Recently, Ahrefs has analysed 145M US Google search results and has concluded that the “Discussions and Forums” feature appeared in 16.93M, i.e., in 11.7% of the results.
This analysis revealed that the most prominent site cited in “Discussion and Forums” was Reddit, followed by Facebook group posts.
The inferences of the study are worth understanding to calibrate SEO strategy, especially for new websites.
Major Finding About Facebook Group Posts In Google Search
The analysis was conducted over 145 million search results in the US by Glen Allsopp, Head of Marketing Strategy & Research at Ahrefs, who shared its insights on 27th August through a blog titled “Analysis: Reddit Appears in 83.9% of Google’s Discussions and Forums Results”.
One of its major and unexpected findings is that Facebook appeared in 38.3% of the SEPRs out of the total 16.93 million results in which discussion and forums appeared.
This stat remained somewhat the same for all countries they tested, however Facebook dominated in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Samoa while being 2nd in 23 countries, including the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, Singapore, and Sri Lanka.
But here is the interesting part. The analysis found that the posts in public Facebook groups appeared, not the general public posts on users’ walls.
Glen Allsopp also said that:
“It’s interesting to see Google picking up the exact AI-generated page headline directly from Facebook.”
But the analysis also inferred that the results were not extracted evenly from Facebook groups.
It says:
“10 Groups accounted for 2.82% of all Facebook’s link placements, and the top 100 for 9.27%.”
Glen also affirmed the fact that prior to January this year, Quora used to be the 2nd most prominent site appearing in search results after Reddit in Discussions and Forums.
But after January, Facebook overtook Quora. (See the infographic)
Other noteworthy insights from the analysis are:
- The queries with informational intent showed discussion and forum in 98.7% of instances.
- No correlation was found between the backlinks to individual threads and their frequency of appearing in results.
- After Reddit and Facebook, JustAnswer and Mayo Clinic were seen in the search results.
This is not the first time that Ahrefs has conducted such research.
Ahrefs has also published a blog in July this year about how AI Content performs in Google search, providing some groundbreaking revelations about using AI for content generation.
Suggested Read: 1 Out Of 3 Queries In Google AI Mode Show Ads, Says Study
What are digital marketers saying?
Tibo Maker cited this Ahrefs analysis along with Reddit’s ChatGPT citation drop last month and Semrush’s stats on related trends in his X post and inferred that:
“we all rebuilt our strategy around a number one tracker caught
Reddit is miserable to market on
it takes months of being useful before anyone lets you mention what you built”
Glen shared this analysis in his LinkedIn post, and people like Ivan Palii expressed their surprise to learn that Facebook is leading the top ranks.
Ross Simmonds has mentioned this research in his X post and shared valuable suggestions for Reddit marketing strategy that might also help in Facebook discussions.
Wrap up
The insights of the analysis have reflected the importance of Facebook group posts in Google searches and further supported the fact that it is now more about being present everywhere and aiming to solve the user’s problems.
This Ahrefs 145M US Google search results study proves how the algorithm is evolving and how you can deal with it to get ranked.
Next Read: What Can SEOs Learn From Google’s 15.7 Million AI Mode Citation Study?
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