Key Takeaways
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- The Google SERP (Search Engine Results Page) appears to be including increased User-Generated Content
- The UGC appears to be focused on longer-tail keywords and queries
- Google is relying on third-party forums, like Reddit and Quora, to self-moderate, thereby displaying content that has been vetted by the forums themselves
- For brands, there is an opportunity to leverage forum-based content for their own site-based content as well as interact directly in-platform, as based on brand comfortability
Introduction
The Google SERP (Search Engine Results Page) is an ever-changing landscape that displays information for users based on the query searched. A typical search query will render both paid and organic search results ranked by relevance and quality to the searcher and their initial query.
Since the November 2023 Core Update, Google appears to have begun to heavily emphasize “forum” results from sites like Reddit and Quora in its Search Engine Results Pages primarily due to their content being relevant to the search query. Whereas previously search engine results may have been dominated by content from niche blogs, particularly for long-tail keyword queries, there appears to be a move towards user-generated forum content where the poster is anonymous.
These user-generated forum results can be featured in several ways:
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- Regular Web Listings: Sometimes, individual threads or posts from Quora and Reddit are indexed and appear as regular search results. These listings typically include a title, a brief snippet of the post, and a link to the specific page. Sometimes these types of results will be followed by a list of links to other similar discussion threads on the site as well.
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- Discussions and Forums Results: Reddit and Quora dominate “Discussion and Forums” results, a carousel specifically catering to user-generated forum discussions. This carousel will surface several threads from various forums, or from a single site, while also presenting users an option to “See more” and explore other forum links. By giving these types of forums their own SERP feature, Google has made it clear that user-generated forums will continue to be a part of the search landscape. QUORquora
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- Featured Snippets: If a particular post or answer from Quora or Reddit directly addresses a popular question or topic, it might be featured as a snippet at the top of the SERP. This is less common but can happen if the content is particularly well-written and relevant.
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- Knowledge Panel: While Quora and Reddit are less likely to be featured in Knowledge Panels, their content can contribute to the overall understanding of the topic displayed in the Knowledge Panel if they are a source of valuable information.
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- People Also Ask: Posts from Quora and Reddit might sometimes be referenced in the “People Also Ask” section if they contain relevant answers to related questions.
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- Local Pack and Local Results: In searches with local intent, Quora and Reddit may appear if users have asked questions related to local information and there are relevant discussions or answers on these platforms.
Typically, these forum answers appear on longer tail keywords and questions and are displayed just below the fold on page 1 of the SERP.
The Rise of User-Generated Content (UGC) on Google
In a report recently published by Sistrix, it was discovered that since the November 2023 Core Update, Reddit.com saw a 22.9% increase in search visibility while Quora.com saw a 15.9% increase. Furthermore, according to Search Engine Land, between July 2023 and July 2024, Reddit’s organic traffic increased by 253.3% while Quora’s organic traffic increased by 133.4%. This is to say nothing of other smaller forums that also appear to be gaining in visibility like avforums.com, http://www.ycombinator.com and stackoverflow.com.
(Source: Sistrix)
Google’s History with Forums
Google is no stranger to user-generated content on forums. Google Answers (2002), Google Questions and Answers (2007) and Google Question Hub (2019) were all attempts to capitalize on UGC, historically. The downfall of these forums was spam and fake accounts in that Google simply could not moderate them properly and over time they became nearly useless. Now, though. Google has seemingly accepted that other sites with human moderation are better suited to host these types of forums and appears to be looking to leverage this type of content in their SERPs.
Reddit and Quora specifically, have communities that self-moderate, thereby keeping out bad actors and increasing the quality and authenticity of the content. They also have the capabilities to host content for an exceedingly long time, which can allow Google to surface that content in SERPs as needed. Additionally, Reddit and Quora have become search engines in their own right, with many users turning to those platforms to find answers to their queries. As a result, when those users do use Google, they are more likely to find forum results useful, instead of confusing.
But It’s Still User-Generated
Most importantly, User-Generated Content is exactly that: generated by users, not AI. Google is struggling to regulate the use of AI-generated content in SERPS and thus, has begun relying on user-generated content due to its authenticity and human-made nature. Since Reddit and Quora are relatively effective at keeping out spam and bots, Google feels that it can “trust” the users on these sites, to an extent.
How to Leverage Forum Content in the Future
This doesn’t appear to be temporary. In the past, some SEOs speculated that this increased reliance on forums would be rolled back; however, it is now clear that Google is standing strong on this decision. Forums are historically difficult to manipulate for SEO purposes and moderation tends to shut down any “gaming” of the system. However, there is an opportunity for brands and employees to interact with users on forums, answering brand questions or contributing the industry discussions. This can be an effective way to raise brand awareness and perception.
And while traditional SEO authority builders like link authority cannot be passed; Google’s reliance on forum content, particularly for long-tail content presents an opportunity for brands to seed content in a natural way within forum content.
Further, Since Google is relying so heavily on forums to answer long-tail questions, site owners can try a couple of additional SEO strategies:
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- Continue to focus on head terms, as these are typically not dominated by user-generated content. If your brand does not rely heavily on long-tail, question-based terms, this change may have a lessened impact on your rankings.
- Fight for those long-tail queries by building out deep, robust FAQ sections on your site. These FAQs should be authoritative, trustworthy, and highly relevant to compete with the plethora of forum posts out there.
- You can even look to popular forum posts to find the types of topics and questions users are asking.
In Google’s ever-present mission to be an Answer Engine for users’ search queries, leveraging third-party forum content may help to provide searchers with appropriate information. The use of the third-party forums allows Google to leverage content without the need to moderate the content, relying on these sites to do so on their own. Knowing that Google will continue to prioritize this content, brands should look to capitalize where possible either through research or active measures.
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