Reddit's visibility on Google Search has seen a big increase lately. It turns out, Google is the big AI company that has made a deal with Reddit for using its content, as reported by Reuters.
This deal has caught the attention of many, especially since Reddit has started showing up more in Google's search results, even beating the original sources of content in some cases. People are wondering if Reddit's boosted presence on Google Search is because of this content licensing deal. Another thought is that maybe Google is trying to make up for the fact that many searchers have been adding "reddit" to their search queries to find discussions and opinions.
According to Reuters, Google is paying Reddit $60 million a year to use its content to train Google's AI models, like Gemini. This deal was signed as Reddit is getting ready to go public with an initial public offering (IPO).
Back in February, it was first hinted that Reddit had made a deal with a large AI company. And by last April, Reddit expressed its desire to make AI companies pay for using its vast amount of content. Steve Huffman, the CEO of Reddit, emphasized the value of Reddit's content and stated that they shouldn't give it away for free to some of the world's biggest companies.
Following this deal, there's been a noticeable increase in Reddit's rankings on Google. Glenn Gabe, an SEO consultant, highlighted in a post on X that the number of Reddit URLs ranking on Google shot up from 22 million to 41.1 million, based on data from Semrush. This is a significant rise, indicating not just improved rankings but also an increase in the number of pages that are showing up in search results.
This partnership between Google and Reddit is a big deal in the tech and SEO communities. It raises questions about the dynamics of content visibility on search engines and how deals like this could influence what information gets priority in search results.
Image: DIW
Read next: Google Stops Gemini's AI Image Creation Tool Due to Wrong Images
This deal has caught the attention of many, especially since Reddit has started showing up more in Google's search results, even beating the original sources of content in some cases. People are wondering if Reddit's boosted presence on Google Search is because of this content licensing deal. Another thought is that maybe Google is trying to make up for the fact that many searchers have been adding "reddit" to their search queries to find discussions and opinions.
According to Reuters, Google is paying Reddit $60 million a year to use its content to train Google's AI models, like Gemini. This deal was signed as Reddit is getting ready to go public with an initial public offering (IPO).
Back in February, it was first hinted that Reddit had made a deal with a large AI company. And by last April, Reddit expressed its desire to make AI companies pay for using its vast amount of content. Steve Huffman, the CEO of Reddit, emphasized the value of Reddit's content and stated that they shouldn't give it away for free to some of the world's biggest companies.
Following this deal, there's been a noticeable increase in Reddit's rankings on Google. Glenn Gabe, an SEO consultant, highlighted in a post on X that the number of Reddit URLs ranking on Google shot up from 22 million to 41.1 million, based on data from Semrush. This is a significant rise, indicating not just improved rankings but also an increase in the number of pages that are showing up in search results.
22M to 41.1M urls -> OK, so Google has a deal with Reddit to train its AI on Reddit content. We also know that the "hidden gems" piece rolled out in the fall of 2023 and Reddit (and other forums) surged. But with the deal, does Google have a firehose from Reddit? i.e. Is Reddit… pic.twitter.com/24uVJydTQb
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) February 22, 2024
This partnership between Google and Reddit is a big deal in the tech and SEO communities. It raises questions about the dynamics of content visibility on search engines and how deals like this could influence what information gets priority in search results.
Read next: Google Stops Gemini's AI Image Creation Tool Due to Wrong Images
