Article's Content
Article's Content
The biggest mistake B2B marketing executives make is thinking they can afford to ignore Reddit.
They can’t.
Reddit holds over 8,300 top-3 SERP positions for “best [software]” keywords.
72% of tech decision-makers use it for peer reviews.
Its content is cited millions of times by Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity.
And a recent partnership with G2 now connects Reddit’s community-driven conversations to the review platform enterprise buyers have relied on for years.
At the same time, the buyer’s journey has splintered.
Today’s B2B buyers don’t follow a tidy path from awareness to purchase. They move between Reddit, ChatGPT, Claude, niche Slack channels, review sites, YouTube, and LinkedIn, often simultaneously, and often before they ever visit your website.
The journey is split across channels brands don’t control. And Reddit now sits at the center of the split.
This article will help you understand how Reddit shapes B2B buying decisions across search, AI, and G2 — and how to enter conversations on Reddit faster with paid media.
How Reddit Shapes B2B Buying Decisions — From SERPs to AI to G2
Stubborn B2B marketers stuck in 2017 still see Reddit as just another siloed channel. But Reddit’s impact on the B2B buyer journey now operates across three interconnected layers: organic search, AI model training, and a formal integration with the largest B2B software review platform in the world, G2.
Reddit Dominates the SERPs for “Best [Industry] Software” Variations
Reddit currently holds over 8,300 top-3 SERP positions across “best [software]” keyword variations, including:
- 2,429 for “best…tool”
- 2,200 for “best…tools”
- 1,585 for “best…platform”
- 1,585 for “best…software”
- 550 for “best…platforms”
Nearly all that growth has happened since mid-2023.
And before you relegate this to a brand-awareness conversation, look at the high-value B2B comparison terms within these “best of” categories. Reddit ranks in a top-3 position for 471 “best CRM” keywords, 118 “best payroll” keywords, and 78 “best ERP” keywords.
This is what your buyers search when they build a shortlist — and Reddit threads are giving them exactly what they’re looking for: side-by-side comparisons, real-world trade-offs, and answers to the questions they won’t ask on a demo call.
The scale behind this visibility is massive. According to Ahrefs, Reddit receives 1.1 billion monthly visits through the SERPs from informational search queries, 225.9 million from commercial-intent keywords, and 67.2 million from transactional keywords.
Foundation CEO Ross Simmonds says it best: “Those bottom-of-funnel queries? Those highly commercial and transactional queries that your customers use and that you’re willing to spend a lot of money on for PPC or third-party review placements? Well, the traffic that used to drive that ROI is now moving over to Reddit.”
Reddit’s Influence Is Spreading Into AI Search
Reddit’s organic SERP dominance is only half the story. It also plays a significant role in AI search and generative engine optimization.
The very same AI search where 30% of buyers now start their vendor research, according to G2’s 2025 Buyer Behavior Report. And in enterprise segments, AI and review sites have overtaken traditional search as the primary research source.
The same Reddit discussions ranking on Google are now being surfaced by these AI tools.
According to Ahrefs, Reddit pages have been cited 5.3 million times by Google AI Overviews, 5.5 million times by Perplexity, and 4 million times by ChatGPT.
At the same time, Reddit’s content is being licensed to AI models through partnerships with Google and OpenAI — meaning those subreddit conversations about your type of software are training the models that shape how buyers understand your entire category.
So every Reddit thread about your category now has a two-fold impact on decision-making:
- Immediately influencing Redditors who come across posts on the platform or through the SERPs
- Compounding influence as the same content is used to train the AI tools buyers use to kickstart their search journey
Reddit is now embedded within the AI companies and review platforms enterprise buyers trust. Opting out is no longer neutral.
The G2 x Reddit Partnership Formalizes What Was Already Happening
If Reddit’s organic role in B2B discovery was the signal and AI amplification raised the stakes, the G2 x Reddit partnership makes it official.
Reddit audience insights shows that 72% of tech decision-makers use the platform for peer reviews and 49% use it specifically for product research.
G2 now feeds verified company profile data directly into Reddit Pro accounts. This gives B2B brands a credentialed presence on a platform built on anonymity and peer trust.
G2 is the structured review layer. Reddit is the unfiltered opinion layer. Now the two are connected — and AI is amplifying both.
But while enterprise SaaS brands are comfortable managing their G2 profile, participating in Reddit conversations is another story.
How B2B to Build a Reddit Presence Without Getting Burned
The data makes a compelling case for Reddit. Most marketing leaders realize that this platform matters, but they’re paralyzed by fears of what could go wrong and where to begin.
Both concerns are valid, but neither is as complicated as they seem.
Brand Safety Concerns Are Real — But Misframed
Reddit’s reputation for unfiltered commentary makes B2B marketers nervous. No VP of Marketing wants to explain why negative sentiment on Reddit went viral in their next board meeting.
But the fear stems from a misreading of what “negative” actually means on the platform.
Reddit’s own team shared that roughly 90% of what brands perceive as negative feedback is actually product feedback — bug reports, feature requests, pricing complaints, comparisons to competitors. What appears initially as a brand crisis is actually valuable market intelligence.
And mixed sentiment doesn’t hurt credibility. It strengthens it.
According to a Profound study of 4 billion AI citations and 300 million generative engine responses, “AI does not index for upvotes or karma. It’s a quality contest, not a popularity one.” Perfectly clean sentiment reads as astroturfed — Redditors know it, and now so does AI.
For most B2B brands, absence is a far bigger risk than criticism. Avoiding Reddit doesn’t avoid discussion. It hands the narrative to your competitors.
Where to Start: Paid First, Organic Second
Most marketers assume a Reddit strategy means organic community engagement — posting, commenting, building karma over months. And that’s certainly an important element, but you don’t need to start there.
The number one move for a B2B brand new to Reddit is paid advertising.
It may sound counterintuitive on a platform known for hating ads. But Reddit’s own team recommends that brands start with scaled paid campaigns to build awareness. Then, once you understand the platform’s norms and your audiences behaviour, layer in organic engagement.
If you want to hit the ground running, paid-first is what consistently works.
Here’s why it’s particularly effective for B2B.
Reddit’s ad targeting lets you target by subreddit, which means you reach the intent-driven communities, not broad demographic segments.
A campaign aimed at r/sysadmin or r/devops reaches a self-selected audience of practitioners — the people who actually influence purchasing decisions.
And Reddit’s conversion pixel for retargeting remains massively underutilized in B2B. If someone visits your site from Reddit, and you can retarget them with ads tailored to exactly how they engaged.
Reddit is Influencing Your Buyers. It’s Time to Decide How You’ll Show Up.
The conversation about your category is happening on Reddit right now — with or without you. It’s being indexed by Google, cited by ChatGPT, surfaced in Perplexity, and validated by G2.
The brands that treat this as an emerging trend will find themselves playing catch-up against competitors who recognized early that community credibility compounds.
If you’re ready to act, create your Reddit ads account and start with paid. It’s the fastest way to establish presence inside the communities already shaping buying decisions. From there, layer in organic engagement once you understand the norms and dynamics of the platform.
The advantage goes to the brands that enter early and do it deliberately.
