Do you wonder how to use Reddit for your business?

You are welcome. So do I! There are of course many reasons to do it!

Reddit is all over Google, AI search and the media these days.

Yet many business people just feel the gold rush and act like jerks!

As an ethical social SEO I tried Reddit again after 15+ years.

Here’s what I’ve found out about the niche community platform.

Of course I also looked up what long-standing Reddit users and marketing experts say and do.

Why does Reddit matter?

After more than 15 years I stopped ignoring Reddit. Why?

Reddit is everywhere – it’s one of the most prominent sources on Google – especially for its new AI features:

Reddit is on top of alternative AI based search engines as well.

So whether you like or not you will be sent to Reddit every day.

Or you will read Reddit based advice via AI summaries.

Thus I decided it give it another try. And I liked it. Why?

Why I ignored Reddit for 15+ years

When I joined Reddit in 2009 I thought it’s social bookmarking like on the by now defunct Delicious.

So I saved my favorite bookmarks like I do on my browser bookmark bar.

Those included my own sites of course. I got banned right away.

My name brand user name onreact I use everywhere was burned.

• Later on my blog got popular on Reddit just to get angry comments and many downvotes.
• The bounce rate of Reddit visitors was like 94%.
• Over the years mostly bad news about misogyny and trolling reached me when it comes to Reddit.

Seasoned female marketing expert Ann Smarty also admits:

I had been not using it for years either simply because it has always been intimidating. Took me time to grow that skin.

Why invite such visitors in the first place then?

In the early years Reddit was a one size fits all social news community.

Nowadays it’s an online tool for creating niche communities.

You can find a group for every hobby, industry or topic.

It has literally hundreds of millions of users spread over more than 100k of such active modern forums alternatives!

Reddit is helpful by now!

Nowadays Reddit can really be useful, also for business.

First off the often genuine answers and debates offer advice on what people want to know.

So it is actually helpful content from the user perspective.

You can solve actual problems based on Reddit UGC.

Reddit content is usually short and to the point.

No need to spend a lot of time watching videos or reading tutorials.

Often the solution you are looking for is quick and dirty and that’s what you get on Reddit.

It’s of course great for both social and SEO visibility.

Just look at the stats over at Sistrix:

“The domain reddit.com is the 2nd most visible domain in Google Search, US and remains stable since the huge growth rate started in November 2023.”

Steve Paine

Reddit has a wealth of question and answer related content without the usual marketing fluff.

Self-promotion does not work well on Reddit so the site is quite clean and full of genuine advice.

Of course Reddit still has many downsides. I’m not ignoring those.

Let’s start on the bright side though.

Reddit can really help your business, not only with additional visibility.

Of course everybody noticed already and pollutes the platform.

I don’t recommend that.

How to use Reddit for business properly

Here are some ways how you can use Reddit for your business without ostracizing people.

There is lots of abysmal SEO advice on how to “leverage” Reddit for SEO purposes.

Much of it is either low level, tricky or downright harmful.

OK, enough of the praise and criticism.

Let’s look at the business use cases for both social and SEO visibility.

Read content (social listening)

This is obvious isn’t it?

Reddit is essentially a misspelled form for “read it”.

You have to visit Reddit and listen or rather read.

Yet many business users want to jump in right away and shout around instead of listening.

Yes, that’s still a common issue nowadays. Everybody shouts and no one listens.

So listen first. Visit Reddit and read actual content.

And use first (Reddit’s own) and third party tools to monitor brand sentiment like GetViber.

“Reddit is of course a different world where typical marketing strategy won’t work and that’s why authenticity signal is valued…”

Mahinsha Nazar

This way you may already find out:

• What is it that people want exactly.
• How they are talking about you and your topics.
• What’s the general opinion about particular issues.

Then you can create website and blog content based on that!

Of course there are first and third party tools for social listening as well.

Most of them are enterprise level solution and quite expensive though.

Look what’s popular (market research)

As noted above it’s a good idea to listen and find out what people want.

When you look at what’s popular already you may notice what the recurring issues are people face.

How can you solve such problems?

I’ve done that already 25+ years ago with forums.

Again, check out what people ask repeatedly and what gets a lot of attention and then provide help on your site as well.

You can even use a headline like: Reddit Users Ask about AI SEO Tools – Here They Are.

Then you might even rank for queries like [ai seo tools reddit] with your own site.

Comment (engagement)

The easiest way to engage on Reddit is of course to comment on existing threads.

It’s hard to engage as a brand or business.

Sometimes if few kind words suffice though.

This type of backpatting may come off as phony.

Yet when done right it can work well.

Example: Omnia Analytics.

A Redditor called useomnia commented a post of mine recently.

It was just a friendly comment with some little addition yet it made check out their tool:

I had to search for it manually and it was had as there are many Onmia named sites out there.

Yet I finally found the Omnia AI analytics tool and was impressed.

I might even test and recommend it down the road!

Answer questions (content creation)

Backpatting comments are on thing.

You may get noticed (or not).

Adding truly helpful content in comments is even better.

Of course you can provide help right away.

Ideally you provide a succinct response on Reddit and the elaborate on your own turf. Why?

Reddit has a cap on long comments. I bumped into it a few times already.

You can’t create long-form content when answer in in Reddit threads.

Also many answer will get overlooked.

Those who answer first and offer some common sense advice everybody agrees with will be on top.

The “also ran” answers will be barely visible when you scroll a lot.

Example: Google’s John Mueller.

Google’s search advocate often answers questions on Reddit in depth.

He usually contributes to the popular r/SEO Subreddit under his nickname johnmu for many years already.

On r/SEO you’ll find plenty of people new to SEO who still struggle with the basics.

This questions SEO experts have long forgotten about get asked again and again.

John is never too aloof to descend to that level and help mere mortals.

He even explained why a few years ago:

“What I like about some kinds of basic questions is that it’s a sign of new people getting into the industry. Search isn’t dead yet.”

See the whole answer below in the screen shot or click the “explained” link above.

Of course he usually helps the search industry as a whole then.

Why? The answers get picked up and reported on by blogs.

Barry Schwartz monitors John’s answers closely on social media e.g.

Yet many other blogs also report and spread the word.

Ask questions (market research)

Well, Reddit is a good place to ask genuine questions.

Many SEOs do something stupid like ask and answer their questions themselves on social sites.

This is a common spam tactic on Q&A sites like Quora.

Yet you don’t want to act like that.

New and selfish users are easily spotted in tight-knit Reddit communities.

So just ask a genuine question and when people offer their straightforward advice react to that.

Example: Beef Jerky

OGS Media shared an inspiring story from 15 years ago that highlights the potential in that.

It’s timeless indeed.

Even though I’m an ethical vegan I have to share this success story containing beef. Why?

It’s impressive by sheer effect o the revenue of a family business!

A mere question on Ask Reddit propelled it to new heights. The sales grew tenfold to $30k.

Join and follow communities (audience building)

The instinctive way SEO people tend to use social media just to add something first.

That’s akin to dropping in at a party nobody knows you yet and just starting to talk.

Joining an existing community and participating is not a shortcut.

It takes time and effort.

Yet you get what the community is about and can contribute in a meaningful way down the road.

When you follow a community long enough you notice patterns and can empathize with the audience and their needs.

Share content (curation)

This one should be obvious but isn’t.

Sharing content on Reddit means sharing meaningful on topic posts – not just promoting yourself.

This includes curation of content or the considerate selection of only the most valuable insights.

So don’t just share your own content or even piece of content you publish.

Many groups also ban this type of self-promotion. Some do not even allow outgoing links at all.

Example: Tad of seo2.blog

Yes, my name is Tad and I write here on the seo2.blog since 2007 among others.

On social media I mostly share third party content as I don’t publish much these days and am a natural altruist anyway.

This is a post on Google’s Web Guide by another long-standing industry expert Gianluca Forelli I shared for example.

So what’s the benefit of this? Promoting your “competition”?

Well, at the very least I establish myself as someone who knows what matters.

Also the content shows up on Google almost immediately:

So while there may be no direct “selfish” benefit of sharing content by others it allows me to learn how Reddit works etc.

Also this pot already ranks on #9 the name [Gianluca Forelli] on Google:

This is a very apt proof of concept to show to my readers as well.

Being biased towards your own creations is not a trait people usually appreciate on social media.

Unless of course your content is so valuable and helpful by itself that it’s not selfish at all. Barry Schwartz comes to mind again!

Barry can get away with only promoting how won content on all social platforms. Why?

He publishes what others need to know not what he wants them to know (about his products or services).

Barry is not a Reddit as far as I know so I couldn’t take him as a positive example.

Do an AMA/Ask Me Anything

When people know you and assume that you’re an expert for a given topics you can do an AMA.

AMA stands for Ask Me Anything and this is literally what it means.

It’s an open minded question and answers thread or session.

Before starting one you should ask yourself whether you’re a big enough name to do one.

Lately someone did an AMA on a Subreddit I visited regularly yet I had no idea who that was and why he was doing one.

You may also have to promote the AMA upfront to your existing audiences on and off Reddit.

Example: Brent Csutoras

Seasoned social SEO expert Brent Csutoras who specializes in Reddit marketing promoted it on Search Engine Journal e.g.

He did am AMA on r/RedditforBusiness in September of 2025.

When asked about the biggest marketing mistake on Reddit he summarized it succinctly:

“There’s an interest in being on Reddit because it’s popular and important, but there’s not enough time spent understanding why”

He’s one of the few marketers who get it right and are in it for the long haul.

On a sidenote: I criticized Brent on LinkedIn for using the military term “veteran” and then he blocked me.

Instead I suggested to say “seasoned” like I do in this article.

So sadly I can’t even tell him that he’s an example here on LinkedIn anymore.

During war-torn times like these I would not recommend using military jargon. It’s not just about triggering traumatized people.

When you put the focus on war you evoke fear subconsciously.

There was an AI written article the other day called “robots.txt: SEO Landmine or Secret Weapon?”

Isn’t it horrific? Do you want to scare people?

That’s not what you want probably.

Especially when the metaphor itself is not fitting: a veteran is someone who has given up his (military) career.

Also it might be denigrating real veterans who fought in a war.

The above mentioned Google spokesperson John Mueller also did one already back in 2018.

Create a community (customer support)

This is of course the most advanced way to use Reddit for business.

Creating a community allows you to monitor trends, add helpful advice and get feel for what people really care about.

You might be able to be useful in manifold ways then.

Solving real world problems of potential customers may even inform, product development.

Example: Ann Smarty

My long-time search industry friend Ann Smarty excels at this. She runs her own “SEO for AI” community:

It grew quickly over a few weeks to more than 1k members.

And do yo know what?

It’s full of signal! Even despite the topic!

Yes, low level SEO people tend to be selfish.

True SEO experts contribute and nurture the platforms they want to succeed on.

I’ve been contributing occasionally on Ann’s group.

As I’m not an expert on AI SEO yet I listen rather than talk.

I shared a few insightful posts already though!

Example: 1Password.

This is an example leading SEO agency Foundation showcased as a case study.

1Password has its own Reddit community where they provide customer support and answer questions.

They established it back in 2013 so it’s not just a quick and dirty toe dipping in the shallow SEO waters.

It has about 31k subscribers by now.

Just don’t spam or use the megaphone

Business people and especially SEOs always make the same mistakes on social media.

I have a huge list of those and can’t repeat all of them here.

Broadcasting self-promotional material is one of the most common blunders.

Using the megaphone in a semi-private setting backfires of course.

Let it be said that you ideally embrace some of the common sense ways of using Reddit from above.

Do not just instinctively push your message.

Don’t attempt to grab the attention.

• Empathize
• engage
• enrich

the user experience on Reddit.

That will benefit all parties involved:

• Reddit
• its users
• and businesses.

Does not sound like the cheap SEO tricks you expected?

Sorry. This is about long term investment in a platform.

It’s about ethical social SEO.

That means not tricking people or algorithms either at the very least.

Stop acting like a jerk and provide real value!

Don’t get me even started on actual ethics!