How to Use Reddit for SEO

You cannot ignore the importance of the online presence of your eCommerce business in the new global era. People spend so much time online especially on social media that it can be a great idea to be there too. As someone who is just getting started or already has an eCommerce business, having an online presence is vital.

So, if you want your brand to survive, keep it relevant and succeed in today’s socially connected world you need to interact with your clients on social media. By engaging with your customers on social media you can boost your site’s visibility and brand awareness. The more visible you are the more people trust you. And trust is important to successful selling.

Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube are some of the most popular social media platforms for SEO and marketing. But there are other social media sites that often don’t get the credit they deserve. One of those social media platforms is Reddit.

Reddit? Really? You may ask. Yep, you heard it right.

Reddit is an effective tool for driving targeted traffic to your eCommerce website. It can assist your SEO and marketing efforts. All you need to do is understand how it works.

SEO specialists and marketing experts are undoubtedly missing out on an opportunity to increase quality traffic, get quality backlinks and expand brand awareness. That’s why it can be a good idea to start using Reddit. Just imagine what it would be like to use social media to its full potential.

But before we go any further, here is what this article will cover:

• Reddit Lingo
• What is Reddit? How Does it Work?
• How to Use Reddit for SEO?

To drive traffic from Reddit, increase brand awareness and improve online visibility you have to understand what Reddit is, its slang terms, and how it works.

Reddit Lingo

Reddit is not only a place for funny videos, music, videos, art, hobbies, and other things that interest people. It is a place for words and phrases that are specific to Reddit. If you are new to Reddit some of the words might sound unfamiliar. Let’s have a look at some of the most common Reddit terms.

Redditor

Redditor is someone who uses Reddit, contributes news, shares photos and videos, opinions to the platform, and participates in discussions.

Subreddits

Subreddits are categories within the Reddit website and are based on certain topics where content gets upvoted and down by other users for relevance and preference. Whatever you are interested in (gaming, drawing, football, etc), you can be sure there will be a subreddit for it.

Sub

Sub is an individual subreddit

Upvotes

Upvotes are a big deal on Reddit. They are positive votes. They show that you add value to the subreddit or site as a whole. The more upvotes your post gets the more visible it becomes.

Downvotes

Downvotes, as you may guess, are negative votes. They show that your posts or comments are overly promotional or irrelevant and that they aren’t liked by users. You don’t want to get too many of those, otherwise, your posts or comments will be invincible.

Reddit Karma

Karma is a type of voting system where it uses upvotes and downvotes to represent a user’s score. Your Reddit Karma will be publicly displayed on your profile.

OP

OP stands for “original poster”. It is the person who wrote/created the post you are looking at. You’ll find other users using the term OP in the comment section. For example: “Went through your profile and really dug the work you’ve put in. Just amazing OP!”

Original Content (OC)

Original is something a user created himself. The majority of users tag posts with [OC] in the title.

Cakeday

Cakeday is the day when your Reddit account was first created. It’s not your birthday.

Moderator (Mod)

Moderators are people that maintain a subreddit. They only have control over posts in their community. They can remove your post or comments if they deem it necessary and they can ban you.

Repost

Repost is when something gets posted more than once to the same sub.

Crossposting

Crossposting is when you submit the same post to multiple subreddits at once.  When you crosspost content, the crosspost contains an embed of the original post as well as the user’s name, the community, and the original post’s karma rating.

Ask Me Anything (AMA)

AMA is an online Q&A session in which Reddit users ask guest questions.

Shadowban

Shadowban is a word you should be afraid of. It is a state where you can’t create new posts and comments on the platform. It is a type of ban that is given at the admin level by Reddit employees.

‍What is Reddit? How Does it work?

So, what does Reddit mean? Reddit is a social media platform. It really is. You can connect with people from all over the world, strangers, and friends. What’s more, Reddit is often considered the front page of the internet. It’s also a place where the most shared viral content gets early traction. You see everything on it first.

Reddit is basically a knowledge transfer station as it contains the collective knowledge of millions of users. You can speak freely, openly, and honestly while remaining anonymous. Anonymity makes Reddit different from other social media platforms and is one of its biggest advantages. It doesn’t collect your personal information. You don’t need to enter an email address to create an account but it might be useful if you forget your password. You will be able to reset your password.

Reddit has a lot to offer and you can learn about the things you care about.

You can ask whatever question you want and you are most likely to get an answer. The consistency with which people research and generate important topics cannot be matched which makes Reddit irreplaceable and appealing to so many users. Whatever makes your mind hungry, you’ll find it here. You can always count on people to offer advice.

Besides learning, Reddit is quite entertaining and entertainment has always been valued. Seriously, there’s a lot of good stuff on there. There’s no shortage of communities dedicated to comedy. Just type “funny” in the Reddit search bar and you’ll find funny videos, images, and memes. There are other hilarious subreddits like r/unexpected, r/AnimalsBeingDerps, r/watchpeopledieinside, and r/whatcouldgowrong that can keep you busy for quite some time. You can see funny videos like this. And this. And this.

If you lack self-control you need to be careful because Reddit is really addictive.

Browsing Reddit is even more entertaining knowing that your favorite actors, musicians, athletes, and businessmen might answer your questions.

Each user begins with reddit.com/user/

Anna Kendrick is one charming talented actress and she is on Reddit, too. According to her she loves this social media platform and is one active user but she prefers to stay anonymous.

Actor, politician, former bodybuilder, and childhood hero Arnold Schwarzenegger is no stranger to Reddit, too and his Reddit username is u/GovSchwarzenegger. He’s been on Reddit for 10 years. He participates in different discussions and talks about ecology, the Ukrainian conflict, and bodybuilding. Sometimes he shares photos from his personal life and he loves fan art. He’s a great person to follow on Reddit. He may not be always online but don’t worry he’ll be back.

You can find Bill Gates on Reddit and he goes by the username u/thisisbillgates. He loves doing “Ask Me Anything” sessions because the audience on Reddit is well-informed and the voting system works in such a way that the good questions always get voted up toward the top.

US President Barack Obama answered questions from Redditors and his “r/Ask Me Anything” session broke Reddit in the process.

Reddit is a pretty big site that has two main centers:

• the homepage with its highest-rated content
• various subreddits

Being a huge community itself, Reddit consists of numerous micro-communities where you can find any topic you can think of. These micro-communities are called subreddits. Reddit’s registered community members can submit stories, images, videos, and direct links. They can also comment on each other’s posts, too.

Each community begins with reddit.com/r, such as reddit.com/r/digitalmarketing, reddit.com/r/seo, reddit.com/r/ecommerce, reddit.com/r/shopify. Well, you get the idea.

The voting system is great. You can upvote a Reddit post by pressing the up arrow. Each post gets voted on depending on the value it brings to people. Quality posts are “upvoted”, whereas non-relevant spammy posts are “downvoted”. If your post gets more upvotes it appears on top of the page. You can also give awards to posts that stand out. However, a post that gets enough “downvotes” will disappear. It won't show up on anyone’s feed. Top-voted comments appear at the top of the comment section. The more upvotes you get, the more karma you’ll receive. Your Reddit karma is your face and it shows how much your content means to the Reddit community. It is displayed publicly and everyone who wants to know how much karma you have can see it for himself.  Before posting you need to make sure that the content you provide is top-notch and relevant. You need to earn both “post karma” and “comment karma”. You can do it separately but you need to focus on them both. It’s much more effective that way. Together “post karma” and “comment karma” form the total karma score.

But how do you check your comment karma, and post karma separately?

There’s a solution. You just need to type old.reddit.com in the search bar of your Google browser. Then you need to tap your icon at the top right of your page. The Reddit life hack you never knew you needed it.

Sharing posts that stand out and links that provide value for people can be quite beneficial for your site’s SEO.

A subreddit’s posts can be sorted by the following filters: Hot, New, Top, and Rising.

If you want to find a specific subreddit, there’s a search bar near the top and you can also use it to find people and comments. You can join as many Reddit communities as you want and they will keep you up to date. This way you won’t miss new posts, important discussions, news, etc. You can follow other Redditors, too.

How to Use Reddit for SEO?

The growth of the e-commerce sector has led to an increase in competition. Social media is a crucial element when it comes to business growth. Those companies that use the right social media marketing strategy have a chance to attract more customers, increase brand awareness, improve web traffic and stand one step ahead of the competition. It helps you communicate with your target audience on a more personal level. When done effectively, you can significantly increase your revenue.  

Knowing that the competition is so high, you need to focus more on small/niche platforms such as Reddit to promote your brand. Advertising your E-commerce business on Reddit isn’t easy but it is manageable. All you have to do is be a true redditor. You need to know what Reddit is and how everything works.

So, that’s enough reason for you to increase your presence there. Reddit is far from being “small”. Make no mistake about it. If we compare Reddit to Facebook the numbers will say it all but that doesn’t make Reddit less effective. Reddit is a great platform for marketing and SEO. To understand why we need to know what is all about and how it works. That’s why we’ve paid so much attention to the definition of Reddit and the way this social media platform works.

As we’ve told you before you need to bring value first. You need to gain Karma.

There are two ways to increase your karma score:

1. Start posting in several subreddits
2. Start commenting on several subreddits

Before you can start posting you need to make sure that your account is one week old. Then you can post and comment. Being a new user, you won’t be able to post in several subreddits at once. You need to earn your karma from posting and commenting. Be patient and make sure that your posts or comments are relevant. Otherwise, you will receive a lot of downvotes. The more upvotes you get the better. When you post comments timing really matters.

Each subreddit has its own set of rules, defined and overseen by moderators. Be sure to read them before posting. There are also guidelines that you need to follow. They tell you what kind of links, questions, and comments can be submitted to a specific subreddit.

Your first post shouldn’t be about your eCommerce business. You need to choose subreddits that interest you. For example, if you love cooking, then you need to subscribe to r/cooking and be active here. Post anything related to cooking here. Try to add value.

Before posting to the subreddit, make sure that your title isn’t too long. Titles of 60-80 characters would be more than enough. Try to make them catchy and optimize them for SEO. Use relevant long tail keywords with low keyword difficulty. It can benefit you in two ways:

1. Your post will be found by more Redditors
2. Your post will rank higher on search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo

Use keywords in your comments, too, so they can appear in the Reddit search results and be visible to other users, too. But your comments must be relevant and bring value to other Reddit users.

Post content that gets the most upvotes. This way you can increase the number of your followers and improve your user Karma. It makes sense being active. Post frequently. If you have nothing to say it’s better to remain silent.

There are subreddits where you can ask questions about anything that interests you. Make sure to check them out. They can help you with your Reddit karma and you can get some valuable advice. Posts with questions produce two times more comments than just simple statements. One of those subreddits is r/AskReddit. But posts without questions receive more upvotes.

You need to work on your Reddit karma. Then you can post to subreddits related to your niche.

There are certain things that you shouldn't do on Reddit:

• Submit the same post or comments multiple times to different subreddits
• Ask for upvotes
• Upvote your own posts from another throwaway account
• Post excessively and comment to promote links
• Send messages to multiple accounts at once
• Bother moderators and be rude to them
• Be rude to other redditors
• Post a lot of links
• Post irrelevant content

If you have a blog on your eCommerce website, then you can use community posts to discover topic ideas and fresh SEO-friendly keywords.

There are subreddits for hobbies, funny cats, cars, music, and more, so it won’t come as a surprise if you find out that there are subreddits devoted to eCommerce, digital marketing, and SEO.

r/ecommerce

Ecommerce is a place for eCommerce merchants. You can share your ideas with other fellow merchants, discuss different topics and ask questions on marketing, SEO, products, checkout, conversions, etc. The discussions that you will find here will help you sell more, increase your site’s visibility and searchability, and improve your brand awareness.

r/DigitalMarketing

With a self-explanatory subreddit name, it’s not hard to guess what this community is all about. It is a place where digital marketers and online store owners get together to discuss all things marketing. Unfortunately, promotional content is strongly forbidden here.

r/bigseo

This subreddit can be useful for those who want to increase their site’s visibility, improve their SEO skills and use SEO as a strategy for driving sales. Follow the community’s rules and you’ll be fine.

r/shopify

Shopify is an online group for Shopify store owners who want to increase profits from eCommerce tips and advice, learn new strategies or discuss their problems. You can find many Shopify-related questions answered here. Again check the sidebar. Make sure you are not breaking any rules.  

r/SEO

r/SEO, as you might guess, is a community dedicated to Search Engine Optimization which is an important segment of digital marketing. By joining this community you will learn a lot about SEO.

r/smallbusiness

If you are just starting out or already have a business then this online community is exactly what you need. You can find answers to beginner questions and learn a lot about all the procedures involved in starting and operating a small business. This online community can help you grow your online business.

r/marketing

r/Marketing is another great online community you might want to check out. You can ask and discuss questions related to online and offline marketing strategies, data, email, user experience, content marketing, segmentation, marketing books, brands, marketing agencies, etc.

r/reviewmyshopify

r/reviewmyshopify is another online group that’s worth your attention. You can get feedback on your Shopify store. You can find out what changes you can make to your Shopify store, what’s missing, and how to strengthen your brand.

r/Blogging

r/Blogging is an online community for bloggers. It helps writers communicate with each other, learn from one another’s experiences, and learn new techniques.

By joining these communities you can find how users interact with each other and which words they use to describe certain products and services, how to use blogs for SEO, what social media strategies are efficient, and learn some new tips and tricks that you might include in your Reddit SEO strategy. You can find advice about a variety of topics from money management to shipping. You can share links to your website in various subreddits but you don’t want to do too much self-promotion. Read the guidelines before posting and make sure that your answer provides value. The Reddit moderators are quite active and they can permanently ban you without warning. You can still visit the subreddit but you won’t be able to share links, pictures, text posts, and write comments. Self-promotion, blatant marketing, URL shorteners, and other tactics that suggest you are only using Reddit to promote your products or services will get your account suspended.

You should also analyze the top-ranking content for SEO ideas. If a certain topic is popular on Reddit then it makes sense to write an article about it. You can include SEO-friendly keywords in your article and drive more traffic to your eCommerce store. Sort results by “Hot” and this will show you which topics are the most popular among redditors.

As you can see, the Reddit SEO strategy can be quite beneficial for your online business. It can help you raise brand awareness, increase the number of pages that rank high on Google and create more quality backlinks to your website.

Conclusion

Now that you know what Reddit is and how it works it’s time for you to start using Reddit for SEO. If you are here to promote your business only then it might be an impossible task to complete. Reddit is quite an effective tool when you know how to use it right. It can help you stay competitive in today’s constantly evolving digital world. You can build relationships with other online merchants, share experiences, learn about the latest trends, improve your visibility online, increase your search rankings for your brand and drive more organic traffic to your e-commerce website through a Reddit SEO strategy. The fact that so many e-commerce entrepreneurs underestimate this social media platform gives you a competitive edge over them.