Reddit Is Taking Over Google (businessinsider.com) 86
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Business Insider: If you think you've been seeing an awful lot more Reddit results lately when you search on Google, you're not imagining things. The internet is in upheaval, and for website owners the rules of "winning" Google Search have never been murkier. Google's generative AI search engine is coming from one direction. It's creeping closer to mainstream deployment and bringing an existential crisis for SEOs and website makers everywhere. Coming from the other direction is an influx of posts from Reddit, Quora, and other internet forums that have climbed up through the traditional set of Google links. Data analysis from Semrush, which predicts traffic based on search ranking, shows that traffic to Reddit has climbed at an impressive clip since August. Semrush estimated that Reddit had over 132 million visitors in August 2023. At the time of publishing, it was projected to have over 346 million visitors in April 2024.
None of this is accidental. For years, Google has been watching users tack on "Reddit" to the end of search queries and finally decided to do something about it. Google started dropping hints in 2022 when it promised to do a better job of promoting sites that weren't just chasing the top of search but were more helpful and human. Last August, Google rolled out a big update to Search that seemed to kick this into action. Reddit, Quora, and other forum sites started getting more visibility in Google, both within the traditional links and within a new "discussions and forums" section, which you may have spotted if you're US-based. The timing of this Reddit bump has led to some conspiracy theories. In February, Google and Reddit announced a blockbuster deal that would let Google train its AI models on Reddit content. Google said the deal, reportedly worth $60 million, would "facilitate more content-forward displays of Reddit information," leading to some speculation that Google promised Reddit better visibility in exchange for the valuable training data. A few weeks later, Reddit also went public.
Steve Paine, marketing manager at Sistrix, called the rise of Reddit "unprecedented." "There hasn't been a website that's grown so much search visibility so quickly in the US in at least the last five years," he told Business Insider. Right now, Reddit ranks high for product searches. Reddit's main competitors are Wikipedia, YouTube, and Fandom, Paine said, and it also competes in "high-value commercial searches," putting it up against Amazon. The "real competitors," he said, are the subreddits that compete with brands on the web. A Google spokesperson told Business Insider that the company is essentially just giving users what they want: "Our research has shown that people often want to learn from others' experiences with a topic, so we've continued to make it easier to find helpful perspectives on Search when it's relevant to a query. Our systems surface content from hundreds of forums and other communities across the web, and we conduct rigorous testing to ensure results are helpful and high quality."
None of this is accidental. For years, Google has been watching users tack on "Reddit" to the end of search queries and finally decided to do something about it. Google started dropping hints in 2022 when it promised to do a better job of promoting sites that weren't just chasing the top of search but were more helpful and human. Last August, Google rolled out a big update to Search that seemed to kick this into action. Reddit, Quora, and other forum sites started getting more visibility in Google, both within the traditional links and within a new "discussions and forums" section, which you may have spotted if you're US-based. The timing of this Reddit bump has led to some conspiracy theories. In February, Google and Reddit announced a blockbuster deal that would let Google train its AI models on Reddit content. Google said the deal, reportedly worth $60 million, would "facilitate more content-forward displays of Reddit information," leading to some speculation that Google promised Reddit better visibility in exchange for the valuable training data. A few weeks later, Reddit also went public.
Steve Paine, marketing manager at Sistrix, called the rise of Reddit "unprecedented." "There hasn't been a website that's grown so much search visibility so quickly in the US in at least the last five years," he told Business Insider. Right now, Reddit ranks high for product searches. Reddit's main competitors are Wikipedia, YouTube, and Fandom, Paine said, and it also competes in "high-value commercial searches," putting it up against Amazon. The "real competitors," he said, are the subreddits that compete with brands on the web. A Google spokesperson told Business Insider that the company is essentially just giving users what they want: "Our research has shown that people often want to learn from others' experiences with a topic, so we've continued to make it easier to find helpful perspectives on Search when it's relevant to a query. Our systems surface content from hundreds of forums and other communities across the web, and we conduct rigorous testing to ensure results are helpful and high quality."
Makes sense (Score:5, Informative)
However shitty reddit may be, at least it's real humans talking about things humans care about. Way better than the spammers that have bamboozled google with SEO, which is about to be worsened by AI.
Re: Makes sense (Score:5, Informative)
Spammers are all over Reddit, have been for years, Reddit doesn't really do anything about it. Just as an example, you'll see aff spam littered throughout any subs related to dating, injected somewhat casually into discussions despite the site being well known to be a ripoff.
Re: Makes sense (Score:2)
Obviously I'm not white. How can this be both slashdead AND the Never Ending Story?
People these days...
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There you go, as you say the majority of the posts aren't spam. I imagine well over 1% of your google search results for dating will be ripoffs or even worse.
Re: Makes sense (Score:4, Insightful)
Spammers are all over Reddit
Some forums have lots of spam. Others have very little.
Spammers target stupid people, so if you avoid stupid topics, you avoid most of the spam.
you'll see aff spam littered throughout any subs related to dating
Yup. But no spam in the FPGA sub.
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However shitty reddit may be, at least it's real humans talking
Soon it will be overwhelmed with ChatGPT content that people paste in.
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It's so hard to get real information out of Google nowadays. It really is a tragedy. When I get a search result that still points to a real forum, it's a godsend. Unfortunately it's getting more and more rare.
Re:Makes sense (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Makes sense (Score:5, Informative)
Quora OTOH is the creeping fungus
Quora is somewhat of a "writing" site like Medium rather than a question-and-answer site.
You're way more likely to see an answer written by a popular writer than someone giving a correct answer.
Also, writers can delete comments on their answers that they don't like. So they can post something completely wrong and then delete all the comments trying to correct them.
You can no longer exclude Quora results like you used to be able to when Pinterest was the big problem.
Why can't you append "-quora" to your query?
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Why can't you append "-quora" to your query?
Because Google knows better than you and ignores it. Or at least I still get Quora result-poisoning despite having that in there.
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I don't know how you are doing it, but it certainly works for me. I just tested with "how do you make a bookshelf" (minus quotes in the search). Quora was about the 5th result. I added -quora to the end (still no quotes) and that result disappeared completely.
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I don't know how you are doing it, but it certainly works for me. I just tested with "how do you make a bookshelf" (minus quotes in the search). Quora was about the 5th result. I added -quora to the end (still no quotes) and that result disappeared completely.
For quite a while now I've seen a remarkable degree of inconsistency in Google results when I use modifiers such as "-" and "allintext:" Sometimes they're honoured, and other times they're ignored. So far though, the "site:" modifier still works consistently.
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Because that's now how you do it, learn how to use site:
Re: Makes sense (Score:1)
I thought -site:quora.com works on googs.
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Why can't you append "-quora" to your query?
Because modern search engines (not just google) have decided that they know better than you and will often ignore your specific search terms to return the shit that they think you should know instead. Quoted search terms, exclusions, etc, are all cheerfully ignored to return a result set that is utterly useless for your purposes and somewhere there is a design team patting itself on the back for what a great job they've done.
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Why can't you append "-quora" to your query?
-site:quora.com still works.
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I use uBlacklist [github.io]., a plugin that puts a little "Block this site" next to Google search results. It's a godsend. Using Google, I no longer get Quora or Pinterest results. Over time, I've been able to block a lot of shit SEO ad sites. I've found it's made a big difference when looking for reviews of consumer products as well. I search quite a bit for things like "Hair dryer comparison" or "Summer vs all-season tires", and those kinds of searches tend to be nothing but spam for the first two pages. A plugin th
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Learn how to search properly, don't want shit like Quora or pinterest? There's a thing called "-site:".
Hell you can even go into any browser settings and make that permanent.
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PROTIP: try adding "before:2023" to filter out all the AI generated spam.
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Its a buggy updated interface that you can't completely get rid of. In fact after the last update I switched to new.reddit.com but it now redirects everything to un-logged in version of the new interface. When you login and try
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"at least it's real (leftists) talking about things (leftists) care about"
FTFY.
The only place you might be able to speak your mind for a moment before getting banned without appeal or explanation is r/unpopularopinion and even that is only a brief respite from the compulsory doctrinal lockstep. r/NeutralPolitics isn't bad either.
I mean, to be fair Reddit DOES fully align with Google's goals politically so them regurgitating each other would be on-brand.
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Have you TRIED not being an asshole?
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I this a "discussion" filter or a "reddit" filter? (Score:4, Interesting)
I really hope it is not a "reddit" filter. While there is merit to promoting discussions, reddit's main utility is that many topics are only discussed there. Where there is a choice, reddit is usually bottom of the barrel.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Depends on the topic.
I go there for game hints, discount codes, technical advice on obscure topics. My most recent was trying to find out why my spa drains out into my pool when the pump is off. Found literally dozens of others asking the same thing and all got the same answer my pool guy gave (when he was finally available). My check valve is bad. Without Reddit I would've continued fucking around with pump and valve settings.
Reddit has value but not on every topic. Like any tool, used carefully you c
Blocked all reddit search results 6 months ago (Score:2)
If I really want to search reddit -desperation- i'll consider dropping the block but otherwise I couldn't care less what is said there.
My life improved measurably by blocking them. Their results are more or less shit.
Google search is shit (Score:3, Informative)
It's just that Google search is complete shit nowadays. I always include site:reddit.com in my query because I don't have time to sift through SEO bullshit and Ads from Indian scammers.
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Indeed:
A Google spokesperson told Business Insider that the company is essentially just giving users what they want: "Our research has shown that people often want to learn from others' experiences with a topic
In other words, screw the power users, we make money with dumb users hence we prioritize dumb results to all your searches and ignore any modifiers which are only used by power users anyway.
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we make money with dumb users
Dumb people are more likely to click on ads, so they are more profitable than smart people.
As more of the Internet is monetized with advertising, tech companies have more incentive to cater to the stupid.
Reddit = Useless results written by adolescents... (Score:2, Insightful)
Reddit for my technical questions produces mostly useless results many which are written by adolescents with one line remarks and quips without any real answers and useless comments that don't answer or deal with the question or topic in any real depth except for a one line useless remark. It is rare to see a post or comment there with real detail in there unless it is some obscure hobby or obsession that the young-ins find uniquely interesting to give them self props and credit for being so unique about t
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I got banned from reddit for saying that responsible dog owners control their dogs by keeping them fenced in their yard instead of allowing them to roam free and get into fights.
It is a mystery to me what's wrong with that.
Re:Reddit = Useless results written by adolescents (Score:4, Informative)
I got banned from Reddit for 'doxxing' because I posted the phone number for a police station.
Re: Reddit = Useless results written by adolescent (Score:2)
Well to be fair, those are kept secret. Police officers can't have random members of the public calling them disrupting their consumption of donuts and coffee.
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It's listed when you Google for the police station in that city! Why hasn't Reddit banned Google for doxxing yet?!
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I guess my joke was not obvious enough.
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Nah, it was, I just followed up on it because I'm still a little salty about being denied the ability to participate in communities for my hobbies as a result.
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Yep, Reddit admin love their dog fight videos I guess.
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I find Reddit is useful about 50% of the time, maybe a little less. Unlike Microsoft and Quora, which are always a complete waste of time.
You have to take what you read on Reddit with a bucket of salt, but sometimes it does at least hint at the right answer and get you on the path to it.
And where else are you going to go? StackExchange? Sorry your question was closed and your account banned, not that there is anyone with half a clue there anyway.
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50% of the time it's useless 100% of the time
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You have amazing self-confidence to blame rededit (Score:2)
I post on hobby subreddits and the ones for my local community and find it's the most valuable online resource since Wikipedia. For example, look up any product review and add "reddit" to it and you'll get real discussions from real people....to a surprising degree. You'd think it would be much more infiltrated
Can't access Reddit (Score:5, Interesting)
Since I am always on VPN, Reddit blocks me unless I log in. I don't have Reddit account, so I can't access. Effectively, I have to skip top results from Google and go down the page. This is what Reddit page shows me:
"Can we see some ID please?
You've been blocked by network security. To continue, log in to your Reddit account or use your developer token"
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Doesn't appending -reddit.com to the search drop Reddit results? That should also be tracked statistically.
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Same here. I'm not sure why they can't have a bit more of a sophisticated network filter. If they're worried about bots, show me a captcha or something.
That said, I'm pretty sure 95% of the time I'm not missing out on anything anyways.
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Since I am always on VPN, Reddit blocks me unless I log in. I don't have Reddit account, so I can't access. Effectively, I have to skip top results from Google and go down the page. This is what Reddit page shows me: "Can we see some ID please? You've been blocked by network security. To continue, log in to your Reddit account or use your developer token"
Try going to "old.reddit.com" instead of of the www site. You're welcome.
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Change the location of where your VPN drops you out. They, Reddit, are likely filtering out unauthenticated users from your exit location for legal reasons.
Reddit is censor-happy (Score:1)
it's frustrating. Tame moderators' damned power-trips!
It's because it's the only way (Score:4, Insightful)
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Comment Subject" (Score:1)
"get in now boys growth growth growth buy today!"
would be a shame if you took all the optimistic growth forecasting TFS masturbates to and ruined it with cancerous MBA enshittification
no need to worry about that though, it'd be pretty fucking stupid to jeopardize all that rosy talk by seeing the users as a parasite would, i'm sure it won't happen right?
Something else (Score:2)
Quora (Score:5, Informative)
It always comes first in Google, but essentially useless because it needs you to login to read the answers, which I won't.
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It always comes first in Google, but essentially useless because it needs you to login to read the answers, which I won't.
No. It's essentially useless because unlike stack exchange Quora has a bunch of clueless people rambling about things they don't understand, and that's before you consider that the top result is "powered by ChatGPT".
Re: Quora (Score:4, Interesting)
nuff said (Score:3, Interesting)
Quora (Score:3)
I do dislike when search results point to Quora, there you will find posts that sound authoritative, but they aren't. With Reddit I don't take as much issue as it is obviously a forum.
Is it just for me or is it for everyone? (Score:4, Informative)
My feeling is that they try to guess what I am after and they are not so good at it. I get fewer results and they tend to be more or less of the same kind. They are kind of blend as the answers you get from chat-ai.
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AI is taking over google (Score:4, Informative)
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Step 3... (Score:3)
Step 2. Wait for Google to realise Reddit's solution is so rubbish that everyone's using Google for it instead.
Step 3. Profit...
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Still better than Pinterest (Score:2)
at least with reddit you get some content with comments that sort of verify the post is legit, and you don't need to sign up to watch that content, unlike with Pinterest
Reddit and Quora should never be used the same (Score:2)
Having reddit elevated in Google searches is generally helpful.
Having the cesspool that is Quora elevated helps noone.
One of my favorite Chrome extensions is the one I have that automatically strips Quora from all google results.
Quora is a disaster (Score:2)
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It's just the anti-social version of 4chan with worse moderation. Your typical spam has better entertainment value and quality. The only reason not to ban it is that teen is nothing blatantly illegal. I can't imagine anything on Quora that doesn't have a better Urban Dictionary entry.
Agreed 100%. I used to really, really like Quora - but it's definitely not the same website I joined years ago. Quora has become straight-up TOXIC with all the trolls on there. Getting useful and insightful answers from there has become harder to do with each passing year. Lately I've been thinking of disassociating myself from Quora; I'm not so sure I'd be missing anything.
virtuous circle (Score:3)
Hmm let me see.
Google gets exclusive content to reddit data for 60 million per year.
Google directs huge amounts of internet traffic to reddit.
Then... Google gets huge amounts of data in its exclusive data stream.
Meanwhile it impoverishes its competitors by denying them said data.
Funny that Google searches are now directing users to Google.
Reddit IPO and Alphabet-affiliated Investors (Score:2)
Try DuckDuckGo Again, and See If It Sticks (Score:1)
Reddit Search is Hot Garbage (Score:2)
If I want to try to find a post I wrote three years ago on Reddit, I almost always have to use Google to find it - Trying to search on Reddit itself is an exercise in frustration.
I read it on reddit (Score:2)
Yeah, lots of my questions yield reddit links, where others have posted similar questions, almost always with no usable answer.