Get All Access for $5/mo

Reddit Traffic Nearly Triples in 8 Months, Posts Rise to the Top of Google Search Reddit posts are now as visible in Google Search as Instagram results.

By Sherin Shibu

Key Takeaways

  • Reddit traffic has risen from 132 million visits in August 2023 to a projected 346 million in April, according to data from search engine marketing company Semrush and software company Ahrefs.
  • Reddit made its public market debut last month and inked a deal with Google in February that allows Google to train AI on its content.

Redditors have been Googling things they need to know and tacking "Reddit" to the end of their searches for years to block out clickbait and get answers more quickly.

Google, meanwhile, has been advising sites to create people-first content and introduced a core search update in August that prioritized sites that did just that.

Since then, Reddit has seen its traffic almost triple, according to Semrush data published by Business Insider on Wednesday.

Steve Huffman, Reddit co-founder and CEO. Credit: Reddit

The data showed that Reddit traffic has skyrocketed from 132 million visits in August 2023 to a projected 346 million this month.

Reddit posts are now as visible as the top Google Search results as posts from Instagram, per Sistrix data cited by BI.

Related: You'll Never Achieve Work-Life Balance — and You Shouldn't, Reddit Co-Founder Alexis Ohanian Says

At the same time, many smaller sites have seen traffic numbers drop since Google's update.

Growth strategy firm Amsive identified that the sites with the highest declines in traffic followed similar patterns: They included excessive ads, affiliate links, keyword patterns optimized for SEO, AI content, and a lack of original images.

A post from Google search liason Danny Sullivan on X, formerly Twitter, earlier this month stood by more forum content in search results.

"I also know some of the SEO folks who tend to be vocal on this platform really dislike seeing more forum content in our search results," Sullivan wrote. "But actual searchers seem to like it. They proactively seek it out."

Related: Reddit Co-Founder Alexis Ohanian Sounds Off on Proposed TikTok Ban

Data from software company Ahrefs offers a global picture of Reddit organic traffic: Traffic rose from 160 million in August 2023 to 420 million in February. Quora, which has a forum format just like Reddit with community answers, saw traffic more than triple from September to March, according to the same source.

Reddit made its public market debut last month and inked a deal with Google earlier this year that allows Google to train its AI on Reddit content.

Google dominates the search market, consistently holding above 90% of the global market this past year, according to Stat Counter.

Related: Reddit Debuts on New York Stock Exchange, First Major Tech IPO Since Pinterest in 2019

Sherin Shibu

Entrepreneur Staff

News Reporter

Sherin Shibu is a business news reporter at Entrepreneur.com. She previously worked for PCMag, Business Insider, The Messenger, and ZDNET as a reporter and copyeditor. Her areas of coverage encompass tech, business, strategy, finance, and even space. She is a Columbia University graduate.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Editor's Pick

Marketing

Many Brands Risk Being Left Behind By Overlooking These Critical Advertising Steps

Learn how to use smart marketing tools and AI to optimize online advertising and maximize ad spend in today's competitive landscape.

Starting a Business

How to Find the Right Programmers: A Brief Guideline for Startup Founders

For startup founders under a plethora of challenges like timing, investors and changing market demand, it is extremely hard to hire programmers who can deliver.

Franchise

McDonald's Is Launching the Highly Anticipated Chicken Big Mac in the U.S. — Here's When

The sandwich was a massive hit in the United Kingdom, selling out in just 10 days during its limited run in 2022.

Business News

'Love It!': A Town in Connecticut Is Experimenting with a 4-Day Workweek — and It Seems to Be Working

From small towns in Connecticut to large companies like Kickstarter, the four-day workweek is gaining steam.