Reddit keyword research: find buyer threads and turn them into briefs
Find the words buyers use, sort them by intent, and turn the best threads into content briefs.
Short answer
- Who it is for
- SEO and content people, and founders doing their own SEO, who want keywords that sound like buyers instead of tools.
- Safest first move
- Search Reddit for your buyer's problem, not your category, and copy the exact phrases people use.
- What to avoid
- Turning thread titles straight into blog titles, and picking phrases by search volume alone.
Keyword tools tell you what people type into Google. Reddit tells you why. A thread titled "I keep overselling on Etsy and I'm losing my mind" gives you the problem, the words, the mood and, in the replies, every tool people tried.
Reddit keyword research is collecting those phrases, sorting them by what the person wants, and deciding what each one deserves: a page, a reply or nothing. The last step turns the best clusters into content briefs.
By Anthony Riera, founder and operator of Rankhog. Updated . Written from what I see running Rankhog's own Reddit accounts, with Reddit's rules linked where a claim depends on them.
Sort every phrase by what the person wants
| Intent | Sounds like | What it deserves | Avoid |
|---|---|---|---|
| Problem | Sounds like"I keep losing receipts", "how do I stop overselling" | What it deservesA how-to page, and replies in live threads | AvoidPitching a tool before explaining the fix |
| Recommendation | Sounds like"best X for Y", "what do you use for X" | What it deservesA comparison page with honest picks | AvoidA list where you are always number one |
| Alternative | Sounds like"X alternative", "switching from X" | What it deservesAn alternatives page built on the reasons people leave | AvoidFeature tables with no reasons in them |
| Review | Sounds like"is X worth it", "X review reddit" | What it deservesA plain review or a pricing FAQ | AvoidPretending to be an outside reviewer |
| How-to | Sounds like"how to set up X with Y" | What it deservesDocs or a tutorial | AvoidPages for things the product can't do |
The playbook
- 1
Start from problems, not keywords
Write five problems your product solves, in the buyer's words. Those are your seeds. Category names like "inventory management software" find vendors talking to vendors. Problems find buyers.
Example
Seeds for a receipts app: "losing receipts", "receipts at tax time", "expense report takes forever", "receipts from clients", "scan receipts on my phone".
- 2
Search Reddit two ways
Use Reddit's own search for each seed, sorted by top and by new, and Google with "reddit" on the end. Google finds the threads that already rank. Reddit search finds the fresh ones. Paste titles, and the best phrases from replies, into a sheet with the link.
Example
"losing receipts reddit" on Google gives you the threads that rank. A Reddit search for "receipts" inside r/smallbusiness gives you this month's complaints.
- 3
Sort every phrase by intent
Tag each phrase with one intent from the table above. Most of your list will be problems. A handful will be recommendations and alternatives, and those sit closest to a purchase.
Example
"what app do you use for receipts?" is a recommendation. "[tool] is too expensive for a team of three" is an alternative with a pricing doubt in it. Tag both.
- 4
Check demand, then judge the group
Run the phrases through a keyword tool. Many Reddit phrasings show almost no volume, because each person words it differently. Group close variants and judge the group. A small cluster with clear buying intent beats a big vague term.
Example
"receipt app for freelancers" may show close to nothing on its own. Add "freelance expense tracker", "receipt scanner for self employed" and their cousins, and the group tells a better story.
- 5
Give each cluster one home
Every cluster gets one home: an existing page to improve, a new page, live threads to answer, or nothing. Nothing is a real answer. Some threads are interesting and still not your business.
Example
"best receipt app" becomes a comparison page. "losing receipts" becomes a how-to page plus replies. A rant about accounting software gets nothing.
- 6
Brief the page from the threads
Before anyone writes a page, write the brief. The template is below. The threads give you the questions, objections and examples the page has to cover, and they show you what the pages ranking now leave out.
Example
A brief built from three good threads often has a section none of the ranking pages cover, because buyers ask it and vendors don't think to.
A content brief template you can copy
One brief per page. Fill every line from the threads, with links.
- Target search, and the cluster of phrasings it covers.
- Intent, from the table above.
- The reader in one sentence: who they are and what just went wrong.
- Questions from the threads, in their words, each with a link.
- Objections and doubts people raised in the replies.
- Examples, numbers or stories the page should include, with sources.
- What the pages ranking now leave out.
- Where the product fits, and where it honestly does not.
- The one thing the reader should do at the end.
Measure it
Log these for every reply or post. A plain sheet is enough.
- Phrases collected per seed, with links to the threads.
- Clusters mapped to a page, a reply or nothing.
- Pages shipped from a brief, and their Search Console impressions after 28 and 56 days.
- New Reddit phrasings that show up as queries in Search Console. Feed them back into the sheet.