Reddit is exploring monetizing its search results pages, sparking a major untapped opportunity for the popular online forum.
The next logical step. With over 1 billion monthly searches on the platform, Reddit sees advertising against user searches as a logical step to improve monetization after improving the core search experience.
Why we care Reddit’s venture into search ads could present a lucrative opportunity to target users with high intent. Advertisers will get the diversity of available platforms they crave as signs of Google’s declining trust levels prevail.
What they are saying Reddit CEO Steve Huffman said on the company’s latest earnings call:
“There are no ads on search results pages today. But this is a high-performing product elsewhere on the Internet. And I don’t think there’s any reason to believe it wouldn’t be for Reddit because the intent is so explicit when users search.”
game state Reddit is focusing first on updating its search functionality with improved background performance, autocomplete, and a revamped user interface planned for this year.
The company believes that nailing the search user experience is crucial before exploring monetization options like search ads. As it improves discovery and leverages explicit signals of search intent, the platform sees advertising as a natural complement.
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What’s next? While no firm timeline was provided, Reddit appears committed to extracting more value from its massive search volume by opening up ad inventory once its revamped search product takes shape.
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About the author
Anu Adegbola has been a paid media editor for Search Engine Land since 2024. She covers paid search, paid social media, retail media, video and more.
In 2008, Anu’s career began with
deliver digital marketing campaigns (mainly but not exclusively Paid Search) by creating strategies, maximizing ROI, automating repetitive processes and making all marketing departments efficient through inspiring leadership both on the agency, client and marketing technology side.
Outside of Search Engine Land article editing, she is the founder of the PPC networking event: PPC Live, host of weekly podcast PPCChat Roundup, ibRand Evangelist at ClickTech.
He is also an international speaker with some of the stages he has presented being SMX (USA), SMX (Munich), Friends of Search (Amsterdam), brightonSEO, The Marketing Meetup, HeroConf (PPC Hero), SearchLove, BiddableWorld, SESLondon, PPC Live Chat, AdWorld Experience (Bologna) and more.
