What Is the Reddit Algorithm?
The Reddit algorithm determines which posts and comments appear at the top of feeds, subreddits, and search results. It considers factors like upvotes, recency, comment velocity, and engagement rate to rank content.
Reddit uses different sorting algorithms: "Hot" (trending content based on votes and time), "New" (chronological), "Top" (highest voted in a time period), "Rising" (gaining momentum), and "Best" (default for comments, using a Wilson score confidence interval). Each serves a different purpose and affects content visibility differently.
Why It Matters for Marketers
Understanding the algorithm is crucial for timing and formatting your content. Posts gain the most traction in their first 1-2 hours — if they get enough upvotes quickly, they enter a positive feedback loop and can reach thousands or millions of users.
The algorithm also determines how Reddit posts rank on Google. Reddit content increasingly appears in Google search results, making the algorithm doubly important for SEO-minded marketers.
Comment velocity matters too: threads with lots of early comments signal to the algorithm that the topic is engaging, which boosts the post further.
Examples
- A post that gets 10 upvotes in the first 30 minutes will rank higher than one that gets 10 upvotes over 6 hours.
- Posts with early comments (even short ones) tend to get more visibility than those without.
- Posting when your target subreddit's audience is most active (often US mornings) maximizes early engagement.
How RedShip Helps
RedShip sends real-time alerts when relevant conversations start gaining traction. By jumping in early — when the algorithm is still deciding which content to boost — your comments get maximum visibility as the thread grows.