Why Are People Adding “Reddit” to Searches?
The tagline for Reddit is that it is the “front page of the internet.” It’s a place where you can find communities — known as subreddits — for just about any subject you can imagine. Want to climb mountains? Looking to learn how to knit? Interested in the latest NFL trades? It’s all there, and much more.
You can easily find Reddit on your computer or simply through the app, which many users have on their smartphones and use more often than anything else. They don’t ever have to search for Reddit. They’re part of the community already. So why have recent Google trends shown that a lot of people are tacking the word Reddit onto the end of their searches?
Searching for Authenticity
The general reason is that you can find topics being discussed on Reddit, so adding the site name to the search brings them to the top. If you’re searching for cooking advice, you may not want a website about cooking. You want a Reddit thread or a subreddit where people talk about their best cooking advice in a forum setup. There is a back-and-forth dialogue. The users are (generally) offering this advice for free. It’s just something they care about.
What some analysts believe is that people are starting not to trust the internet. They don’t feel like it’s very authentic. They assume every site has been created with ulterior motives, usually involving selling a product. So, to keep those search results out, they focus on what “real” people are saying on Reddit. They trust the authenticity of those threads more than the sites themselves.
What Does This Mean for You?
This can tell you a lot about your own content strategy, starting with the fact that you also need to focus on that authenticity. Readers are looking for real facts, real assistance, real information. They want to know they’re getting it from a real person, if not an expert. You should strive to create a site that provides the most useful information that you can. That’s what people are looking for when they run a search, and providing it will help establish your site as an authority.
Building Trust
Overall, you want to build trust with your readers. Show them the type of content they really want, and they’ll feel refreshed to have found it. They’ll begin to use you as a trusted source, knowing they get value and authentic interactions from your site. We can help at Content Customs, working with content creation, site management, social media marketing and more.
