This Week in Reddit: Google vs Yelp (Reddit Subtext)

Welcome to this week’s edition of ReddVisible.

See what you missed last week.

Alright, let’s jump right in to this week’s Reddit headlines….

This Week in Reddit

Here are some of the top stories about Reddit this week:

• Martech’s Reddit Primer: Provides some good stats on current Reddit demographics and best practices for marketing on Reddit.

• No Sympathy for Yelp: the r/SEO community doesn’t have much sympathy for Yelp in it’s new lawsuit against Google (see my full take below).

• Reddit Goes Down Briefly: As an increasingly critical player for digital information, lots of people are starting to care when Reddit goes down (even briefly).

• Weird Reddit Niches: This article highlights a subreddit that recommends you books based on paintings, one of the many examples of the quirky rabbit holes Reddit cultivates.

Yelp vs Google: Reddit Subtext

Google is facing another lawsuit, this time from longtime local media pillar Yelp.

Their angle is that Google Search is prioritizing itself in an illegal monopoly, specifically in local search.

Many are cheering this decision, but Yelp isn’t exactly the poster child for altruistic competition.

One could argue that Yelp effectively holds local businesses hostage as well, with aggressive sales and marketing (paying extra to have your logo included, for example).

And which platform is taking a HUGE bite out of their search visibility?

Reddit.

This feels a bit more like a case of sour grapes between one established monopolist and one aspiring henchman.

Google found a new date. A new junior partner.

Granted, Google is self serving and IS prefacing their own products.

Reddit should take note as well. As quickly as Google gives, it can take away.

That said, the DIFFERENCE here (IMO) is that Reddit has a true platform and network effect. Reddit’s incremental (but consistent) rise started before Google turned on the traffic hose.

What is Yelp without Google? Not much.

But Reddit without Google… they likely survive (with all those new users, too).

And, as I discussed in NMP, I have a contrarian view:

Could Google survive without Reddit? I think Reddit is the sleeper pick here.

Reddit Software & Tools

The Reddit ecosystem for tools, software, and related apps is particularly underdeveloped for the #3 platform in the world.

I’m tracking the new tools that pop on my radar here:

• NotifyGPT: Not specifically a Reddit tool, but Reddit is one of it’s strongest use cases for social listening.

• KWatch.io: An all source UGC social listening and monitoring platform, includes Reddit.

• GummySearch: The first dedicated Reddit intel suite I’ve seen, great for monitoring communities, tracking keywords, and doing more advanced keyword research.

• Karmalyzer: I’m an early user of this “Reddit health” app. Still early, but I love the concept of monitoring this.

• RedditInsights.ai: Found this one, a good way to group and approximate topic interest from Reddit. A super scraper.

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I’m “all in” on Reddit right now as the fastest way to acquire users and build community.

As such, my course is a fluid, evolving project. I’m adding new modules weekly!

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That’s it for this week!