Understanding Reddit’s Organic Optimization Potential – And Risks

Three for the price of one – that’s essentially what brands successfully optimizing their Reddit presence have earned themselves in the realm of organic discovery in 2025.

Why? Reddit, once known as the thorny playground of trolls hiding behind anonymized user names, has become one of the most important surfaces in the organic ecosystem thanks to a deepened partnership with Google and the trend of artificial intelligence (AI) search systems relying heavily on community-generated content to answer nuanced, experience-driven queries.

Note that I said “successfully optimizing”— Reddit is still full of highly opinionated, quick-to-react users who are more than willing to call out brands for behavior antithetical to the platform’s ethos. In other words, before you wade into the Reddit landscape, you need to know the risks it contains.

But let’s start with the potential for growth.

Reddit Content Is Fully Aligned With User Behavior On AI Search

Every single brand I talk to these days as the head of an agency’s organic offering asks about how to increase their visibility on ChatGPT, AI Overviews, etc. AI models continue to reward large-scale, fresh, conversational data that their users seek out — and that’s exactly what Reddit produces.

As long as LLMs prefer human nuance over brand polish, Reddit will remain a priority input into AI search experiences.

Reddit and Google Have Become Deeply Intertwined

Reddit already signed one deal with Google back in January 2024 to train Google’s AI models, and another deal has been in the works for weeks. While Reddit content isn’t quite as dominant in certain Google search (both traditional and AI search) initiatives as it was back in Q1 2024, it’s still a huge presence.

Note, too, that Reddit’s clout is not limited to B2B/SaaS. In fact, many consumer categories thrive on Reddit because people openly compare products, share experiences, and look for real-world validation.

B2B benefits from niche communities where practitioners discuss tools and workflows, but eCommerce sees equal— if not more— opportunity. Subreddits focused on hobbies, health, beauty, home improvement, and personal finance are incredibly influential on purchase decisions. If anything, consumer brands often have a larger surface area to play with, and it’s a multidimensional one.

Given its User-Generated Content (UGC) nature, Reddit sits at the intersection of social proof and search visibility. In a modern organic strategy, it should be prioritized as:

1. A discovery channel for niche audiences;
2. A credibility layer that enhances how brands appear in Google and AI search;
3. Testing ground for real user language, objections, and needs.

By “prioritized,” of course, I also mean that brands need to take the time and energy to understand how to approach Reddit in an authentic, less-corporate manner than they do with other channels. There’s a lot at stake if they get it wrong.

What to Avoid In Your Approach to Reddit

As I mentioned (I can’t over-emphasize this point), Reddit is unusually sensitive to inauthentic behavior. Brands that show up with the wrong tone (promotional, sanitized, or evasive) can risk backlash that can travel far beyond the subreddit where it started.

The biggest risks include:

1. Community distrust, which can shut down a brand’s presence before it even starts;
2. Negative comment chains that rank in search for branded queries;
3. Damage to credibility if screenshots of tone-deaf posts get amplified across Reddit or other platforms.

Reddit isn’t hostile to brands, it’s hostile to brands that ignore the norms. If you can’t participate with transparency and usefulness, the community will call it out immediately.

Understand the Pros, Cons of UGC

Encouraging or seeding UGC (user-generated content) on Reddit can be powerful, but it comes with real risks:

• Loss of message control: Reddit users may interpret, remix, or critique your product in ways you can’t steer.
• Potential for astroturfing accusations: Even well-intentional prompting can look like manipulation if not handled transparently.
• Unpredictable virality: A post meant to highlight value can just as easily expose flaws or create unintended discourse.
• Moderation limitations: Brands can’t “fix” a negative thread — once it’s out, it lives publicly and permanently.

The key is to encourage authentic experiences, not scripted narratives. Reddit rewards honesty and punishes orchestration. That said, if you’re being careful about not over-orchestrating, how do you build a strategy to get traction?

How to Approach Building Your Brand’s Reddit Presence

I recommend brands keep a few important principles in mind when diving into Reddit:

• Build relationships, not sales. Don’t treat Reddit like a billboard. Instead, become a valued community member and engage in conversations. Host AMAs, answer technical questions, share behind-the-scenes insights, and engage with criticism constructively. The brands that succeed on Reddit are those that communities genuinely want to have around.
• Provide value first. No matter who your brand ambassadors are, train them to answer questions and provide insights without leaning into marketing. Write responses and posts that are naturally conversational and information-rich, which both respects the Reddit ethos and dovetails with the content most effectively digested by LLMs.
• Choose your subreddits carefully. Identify the handful of subreddits where your brand’s target audience asks questions related to your industry. Consistently provide helpful, detailed answers that demonstrate expertise. When AI systems pull from these conversations for zero-click responses, your brand’s knowledge becomes part of the answer. And resist the urge to go more broad at first; only when you feel utterly comfortable in your seed sub-reddits should you feel emboldened to get in front of a slightly less niche audience.

The last thing I’ll leave you with is a good general rule of thumb: if you’re about to post something that would elicit an eye roll from you as a user, don’t post that thing. You want to take a long-haul perspective on Reddit (and its users) and resist the temptation to go for a quick sale. Ultimately, your awareness metrics will trickle downstream and provide a more quantifiable thank-you.

Adam Tanguay is Head of Growth at Jordan Digital Marketing, which he joined in Feb. 2019. Formerly Head of Marketing at Webflow and Head of Organic Growth at Weebly, Adam has developed successful growth programs with a mix of content strategy, copywriting, technical know-how, and analytics acumen across a range of organic channels.