Reddit fades from ChatGPT citations
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Reddit's share of ChatGPT citations has dropped in recent days, according to AI visibility platform Promptwatch.
Why it matters: Communicators trying to influence what AI says about their brands are finding that generative engine optimization is a rapidly moving target.
The big picture: Don't pin all of your GEO hopes on one "mythical unicorn," says Steve Rubel, executive vice president for media insights and measurement at Burson.
- "It doesn't exist," Rubel says. "It's a long game, and [brands] need to be engaged on many different channels. Some will go up, some will go down based on citations."
Catch up quick: Reddit accounted for an average 3.83% of ChatGPT Search citations from July 18 through Aug. 7, according to Promptwatch.
- By Aug. 14, it had fallen below 1%, averaging just 0.52% through Monday, an 86.4% drop.
- In Promptwatch's social platform comparison last September, Reddit was by far the most-cited network, at 3.2%, compared with runner-up LinkedIn at 0.3%.
Caveat: Promptwatch cautions that the data points to when the change happened, not why.
- "A shift in ChatGPT's source selection is the obvious candidate," Promptwatch co-founder and CTO Klaas Foppen wrote in a blog post. "But a data-collection issue cannot be ruled out, so treat the size of the drop as provisional while we keep monitoring."
- The drop isn't as steep for other AI platforms. Promptwatch found Reddit citations fell 11% in Google AI Overviews and 31% in Google AI Mode over the same period.
Flashback: Investors have reacted to this metric before.
- Reddit shares fell sharply last October amid concerns about declining user growth and Promptwatch data showing a steep drop in ChatGPT citations.
What they're saying: Reddit said the citation drop has "no meaningful impact" on its business because LLMs account for little of its traffic.
- "For communicators, Reddit's value is in the real conversations that people are having about your brand today, not where it surfaces tomorrow," said Adam Collins, Reddit's chief communications officer.
- "If you're a brand looking at Reddit merely as a way to hack your presence on an AI platform, you risk frustrating your consumers here with no guarantees of a positive result elsewhere."
Between the lines: There isn't one universal GEO playbook, and that's what makes this space rich for debate among marketers and communicators.
- Don't chase whichever source or tactic happens to be winning in GEO today, advises Rubel. Instead, build a durable, diversified information footprint across owned and earned media.
- "It's not just enough to say something. We need to make sure that there's really good information to back that up, whether that's yours or somebody else's," he says.
The bottom line: GEO might not be as formulaic as initially expected, requiring communicators to spread their efforts across multiple bases.
