Reddit drives more than 415 million visits every week millions of commercial and transactional queries. This makes it a critical channel for buyers who are evaluating solutions and comparing competitors.

Reddit discussions are not only appearing at the top of search results as a result of a partnership with Google and OpenAI but are also feeding directly into AI-generated answers. Every comment, comparison, and shared experience in a subreddit has the potential to influence what prospects see when they research your category.

For marketers, this marks a shift in how visibility is earned. It’s necessary to optimize for Google and review sites, as well as understand how external signals, like Reddit, shape AI search outputs and customer decisions.

Brands that track and act on these signals can turn Reddit activity into clarity, trust, and pipeline growth. 

Reddit's Rise in AI Search: The New Search Reality

The partnership effect

Google’s partnership with Reddit has reshaped how search results appear. Reddit is the most cited domain by Large Language Models, appearing in over 40% of searches in the study, per Statista.

Reddit is gaining ground because people trust real conversations over polished marketing pages. Subreddits (i.e. “communities” in Reddit parlance) surface honest experiences, comparisons, and problem-solving in a way that traditional websites and review platforms cannot. 

For buyers, this creates confidence during evaluation. For businesses, it means that reputation and visibility are being shaped in spaces where prospects are actively making decisions.

How search systems use Reddit

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Search engines analyze Reddit threads as a whole. They weigh the number of comments, upvotes, and the credibility of contributors to judge which insights the community finds most valuable. 

As a result, detailed conversations about pricing, implementation, and customer experience often carry more influence than a polished case study or vendor page.

Reddit has also built its own discovery layer through Reddit Answers, which synthesizes discussions across multiple subreddits into a single, natural-language response. This feature functions much like a built-in research tool for users who want quick, summarized insights:

Reddit Answers compiles discussions like the one above into structured summaries, turning dozens of community comments into a clear comparison of tools, features, pricing, and recommendations. For buyers, it accelerates research; for marketers, it means community sentiment is now packaged and surfaced as the first answer prospects may see.

Detailed conversations between customers are no longer buried in forums, but are surfaced in Reddit’s AI answers, as well as search engines (2nd organic listing, and also in the “Perspectives” section): 

These Reddit threads are surfaced as authoritative answers that shape the first impression buyers have when researching your category.

Credibility now comes from how your product is discussed in open communities rather than how well it is described on a website. Monitoring these discussions, understanding the language customers use, and contributing in ways that add real value are now essential parts of influencing search visibility and brand perception. A recent study found that Reddit is the most cited source in Google AI Overviews, proving that the above examples are not an anomaly.

What the Winners Do: The Strategic Framework

Ross Simmonds has been clear: Reddit is one of the most influential forces in SEO and AI-driven search. Buyers are turning to Reddit threads instead of review sites, and search engines are pulling those same conversations into the answers your prospects see first.

But Reddit is not a channel you can treat like LinkedIn or Twitter. Communities are quick to spot marketing language and will reject brands that show up the wrong way. Ross developed his Lurk–Listen–Leap framework to help brands navigate Reddit with credibility, gather insight that competitors miss, and step into conversations in ways that build trust.

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• Lurk: Map the landscape before engaging. Identify the subreddits where your buyers are active, track which threads already rank in search, and learn the culture of each community. "You want to lurk up front, so you can learn how Reddit is ranking for keywords. So you can learn what people actually want on Reddit and use this to understand how you set yourself up long term," he notes. 
• Listen: Monitor sentiment, competitor mentions, and recurring customer questions. Extract insights in the same words prospects use to describe their pain points and evaluation criteria.‍
• Leap: Participate authentically. Share useful expertise, avoid corporate language, and add value to discussions already happening. Communities reject content that feels promotional.

Actionable Steps for Marketers: Lessons from HubSpot and Ross Simmonds

HubSpot’s subreddit illustrates the double-edged nature of Reddit. On one hand, frustrated customers have posted critical threads—like one about a failed partner contract—that gained traction and even surfaced in Google results. On the other hand, HubSpot moderators have stepped in quickly, responding directly, taking conversations offline, and even running AMAs with company evangelists. These moves show how Reddit can shift from brand risk to brand opportunity when managed strategically.

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Ross Simmonds’ Lurk–Listen–Leap framework captures how to operationalize this:

1. Audit Your Reddit Presence: Map the subreddits and threads that influence your category. HubSpot threads don’t just live in r/HubSpot—they also show up in SERPs and AI answers.
2. Secure Your Brand Assets: Own your brand subreddit and username before others do. HubSpot did this early, giving them a home base to moderate and engage.

3. Lurk–Listen–Leap: HubSpot lurks to spot issues, listens for sentiment, and leaps in with thoughtful responses. For example, an unhappy customer engaged in Hubspot’s subreddit about a failed contract with a Hubspot partner. The thread got a good amount of traction, and Hubspot’s moderator, Rachel “leaps” in with a detailed and helpful response.
4. Turn Reddit into a Content Engine: Beyond firefighting, HubSpot uses Reddit proactively such as AMAs with leaders like Kyle Jepson to build credibility and trust at scale.
5. Measure and Share: Track how Reddit discussions show up in SERPs and AI results. Feed insights into product, marketing, and customer success so the whole org benefits.

The lesson: Reddit will shape your brand narrative whether you like it or not. The companies that engage with empathy and authority—like HubSpot—can turn customer forums into a durable advantage.

From Noise to Opportunity 

The scale problem

For most marketers, Reddit feels unmanageable. Hundreds of subreddits and thousands of daily threads could influence brand perception or competitive positioning. Valuable insights are often buried inside long comment chains.

Manually tracking these conversations is nearly impossible, with the time required to find, analyze, and respond to high-value discussions exceeds the resources of most teams. This leads many brands to either ignore Reddit entirely or engage sporadically in ways that feel inauthentic to community members. Both approaches let competitors and customers control the narrative.

However as Nick Eubanks notes, buying journeys begin with communities and search engines, and this is what Reddit encapsulates:

Filtering signals from noise

The solution is to treat Reddit as an intelligence workflow. With the right system, teams can input a strategic keyword like “best CRM software” and immediately see which subreddits, threads, and comments matter most. They can gauge sentiment, prioritize opportunities based on search visibility, and even generate response options that match the community’s tone while aligning with brand voice.

Instead of spreading effort across every thread, marketers can focus on the few discussions most likely to shape buyer perceptions and AI-generated search answers. This approach turns Reddit’s scale from a barrier into an advantage,  giving brands more data to work with while ensuring resources are used efficiently.

You can set up an AirOps workflow to programmatically monitor and engage in relevant subreddits related to your brand and niche. 

Additionally, once you identify the relevant subreddits and search terms on Reddit, you can identify an excellent resource for keyword research, that you can then scale with an AI-powered SEO strategy with AirOps.
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Beyond Review Sites 

The decline of review sites

Third-party review platforms like G2, Capterra, and TrustRadius once dominated searches like “best marketing automation platforms” or “CRM software comparison.” That dominance is fading as seen in the chart above about how often Reddit is being cited in LLMs.

As more buyers turn to Reddit for authentic feedback, Google and AI assistants are favoring Reddit threads over structured review pages. This reflects a permanent shift in how buyers research solutions.

Why Reddit wins

Reddit threads contain richer detail than review aggregators. Instead of a star rating or templated review, buyers find long discussions on implementation challenges, pricing transparency, and user experiences. For categories like CRM, marketing automation, or analytics tools, this depth matters more than polished vendor-supplied quotes.

How leaders should respond

Marketers need to adjust their competitive playbook. Start by mapping which of your target keywords now surface Reddit discussions in the top results. Analyze how your competitors are represented in those threads, and identify gaps where authentic contributions could shift sentiment.

Redirect resources from declining review-site optimization toward Reddit monitoring, content informed by community insights, and reputation management in the forums your buyers now trust most.

Even if it seems there is no search volume for a query, you can use Reddit as a conduit to reach your target audience.

The Future of Visibility

Reddit today, AI tomorrow

Every Reddit thread about your brand is shaping today’s search results as well as training tomorrow’s AI answers. Current systems like Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Claude incorporate Reddit content into their core knowledge bases. That means a comment posted today can influence recommendations buyers see months or years from now.

Here’s what you can do in the next three months to kickstart your Reddit strategy: 

• Days 1–30: Build the foundation
  Secure your subreddit and brand username. Install the Reddit pixel for retargeting. Audit which subreddits rank for your priority keywords and benchmark current sentiment.
  
  
• Days 31–60: Monitor and plan
  Set up alerts for brand mentions and competitor activity. Document where discussions influence search results. Establish engagement guidelines so employees know how to participate authentically.
  
  
• Days 61–90: Engage and optimize
  Contribute value in priority threads. Repurpose existing content into Reddit-friendly formats. Track how sentiment and visibility shift, then refine your approach.
  
  

Measuring ROI

The impact of Reddit strategy should be tied to business outcomes. Track sentiment trends, monitor keyword rankings where Reddit threads dominate, and test AI responses to see how your brand is represented. Connect these insights to pipeline by attributing conversions influenced by Reddit discussions.

Wrapping Up

Reddit’s role in shaping search and AI visibility is only accelerating. Reddit has already become the place where buyers make decisions. Brands that act now can secure a first-mover advantage; those that delay will find competitors controlling the conversation that trains tomorrow’s AI systems.

AirOps helps turn Reddit signals into growth opportunities, filtering the noise, identifying high-value threads, and enabling authentic engagement at scale.

Book a call with an AirOps expert to make sure your brand leads the conversation, not lags behind it.