In this link building strategy, you will learn about good Reddit backlinks for SEO.
Reddit link building is a powerful marketing strategy that you can use to increase exposure for your content, build good backlinks to your website or blog, and create connections with the right target audience for your business.
As you know, backlinks are one of the main ranking factors for Google, Yahoo, and Bing, and this guide will show you how to use Reddit to build high-quality backlinks that can increase your website's domain authority and page authority for search engine optimization.
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What Are Reddit Backlinks?
Reddit backlinks are any link to your website or blog from the Reddit platform. A Reddit backlink can be a direct link from a Link Post, in a subreddit with a URL in a Text Post, or as a backlink in Comments.
Reddit can be an easy way to get more good backlinks and targeted traffic to your website; however, it's essential to note that Reddit has strict rules about what type of links are allowed and how often backlinks can be published for digital marketing purposes.
If you don't follow Reddit's community rules and simply try to manipulate the platform to build links, you risk having your account banned. The tips below will help you protect your Reddit profile and content while using it for effective Reddit link building.
Note: When you're done reading the Reddit link building strategy below, you can also check out this other article on improving your Reddit SEO. It outlines all the ways you can optimize your posts to rank higher on the platform itself and in search engines for better visibility.
Reddit Link Building Strategy
1. Create a Reddit account
The first method to find out how to get Reddit backlinks for SEO is to create an account on the platform.
You can go to https://www.reddit.com and click on the "Sign Up" button at the top of the page. At this point, you will be asked to give an email address and a password to set up your new account.
2. Be an active Reddit member for 30 days
The second step in an effective Reddit link building strategy is to use the website for at least 30 days before posting any type of backlink.
These first 30 days are critical to establishing a trusted profile on Reddit. The fact is that Reddit moderators don't like marketers using the platform and will protect it at all costs by banning your account if you post links too quickly or too frequently.
Therefore, if you are seriously considering using Reddit to get backlinks for SEO, you need to prove to the Reddit community that you are there to add value to the platform and not just to market your website.
Additionally, you'll need a 30-day account history and a Karma score of about 50 to use tip #4 below.
3. Accumulate karma before posting Reddit backlinks
Karma is the backbone of Reddit. And you need to accumulate as much Karma as possible to maintain a strong profile on this social media platform.
Essentially, Karma is a user rating system that measures your participation and engagement on Reddit using a proprietary algorithm. Karma increases as your posts and comments get positive ratings and decreases as they get negative ratings.
The key thing to remember here is that the higher your Reddit Karma score, the more other users trust your posts, comments, and links. In other words, Karma is directly related to your user reputation.
For the first 30 days, you'll be expected to participate in the Reddit community by commenting on and encouraging other users' posts. You can also submit your own content, but you must ensure that it is high quality, non-commercial and relevant to your target subreddit.
Your goal for the first month should be to reach 50 karma points so you can create your own subreddit, which we'll talk about later.
4. Create your own subreddit for backlinks
If you followed tips #3 and #2 above in this Reddit link building strategy, your account will be in good standing to create your own subreddit for backlinks.
A subreddit is a Reddit forum that you create that is dedicated to a specific topic that you moderate. Other Reddit users can also contribute to your subreddit by commenting, upvoting, or downvoting, and it's a great way to create a community around your content to increase your brand's visibility.
Subreddits are also a great way to get quality traffic and backlinks to your website. And you can utilize them to market your products or services without worrying about another Redditor (i.e. moderator) deleting your posts.
Once your account has reached 30 days and you've accumulated enough karma, you'll see a "Create a Community" option appear in your dashboard. You'll then need to come up with a unique name for your subreddit, fill in the required data fields, and start using your new subreddit to promote your website.
A good strategy is to publish original articles and adapt existing blog posts to your subreddit by embedding backlinks in the content. You can choose to do contextual links or standard URL backlinks to diversify your website's incoming anchor text ratio.
5. Choose the best subreddits for link building
The next step in creating Reddit backlinks for SEO is to choose the best subreddits in your niche for your link building campaign. It is estimated that there are over 2.8 million subreddits and about 130,000 active communities. So you can definitely find some good places to target your content.
When choosing the best subreddits for Reddit link building, it is crucial to consider relevance and quality. It is better to participate in a small number of subreddits that can attract the right type of visitors to your website than to post links on several subreddits that are ignored by active users.
To find pertinent subreddits, use the search function on Reddit and look for target subreddits related to your niche. For example, if you're in the fitness industry, you can check out /r/Fitness, /r/Health, or /r/Diet. Once you've located some good subreddits, it's time to start posting.
6. Keep a clean Reddit profile
If you're new to Reddit link building, you'll want to do everything you can to keep your account safe for digital marketing purposes. The best way to do this is to comment on other Reddit threads without posting links to keep your profile clean.
This strategy will also help you increase your Karma score and avoid being banned from Reddit if a moderator decides to check your account. Moderators regularly inspect profiles that exhibit common spammy marketing-related behavior, such as posting too many links to the same website.
To ensure that your account looks good during an inspection, it's best to regularly comment on other threads so that your Reddit profile has lots of replies and/or text-based posts. A good rule of thumb is to have at least 15-20 posts and replies for every backlink you create on Reddit. This will keep your profile clean without a ton of links showing up in the profile feed.
7. Only post backlinks to relevant content
When posting backlinks on Reddit, you should add value to the conversation by only creating backlinks that are relevant to the discussion. Never post a link to an article or video that is not directly related to the thread topic or another user's comment.
If you just drop links on Reddit without caring about the topic, you'll annoy members, get downvoted, and potentially be banned from the platform. And in some instances, it doesn't take much to get removed from the platform.
So take the time to read the threads before posting and only add a backlink if it is very relevant and adds value to the discussion.
8. Repost blog posts on Reddit with a backlink
If you have a blog, you can easily repost content to a popular subreddit with a backlink, as long as the content is useful to users. However, you shouldn't come across as being too self-promotional or adding too many links in the content. Otherwise, your post could be considered spam and deleted by a Reddit moderator.
A great way to use this blog reposting strategy to drive traffic to your website is to post a copy of your blog post to a subreddit relevant to your niche and include a link at the end pointing to the source URL.
This link building strategy is widely accepted on Reddit because you add value to the subreddit without forcing users to leave the platform to get more information.
Another strategy you can use here to increase upvotes and engagement on the post is to offer to answer any questions people have about the content in the comments section. This method of building a community can help you build more Karma and encourage people to look forward to the future content you publish on the platform because you are helpful. It can also lead to increased direct traffic to your website when users search for your brand on search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing.
9. Find subreddits that encourage link sharing
Not all subreddits are equal when it comes to link sharing. Some subreddits have rules against posting links, while others encourage it or only allow link posts.
The trick here is to search the various subreddits and threads relevant to your niche and find those that encourage link sharing. Your goal should be to find 3-5 of these opportunities to post links in multiple subreddits where they are well received by members.
10. Post more content that earns the most "upvotes"
As you start to become a more engaged user of Reddit, you'll notice which types of content get the most upvotes and comments. In this case, you should create similar types of content to post on the platform to increase the visibility of your website and brand.
You can monitor the engagement on your own posts and comments to see which content you create gets the best feedback on Reddit. You can also use the search function on Reddit to find popular topics in every subreddit around your niche.
You can filter subreddit topics by "Top" and narrow the time period to "Today", "This week", "This month", "This year" and "All times" to get ideas on what type of content works best on Reddit in your niche. You can see this article here about the Reddit keyword research tool to find frequently used keywords on Reddit and then target them on your website.
More Reddit Backlinking Tips
Here are a few more things to keep in mind when link building on Reddit:
- Stay away from spamming or posting links too many times in a single subreddit.
- Take the time to interact with other users and build a reputation before you link.
- When you post links, add some value with a nicely written and informative comment.
- Be sure your content is high quality and relevant to the subreddit in which you post.
- Always be sure to read the subreddit rules before you post. Each subreddit has different rules about what is and isn't allowed.
- Be patient, as link building results on Reddit can take time.
Here are some things to avoid when building links through posts on Reddit:
- Don't just post links to your website. This can be considered spam and get you banned from some subreddits. As an alternative, post links to other valuable content on the Internet in addition to your own URLs.
- Don't use automated tools and don't submit the same content repeatedly.
- Don't harass other users or post abusive texts.
- Don't try to game the system by artificially inflating the number of votes or using multiple accounts to get your own content voted.
Is Reddit Good for Backlinks?
Reddit is good for backlinks because you can post your website's links in targeted subreddits. Reddit backlinks can help your content be found by people who are directly interested in your business and increase the number of organic backlinks your site gets for SEO.
Also, Reddit is good for backlinks because it has a strict content policy that makes it one of the most trusted websites on the internet. Content and links are highly moderated to secure the overall integrity of the platform. Because of this trust factor, Reddit has one of the highest domain authority scores for SEO based on Moz's ranking factors.
Do Links on Reddit Help SEO?
Links on Reddit help SEO as they add to the overall number of links in your website's backlink profile. Also, when content is well-referenced on Reddit, it's good for SEO because it attracts more organic backlinks from other website owners.
Reddit can be a great resource for off-page SEO. The site has a large community of users who like to share and link to quality content. And since Reddit is a very popular site with over 48 million users, your links can get great exposure to the right target audience.
Are Reddit Backlinks Dofollow?
Reddit backlinks are dofollow after receiving a certain number of positive votes. However, Reddit backlinks are initially nofollow links to protect the system from unnatural link building strategies through user generated content.
The precise number of upvotes a Reddit post must get to turn the embedded URL into a dofollow link is not clear. Some users report that a post can get as few as 5-7 upvotes to turn a link into a dofollow, while others say it's more like 10-20 upvotes. Some SEO experts even report that Reddit no longer changes nofollow links to dofollow links after receiving a certain number of upvotes.
Regardless of whether a Reddit link is dofollow or not, you should still use this website to build social media links, as it can drive quality traffic to your website and increase your brand awareness. Also, if one of your posts gets a lot of upvotes, it has the potential to go viral, which can lead to all sorts of positive signals for off-page SEO.
Therefore, the direct SEO value of a dofollow link should not be your only concern when it comes to digital marketing with Reddit.
Reddit Backlinks for SEO Summary
This was an overview of Reddit backlinks for SEO, and I hope you enjoyed it.
As you've discovered, Reddit link building needs to be approached in a specific way in order to protect your account and backlinks from moderation on the platform. However, if you use the tips outlined in this article, you can improve your chances of getting quality backlinks for your website and increase your content's exposure to your target audience, which can lead to better SEO metrics for your site to help it rank better in search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing.
