What I Have Learned from Building a Subreddit from 0 to 4000+ Subscribers
It works, only if you do it right 🏆
About 7 months ago, I started my own subreddit.
I had one clear vision: Create a space for clutter-free updates on what is going on in the SEO for AI / GEO / AEO industry that will cut through the noise.
Here’s the subreddit itself: r/SEO_for_AI
To be sure, I have the whole team of Reddit experts who are much more knowledgeable than I am and manage subreddits and Reddit marketing campaigns for a variety of clients.
But I was determined to do it myself.
I strongly believe that a manager/director/founder needs to do something personally to be able to better relate to and manage a team of professionals.
>>>> Please JOIN ME to discuss this Reddit experiment LIVE on LinkedIn
Here’s what I learned from the process:
1. It damn works for capturing rankings and getting cited by LLMs
If you allow your subreddit to grow organically and naturally, you will soon notice it ranking everywhere. It doesn’t happen quickly because Reddit does have a “sandbox” for new subreddits. You need to build trust with both Reddit and Google by consistently providing true value.
After about 5 times of managing my subreddit, I started noticing it show up in Google (Reddit stacks):
In AI Overviews:
In People Also Ask boxes
2. It is hard and takes time (especially if you ban spam) + consistency
It may not take years (judging from my experiment), but it is going to take a lot of patience. In the first couple of months, you will likely be the only one talking there, earning trust.
If you remain consistent and focus on providing value, the real magic will happen when Reddit starts showing you in other people’s feeds. It is much more valuable than ranking, to be honest, because those Redditors will engage and subscribe (not just read, which is what most Google searchers are coming for).
Ranking may and will fluctuate. Reddit’s organic visibility will be consistent (as long as you remain active), driving engaged members of your community.
Then you will see spam arriving. And here you will have a tough choice: Allow it (and boost your subreddit’s engagement) or remove everything that is fake (trust me, as a mod, you will quickly learn to tell one from the other.
I chose the first option and ended up vigorously removing threads that had one purpose: To get a self-serving mention either in the post or in comments. I started banning members who repeatedly attempted to do it again.
3. It takes REAL expertise
Unless you have a deep understanding of the topic through actual experience and expertise, it won’t work. You cannot just share links or fun/filler content and hope that you will be able to succeed.
That’s why, when managing clients’ subreddits, we always insist on a dedicated person from the company who actually knows the topic well.
4. Most competitors give up before they see it work
This is good news.
I saw lots of people trying to replicate what I was doing. Most of them already gave up on trying because of how hard work it requires to yield any meaningful results.
I talk about Reddit a lot btw: