4 ways to use Semrush to discover Reddit opportunities

Reddit has quickly become a pillar of search everywhere optimization and a powerful channel for brand awareness, SEO, and content ideation. 

With Google’s Discussions and forums SERP feature growing in prevalence and LLMs increasingly citing Reddit pages, it’s clear this platform is influencing how people search and what they trust.

But while Reddit’s value is rising, many marketers still treat it like a black box. 

With the right tools – like Semrush – you can stop lurking and start leveraging Reddit to:

• Find content gaps.
• Reclaim branded SEO territory.
• Engage where your audience is already talking.

1. Find branded search queries that include ‘reddit’

You can use the Semrush Keyword Magic Tool to quickly uncover where your brand is being searched for by Reddit users. 

Simply search for your brand name + a “reddit” modifier in the Keyword Magic Tool, like:

• “Nike reddit.” 
• “Sony Reddit.” 

The surfaced keywords indicate that searchers who prefer Reddit results are looking for:

• First-hand experience.
• Honest opinions.
• Help related to a brand. 

Semrush lets you see the search volume of these terms so you can see where the highest interest lies. 

These insights can help you:

• Address potential customer service issues.
• Spot potential content gaps.
• Maybe even create testimonials from positive threads. 

If you use the AI-powered domain personalization, you will get little blue bubbles next to each keyword showing you where your entered domain ranks. 

In the example above, you can see Nike doesn’t rank for most of the keywords.

This isn’t super surprising since the user intent is clearly to find Reddit content. However, their closest page is a help page, “How Do I Find the Right Size and Fit,” which doesn’t contain any brand-to-brand sizing support. 

Nike likely avoids mentioning other brands on its site, but consumers would find that information incredibly helpful. 

If Nike created that content, it would likely rank well and build trust with searchers.

Dig deeper: Reddit for SMBs – A hidden SEO and engagement goldmine

2. Analyze Google’s Discussions and forums SERP feature

Reddit threads are increasingly featured in Google’s Discussions and forums SERP feature, and I’m seeing this SERP feature more and more. 

To find keywords a specific domain ranks for that triggers discussions and forums in the SERP:

• Head into Organic Research.
• Enter your or a competitor’s domain.
• Filter by the Discussions and forums SERP feature. 

From this same view, you can filter for queries where your domain currently holds top-ranking positions.

What will this tell you?

That your domain is relevant and authoritative enough to add value to a Reddit discussion.

You can filter even further to remove your brand terms if you want to focus on non-brand keywords triggering Discussions and Forums. 

Once you see which queries show discussions and forums, take the time to see what questions are being asked.

• What responses and advice get the most upvotes?
• What kind of language do users use?
• What is their sentiment? 

Once you have a feel for that, you can either create content that answers these questions better or contribute thoughtfully to the threads with links to helpful resources.

Dig deeper: The rise of forums – Why Google prefers them and how to adapt

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3. Outranking Reddit: Reclaiming your branded SEO turf

Semrush also helps you identify where Reddit is outranking you for your own branded terms. 

You may be surprised at how often this actually happens. 

Add Reddit.com as one of your 20 allocated competitors in your Semrush Position Tracking project.

Next, use the Overview report to find terms where Reddit is beating you for branded terms.

Open those threads and figure out why Reddit ranks higher. 

• Is it the personal stories? 
• The volume of responses? 
• The freshness? 

You can then go back and optimize your own pages based on those insights. 

Maybe it’s time to add:

• A detailed FAQ.
• User testimonials.
• Or a more in-depth breakdown. 

You can also consider participating in the subreddit if it makes sense, being transparent and helpful, never promotional.

The same applies to non-branded terms. 

Look at where Reddit is winning for high-intent, general queries related to your space. 

Again, if you focus on keywords where you currently hold AI Overviews or Page 1 visibility, you’ll know you’re highly relevant to the conversation. 

Reddit threads often outrank brands because they offer a mix of:

• Opinions.
• Comparisons.
• First-person experiences.
• Actionable troubleshooting. 

You can counter this by publishing expert, structured, and regularly updated content that delivers more value than fragmented forum threads.

Dig deeper: Reddit – Your new online reputation challenge

4. Discovering content Opportunities and filling gaps

For discovering what content a domain is missing entirely (or just grossly unoptimized), Semrush’s Keyword Gap tool is invaluable. 

Compare your domain to Reddit.com and use advanced include filters to narrow the massive dataset down to just topics you want to be seen as an authority on. 

That shows you where Reddit is serving audiences that your content doesn’t yet address. 

These are content ideas that can be turned into:

• FAQs.
• Blog posts.
• Help articles.
• Video scripts.

You can also make use of People Also Ask and related question features in SERPs, where Reddit content dominates.

Semrush lets you extract these clusters so you can build comprehensive resources that address all related questions on a given topic, helping your page compete against or complement Reddit in the SERPs.

Dig deeper: How the Google-Reddit partnership impacts brand management

Turning Reddit into a strategic advantage

If you decide to engage directly on Reddit, remember the golden rules:

Be transparent and authentic.

• Focus on being helpful.
• Understand each subreddit’s norms.
• Never be salesy.

Redditors can spot an ad from a mile away – and they value honest, useful participation.

That said, brands investing in Reddit are already seeing returns.

• “Reddit is one of the remaining bastions of ‘truth’ on the internet,” says James Cadwaller, co-founder and CEO of Profound. 
• “Recent Profound research data shows that AI answer engines rely heavily on Reddit content as a primary ingredient to build their responses. This is not only true for one model. We notice that for all models, including ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and Perplexity, Reddit is a consistent primary cited source.”
• “It’s clear that if you are focusing on AI Optimization strategies, Reddit is a good place to spend energy.”
• “Some of Profound’s customers are now beginning to develop dedicated organic (and paid) marketing strategies focused only on Reddit, and it is increasing their AI visibility significantly.”

In 2025, Reddit is the internet’s front page for real opinions. With the research and tools above, you don’t have to treat it like the wild west. 

Stop lurking – and start using Reddit as a strategic lever for SEO, brand visibility, and AI discoverability.