Comment Search Highlights Updates to Reddit’s Search Functionality

Reddit detailed several improvements to the search functionality on its platform, highlighted by the global rollout of comment search. The company explained in a blog post, “At Reddit, one thing we think about every day is how we can make it easier for people to find and engage in communities, content and conversations. Over the past year, we’ve been steadily improving and updating our search experiences to support the millions of posts, communities and people that make up the platform, helping people find and engage in the topics that matter most to them.” Comment search began rolling out globally Thursday on desktop, and it can be accessed by clicking the search bar from home feed. Reddit said everything on its platform—comments, communities, posts and users—is now searchable. Reddit said comment search was one of the top requests when it surveyed users about improvements they wanted to see in search, and more than 26,000 Redditors used the feature to scan over 5 billion comments in its initial testing. The platform’s new search interface features a simpler design, with posts prioritized over other types of content and a streamlined results page. The platform also added a Safe Search toggle. Reddit said the number of Redditors using its search function was up 20% in the first quarter of 2022 compared with the fourth quarter of 2021. Finally, the platform took steps to improve the relevancy of results it delivers via search, updating its machine learning to prioritize user intention. Reddit said it focused on: Allowing for less restrictive matching: Reddit found that 100% of a query doesn’t have to match the text of a post to return relevant results, and incorporating that change helped lead to a 60% increase in results for queries that previously didn’t receive results.Relying on user patterns to improve results: The company claims to have a better understanding of user intentions when they search for something on Reddit, offering as an example, “If someone is searching for a topic that a lot of other people are searching for, we'll automatically sort their results to prioritize the newest content to make sure the results are fresh.”Incorporating signals for post results: Reddit looks at users’ clicks and interactions on search results as signals of what they may find valuable, adding, “If 30 other people clicked on the fourth post result when they searched for ‘succulents,’ the next time someone else searched for ‘succulents,’ we are more likely to show the fourth post at the top position in results.”

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Comment Search Highlights Updates to Reddit’s Search Functionality

The platform also updated its machine learning to prioritize user intention

David Cohen

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David Cohen