Recently behind the scenes at Google, a truly fundamental shift in how Google rankings are calculated and kicked back to users took place. And, it’s changing the way SERPs are displayed for all concerned, including of course, DJs. On February 21, 2024, Google announced an arrangement with Reddit that allows for Google to access all Reddit posts in return for Reddit to have access to various AI featured from Google.
Now, what Reddit does with that access doesn’t concern us for the purposes of this article. What does concern us is what Google does with the data they collect from Reddit, and how they’ve changed the way their rankings are calculated and displayed.
From the Wikipedia page on Reddit…
Reddit (/ˈrɛdɪt/) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and forum social network. Registered users (commonly referred to as “Redditors”) submit content to the site such as links, text posts, images, and videos, which are then voted up or down by other members. Posts are organized by subject into user-created boards called “communities” or “subreddits.” Submissions with more upvotes appear towards the top of their subreddit and, if they receive enough upvotes, ultimately on the site’s front page. Reddit administrators moderate the communities. Moderation is also conducted by community-specific moderators, who are not Reddit employees.
To state the obvious, Reddit is far more organic than Google. “Redditors” can expect results that are vetted by the community, and are not filtered for any synthetic aspects the way that Google results have become over the last few years. Simply put, users trust the information they find out through Reddit far more than they trust the listings they see off Google. It seems now with this deal between Google and Reddit from Feb. 21 that Google indeed realizes that now, and has done something about it… something that needs to be thought of by working mobile DJs. You see….
Google is using Reddit content significantly in its ranking calculations now.
Any of you who are on Google every day will already know this, of course. Reddit entries within almost any Google search have risen significantly over the last months, and dominate the forums sections within Google SERPs. Knowing this, DJs can obtain a quick SEO win by doing the following:
Learn how to use Reddit properly, and engage with the community.
Doing this will serve multiple aspects.
- You’ll be in front of brides who frequent Reddit.
- Your answers and contributions will be indexed by Google, and come up in various searches within Google by your target audience.
- Your website’s overall rankings will go up as well due to keyword association.
Just as Quora and Wikipedia are unique communities that require you to spend a day learning how to use them, Reddit is also unique in how users engage with the various communities. Here are some points for you to consider on how best to use Reddit going forward (the following text pulled directly from the r/help subreddit):
- Upvote things you like, comments that express what you’re thinking, comments that are helpful or that explain something well, comments that someone clearly put some effort into, and as a courtesy, I usually upvote any comment that I reply to.
- Downvote things that are false or misleading, comments that express bigotry or are otherwise intended to cause harm, comments that add nothing to the discussion, or comments that are obviously fishing for upvotes (you’ll learn to recognize these as you become more familiar with the site). Note that you should not downvote things just because you do not like them or because you have a difference of opinion with someone. In those cases, simply do not upvote.
- Before commenting yourself, check to see if someone already said what you were going to say. If so, upvote that comment instead of repeating what’s already been said.
- Read the article, not just the headline. Headlines can be misleading, they’re usually written by an editor who did not write the article. Sometimes the people you encounter in the comments didn’t read the article, and when that happens, it shows.
- If the post is an image with text on it, or a video of someone unknown to you, and it is making claims of fact, do not upvote it unless you already know it is true, or until you have verified for yourself that it is providing true and accurate information.
- If you’re debating with someone, link to reputable sources when making claims of fact that are not widely known or are in dispute. This isn’t required, but it is customary, and it will make your argument stronger and more convincing to others who are reading.
- Don’t take downvotes personally. Sometimes your post or comment will get downvoted for no apparent reason, or reasons that are not immediately clear to you, and nothing will earn more downvotes than complaining about downvotes. Take your licks and move on.
- The /all feed is mostly garbage because most people don’t do what’s in suggestions 1 through 5. Search for subreddits about topics that interest you and subscribe to those. The buttons marked Best, Hot, New, Rising, etc. only show you results from subreddits you’ve subscribed to. You’ll get the most out of the site by focusing on your own areas of interest or expertise.
- There are different rules in each subreddit and you should read them before posting or commenting. Moderators have nearly unlimited discretion in their own subs and they are not required to be fair or helpful. There is no one to complain to if the mods simply don’t like you, all you can do about it is find a better sub, or create one of your own. That said, most mods are nice as long as you are nice to them. Don’t fly off the handle or attack them if they do something you don’t like or agree with. Approach them calmly and politely and they will usually explain where things went wrong.
- Just something I’ve learned after long experience and observation: The third top nested comment is where all the worst comments live. There is a symbol next to each comment that looks like this [-] and if you click it, it will collapse the comment and all of the replies to it. If you start to use this site often, collapsing the third top comment as soon as you enter a thread with more than 500 comments will add years to your life, trust me. This is what you’re looking for:
Above all, be organic. Engage with the community yourself, with answers that you write, not AI generated content. (I know, that’s an unusual thing for me to say.) The community will be able to tell what’s AI spam and what’s written by a true expert… and so will Google themselves. Be authentic and helpful, and your Reddit content will help you both on Reddit and Google itself.
At DJX in Atlantic City, N.J., Lou Paris and myself will dive more into this topic on Wednesday, Aug. 7.
Jordan St. Jacques is the President/Lead Digital Marketer at Digitera.Interactive in Ottawa, Ont., Canada. He’s also part of the Author Collective from National Disc Jockeys.
