Google’s Danny Sullivan disputed claims made in a Reddit discussion that Google is showing a preference for Reddit in search results. But one Redditor’s example shows that it’s possible for a Reddit post to rank in the top ten search results within minutes and actually improve the ranking to the #2 position a week later.
Discussion about Google showing preference on Reddit
A Redditor (gronetwork) complained that Google is sending so many visitors to Reddit that the server is struggling with the load and shared an example showing that it can only take minutes for a Reddit post to rank in the top ten.
This post was part of a 79-post Reddit thread where many in the r/SEO subreddit complained that Google was allegedly giving Reddit too much preference over legitimate sites.
The person who took the test (gronetwork) he wrote:
“…The website is already crashing (server down, duplicate posts, comments not showing) because there are too many visitors.
… It only takes a few minutes (you can try it) for a Reddit post to show up in the top ten Google results for keywords related to the post title… (whereas I have to wait months for an article to be referenced from my site). ). Do the math, everyone will be spamming here. The loop is complete.”
Reddit post ranked in minutes
Another Redditor asked if they had tested whether it takes “a few minutes” to rank in the top ten, and Gronetwork replied that they had tested with a post titled Google SGE Review.
gronetwork published:
“Yes, I’ve created, for example, a post called “Google SGE Review” earlier. After less than 5 minutes, it ranked 8th for Google SGE Review (without quotes). Just after Washingtonpost.com, 6 authoritative SEO websites and the Google.com overview page for SGE (Search Generative Experience). Ranks third for SGE Review.”
That’s right, not only is this specific post (Google SGE Review) ranked in the top 10, but the post started at position 8 and actually moved up the rankings, currently under the number one result for in the search query “SGE Review”.
Screenshot of the Reddit post that ranked within minutes
Anecdotes versus anecdotes
Okay, the above is just an anecdote. But it’s a great anecdote because it shows that it’s possible for a Reddit post to rank within minutes and stick to the top of the search results over other possibly more authoritative websites.
hankschrader79 shared that Reddit posts outrank the Toyota Tacoma forums for a phrase related to this truck’s mods.
Google’s Danny Sullivan responded to this post and the entire discussion to discuss that Reddit is not always prioritized over other forums.
Danny he wrote:
“Reddit isn’t always prioritized over other forums. [super vhs to mac adapter] I did this this week, it goes to the Apple Support Community, the MacRumors Forum, and further down, there’s Reddit. I did it too [kumo cloud not working setup 5ghz] recently (it’s a nightmare) and it was the Netgear community, the SmartThings community, GreenBuildingAdvisor before Reddit. Related to that was [disable 5g airport] which has the Apple support community over Reddit. [how to open an 8 track tape] – Really, it was YouTube videos that helped me the most, but it’s the Tapeheads community that comes before Reddit.
In your example for [toyota tacoma], I don’t even have reddit in the top results. I get Toyota, Car & Driver, Wikipedia, Toyota again, three YouTube videos from different creators (not Toyota), Edmunds, a Top Stories unit. Not Reddit, which doesn’t really support the idea of always wanting to drive traffic to Reddit alone.
If I guess at the most specific query you could have asked, maybe [overland mods for toyota tacoma], I get a YouTube video first, then Reddit, then Tacoma World in third place, not near the bottom. So yes, Reddit is the highest for this query, but it’s not the first. Nor is it always the first. And sometimes, it doesn’t even show at all.”
hankschrader79 admitted they were generalizing when they wrote that Google always prioritized Reddit. But they also insisted that this did not diminish what they said is the fact that Google’s “prioritization” of forum content has benefited Reddit more than the actual forums.
Why is this Reddit post ranking so high?
Google may have “tested” this Reddit post in position 8 within minutes, and user interaction signals are telling Google’s algorithms that users prefer to see this Reddit post. If this is the case, it’s not Google showing preference to the Reddit post, it’s users showing preference and the algorithm responding to those preferences.
However, it can be argued that users’ preferences for Reddit may be a manifestation of familiarity bias. Familiarity bias is when people show a preference for things that are familiar to them. If a person is familiar with a brand because of all the advertising they have been exposed to, they may show a bias for the brand’s products over unfamiliar brands.
Users who are familiar with Reddit may choose Reddit because they are unfamiliar with the other sites in the search results, or because they have a bias that Google ranks spam and optimized websites and feel safer reading Reddit.
Google may be picking up those signals of user interaction that indicate a preference and satisfaction with Reddit’s results, but those results may simply be biased and not an indication that Reddit is trustworthy and authoritative.
Does Reddit benefit from a self-reinforcing feedback loop?
It may be that Google’s decision to prioritize user-generated content has started a self-reinforcing pattern that draws users to Reddit through search results, and because the answers seem plausible, those users begin to prefer Reddit results . When they are exposed to more Reddit posts, their familiarity bias kicks in and they begin to show a preference for Reddit. So what could be happening is that users and Google’s algorithm are creating a self-reinforcing feedback loop.
Google’s decision to show more user-generated content may have started a cycle where more users are exposed to Reddit which then feeds back into Google’s algorithm which in turn increases Reddit’s visibility, regardless of the lack of of expertise and authority?
Featured image by Shutterstock/Kues
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