Reddit adds comment search to make the website even better

Reddit just upgraded its site search in a huge way. Now it indexes comments, as well as original posts, communities, and people. That makes it one of the first platforms with that capability and makes for a better “front page of the internet” experience.

Now, you no longer have to scroll through thousands of comments to find the ones you want to engage with. That could be a double-ended sword, as it facilitates dialogue both positive and negative.

It’s the first time in the sixteen years that Reddit has existed that everything, and we mean everything, is searchable by users. Reddit polled users last year, and apparently being able to search comments was among the top results.

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Early beta testing of the feature with 26,000 users generated a staggering five billion comment searches. Now it’s live on the main site, but only if you browse Reddit via the website. The apps will probably get the feature in the near future.

To go with the new ability, Reddit is tweaking how search returns results. As you search, results will be returned with “less restrictive matching,” so you don’t have to use exact phrasing to find what you’re looking for.

The search will also behave more like Google’s algorithm, surfacing content that other users clicked on when they searched for similar terms.

This should mean more relevant, up-to-the-minute results in search. That will be great for finding information on breaking events or searching for the latest trends.

Reddit search is already a viable alternative to using the major search engines, and this update makes it even more so.

Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere. His hobbies include photography, animation, and hoarding Reddit gold.