Absolutely. Aside from programming problems, “product/service reddit” is probably my most commonly used Google search query.
Whenever I’m looking for information about a product, service, restaurant, etc. one of the first things I look for is a discussion on Reddit. As much as I hate what Reddit has become, it still is the best place I’ve found for discussion from locals or enthusiasts that provide a much more accurate description of a product/restaurant/etc. than user reviews or ad filled blogs.
I use Google for this since Reddit’s search is garbage.
If you're adding "reddit" to the search query that's a bit different, in that case you're explicitly looking for results on reddit. Penalizing reddit in the rankings shouldn't change this use case.
I was more thinking about generic search queries that have reddit in the results. In my experience that doesn't happen very often.
I just don't think reddit gets a significant amount of traffic from search results so penalizing it in the rankings won't have a big effect.
Yes, I only end up on Reddit via Google searches, looking for the answer to a question.
Then when looking at the discussion from the search result, I'll sometimes see other topics that look interesting.
Unfortunately the web experience is so offputting, and so weirdly discontinuous, that it's hard to stick around and enjoy it. It's high friction and reminds me how much time I'm wasting by it being so clunky. Other interesting places are easier to get into without the same feeling.
The way the other topics shown (that aren't the answer to my question) are the most recent ones is offputting as well. It means no context around the time of the discussion I was looking at, no chance of seeing related discussions from the tine, and if I land in the same subreddit from multiple searches, no variety to show me why the subreddit is interesting.
So I've never felt interested enough to stick around and create a Reddit account, and my only visits are from Google searches that occasionally land on Reddit.
