Ads are being tested in the community platform's own search results with a select group of advertisers, matched partly by relevance to what people search.

Reddit is testing ads in its own search results pages with a select group of eligible advertisers.

The company announced the test in a short newsroom post on Tuesday and said it will evaluate how users respond so it can refine the experience over time. The post doesn’t say how advertisers were chosen or whether others can ask to join.

“These placements leverage existing ad targeting in search results pages on Reddit, which have high purchase and search intent.”

“Ads in search may appear based on a range of factors, including contextual relevance to a user’s search query.”

The post does not mention what else would factor into which ads appear. In the example, a person searching for “espresso station” might see ads for coffee beans, mugs, or espresso machines, and “home office setup” may lead to advertisements for desks, office chairs, or monitors.

Example screens in the post show the mobile version of the Reddit application after searching for “home office setup”. Each screen shows a card labeled “Ad” containing a picture of a product (with a website address) and a “Shop Now” button. One example shows a card sitting under a blurb citing subreddits as its sources. Another example shows a card placed between two posts.

Brooke Osmundson reported that in October 2024, Reddit extended the keyword targeting it uses in its conversation placements to the Feed of the platform.

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