularly back in 2022.

You can ask questions and share your opinion there.

The SEL group is very strict on self-promotion though.

Even though I was a regular contributor got banned there by mistake due to sharing a link to my SEL post.

Yes, indeed I was banned for sharing a link to the site owning the community.

Why? The group does not allow self-promotion and linking to third parties.

So it was assumed the link is a promotional one even without checking.

The questions asked there or opinions shared by newer members are often so misguided that there are a great inspiration for content.

There are other groups where you can help others who are less knowledgeable about SEO or whatever your trade is.

LinkedIn has many groups and Facebook even more.

I tested a few SEO communities and helped here and there until I got sick.

There are sometimes hundreds of participants who see and engage with your post on such a group on Facebook.

Even X/Twitter as a similar group feature by now.

Just as SEO has its communities any other niche, trade or industry has them. Just look around.

Reddit subs or Subredddits

Given the immense growth and importance of Reddit I gave it another chance in 2025.

In the past I was very wary of it due its manifold issues over the years.

It’s not just the sexism/misogyny the site had to deal with many times.

Yet after using it for a year I also see value in Reddit when used correctly.

So for example there are many helpful blogging and SEO groups there.

They are called Subreddits or in short subs.

For blogging I mainly frequent the r/blogging and r/bloggers subs.

For SEO I contribute to a wide variety of subs depending on the actual topic:

• r/bigSEO
• r/seogrowth
• r/techSEO
• r/SEO_for_AI (where I’m also a mod).
• r/WebsiteSEO
• r/seogaps

They all have their pros and cons but are also useful to learn and even spread the word about you.

I already got a few leads from Reddit without even trying hard.

Users simply reach out to me by private message on the site or ask in the comments whether I offer services and can help them.

All I have to do is answer genuine questions from real life business people.

You aren’t a blogger or Internet entrepreneur? Become one.

I’ve explained in the past that you can only become free by changing your mindset and turning into an Internet entrepreneur.

Both bloggers and business people can do that with ease as they already provide value in a digital medium.

Sometimes it’s enough to

• code an app from scratch
• announce it on a niche site like Product Hunt
• get word of mouth from engagers

and the stellar growth story begins.

Some of my favorite tools like Exploding Topics by Brian Dean heavily relied on Product Hunt.

They used it for publicity and resulting word of mouth.

Where do people meet online now?

By now self-hosted separate niche communities or forums are rare.

What happened? Social media corporations!

A few billionaires

• Mark Zuckerberg (Meta)
• Elon Musk (X/Twitter)
• Bill Gates (LinkedIn)

control most of the social media landscape in the West.

Just Zuckerberg owns three of the top social sites/apps:

• Facebook
• Instagram
• WhatsApp

Many third party tools offer easier ways to create and maintain communities aka “groups”.

Plus sites like Facebook or LinkedIn can already connect you to existing audiences.

Peruse Facebook and LinkedIn and you will find plenty of niche communities dealing with all kids of outlandish topics.

Indeed forums are found on social sites nowadays.

Many people also use “dark social” apps like

• Telegram
• Signal
• or WhatsApp.

They allow you to commune and communicate with groups using their smartphones.

Merken