If you’ve been searching for things on Google recently, you might have noticed a trend: Reddit posts appearing higher up in the search results. This isn’t your imagination, and it’s not because your Reddit browsing habits are influencing Google Search directly. Instead, it’s the result of a strategic partnership between Google and Reddit.
Earlier this year, both companies disclosed a deal that has now come into full effect. This agreement states that Reddit content will be prominently displayed across Google products, including Search. Essentially, Google now has an efficient and structured way to access Reddit’s vast content library through the Reddit Data API. This allows Google to enhance its products and services by incorporating Reddit content and to improve the training of its AI models using Reddit data.
The primary goal of this partnership is to make it easier for users to find, discover, and engage with relevant content and communities on Reddit through Google Search. For Google, integrating Reddit content can provide richer, community-driven insights and discussions, which can be particularly valuable for search queries that benefit from diverse perspectives and real-life experiences.
Reddit is not only partnering with Google. Recently, it also struck a deal with OpenAI, allowing the AI company to train its systems on Reddit’s extensive collection of posts. While the financial details of this partnership remain undisclosed, it’s speculated that a recent $60 million deal with an unnamed AI company could be related.
The impact of these deals is already visible. For instance, searching for “Google and Reddit deal” on Google might yield a Reddit post before any news articles. This shift has practical implications, as seen when a Google AI overview mistakenly suggested putting glue on pizza, a bizarre recommendation sourced from an 11-year-old Reddit thread.
As a result, users can expect to see more Reddit content in their Google search results. While this can enhance the search experience by providing a broader range of user-generated content, it also means sifting through potentially irrelevant or outdated Reddit posts. The hope is that this integration will balance the informative and community-driven nature of Reddit with the authoritative and structured content typically found on Google, without leading to an increase in misleading or trivial recommendations.
