5 Tips to Master the Hidden Search Tools on Reddit

Reddit is much more than the front page and popular subreddits, the way users see it when they first sign up. One of Reddit’s best features is its search function, which helps you find new content based on your own interests or a keyword search. But Reddit’s search functions are hidden—they’re not intuitive and they’re easy to miss if you don’t know where to look. Here are five tips to help you master the hidden search tools on Reddit and find exactly what you’re looking for!

Tip 1: Use the show more function

One of Reddit’s best features is how you can refine your searches by age, domain and type of subreddit. However, it would be impossible to list all types of subreddits here and because Reddit loves a good joke on April Fool’s Day we thought we’d share a few tips on how to use their hidden search tools. 

First off, when searching for posts, use the show more function at the bottom of the page. If you click this button it will reveal a number in brackets beside your search result that tells you how many posts are on that page.

Tip 2: Know how to sort by votes and time

Reddit is a treasure trove of interesting, weird, and interesting. But, while it’s free and open to all Redditors 24/7, not everyone knows how to navigate this wide variety of stuff. In addition to knowing what sub-Reddits are best for you, there are hidden search tools that can help you find exactly what you’re looking for. Reddit will allow you to sort by most votes or oldest posts; either way should provide more relevant results than searching aimlessly. If your key word is broad or ambiguous try using some of these tips.

Tip 3: Use filters

Take a look at some of these filters! With so many subreddits to look through, sometimes it can be hard to find what you want. Luckily, Reddit has a few helpful tools that will save you time:

– Click on All (under Recent) and search for something specific like puppies or vegan.

– Filter by today, this week, this month, or all time under All Time. For example, searching sushi and selecting This Month will show results for posts made during October. Similarly selecting This Week will show posts from the past seven days.

Tip 4: Use advanced search functions

Reddit has advanced search functions which can be used to find anything from specific content on Reddit posts and comments, certain subreddits, or even just all of Reddit. This post will explore how you can use Reddit’s advanced search functions and what limitations you may encounter with these tools.

 The top search field is one of three advanced search fields, which can be used in combination with each other for more targeted searches. The first two fields, Subreddit and Keyword, are free text fields, and you can use them to search for any combination of words from posts or comments. For example, you could use a search with these two fields like [subreddit: aww AND keyword: cat] or [subreddit: all NOT keyword: cats].

Tip 5: Choose a top-level Subreddit for your niche

Reddit’s best search tools can be found in their top-level Subreddits. Finding these Subreddits is as easy as typing a word or phrase into the search bar on any Reddit page. Searching for different phrases will produce different results and understanding the full range of what you’re capable of finding is important to discover valuable information and data quickly. Here are some suggestions for topics you might want to research: food, weather, language exchange, or type2 diabetes. You may also want to check out Subreddits related to your work/academic study like public health, design, or economics.

 Once you’ve found a relevant Subreddit, simply click into it. From there, you’ll notice that some content is linked with other pages and others are in boxes below a post. The content linked with other pages is either original or coming from another source online. The ones in boxes come from an internal tool called search. When your topic is broad, these search results may be most helpful as they will pull up any posts talking about your topic even if they don’t directly mention it in their titles or comments. For example, if I type diabetes into search it would pull up all results related to diabetes even if they aren’t direct links or responses.