Forum content in Google Search: Reddit shows up in almost 84% of results

Ahrefs analyzed 145 million U.S. Google search results and found that Google now shows its "Discussions and forums" block in 11.7% of search results — 16.93 million instances. The block surfaces pages where users ask each other questions and share experiences, and the vast majority of it comes from a single source.

According to the analysis, Reddit appears in 83.9% of the block's global occurrences and 87.8% of U.S. results, averaging 1.29 links per search page. Per a report from Glen Allsopp, Ahrefs' head of marketing strategy and research, and data specialist Xibeijia Guan, just three sites — Reddit, Facebook (38.3%) and Quora (32%) — account for 76.75% of all links in the block. The remaining spots go to niche platforms like JustAnswer (8.2%) and Mayo Clinic (3.3%).

The finding sends a clear signal to SEO and content marketing professionals: Google is now surfacing genuine user discussions alongside official websites in top positions. A brand with no discussion at all on Reddit or similar platforms is shut out of this visible real estate entirely — even if its own website is perfectly optimized.

The Ahrefs team expects the trend to only intensify in the coming years, as users increasingly seek out real people's opinions even within AI-powered search engines. That means brands now need to actively manage their reputation on forums and social platforms, not just their own web pages — adding an important new layer to traditional SEO strategy.