Parallels with SEO 15 years ago and Reddit link building in 2025

TL;DR: My prediction about agencies doing Reddit link building for LLM are going to be out of business in 12 months. It is built on hype and not knowledge about LLM or Reddit.

Clarification: I do not offer reddit organic marketing services.

For those unaware, Reddit had deal with Google to promote them as organic content for couple of years and in the last 3 months people have been crazy about wanting to be cited in LLM by using Reddit organic. Personally I have seen already 3 companies offering Reddit link building by using their own profiles. Each link costing like 15-25$ each.

These are objectively the biggest issue why these Reddit link building agencies will fail.

1. LLM knowledge update. According to Gemini Pro its knowledge was last updated in early 2023, while ChatGPT (free) in June 2024. Right now it's October 2025. If I'm not mistaken, it should take maybe a year to get quoted by any LLM. If companies won't see results in 3-6months they will simply not continue partnership and definitely won't suggest these services.

2. No clear guidelines. Agencies will claim that they have the knowledge how to get in front of LLM by building Reddit links or whatnot... but link building for LLM is completely new. At the moment I do not know a specific case study which shows how Reddit link building has helped (and I'm very deep in this topic). If you have a clear case study with proof without smokescreen then please, prove me wrong.

Just last week had a talk with people from Reddit, got their documents that they can provide for agencies and to be honest- there was 0 information about using company links. Of course, I take all that information with grain of salt, but still, that speaks volumes.

3. How big is Reddit. All agencies show how big Reddit is. That is awesome, that is absolutely correct, but think it like this- how many conversations are happening this very minute, this hour, today, this week, this year. Even if you spend $20 per link and invest 1k, I do not think it will move the needle, especially if we consider next point.

4. Moderators. 100% of companies/ marketers forget gatekeepers- moderators. They are the backbone of the communities and not following THEIR rules- good luck somewhere else. Year ago, a company spammed their services on niche subreddits, got banned and ruined relationships with mods. Then I started working with this company. Everything good and then moderators told me the history and said that there nothing I could do to patch this grudge. Moderators are humans, respect their rules, help them and they will help you.

5. Scaling. I have done my research and pretty much know how bot farms work. What they do is either make accounts themselves or buy (no, I will not link to anyone who sells Reddit accounts). Either of those situations these accounts have fixed fee based on their age and karma. You can farm karma (very easy FYI) but age is not that you can manipulate. So even if a company has 50 accounts, how fast do you think those accounts won't get noticed or the accounts won't spam your competitor links.

Years ago I saw different Reddit SaaS and their biggest money waster were Reddit accounts.

6. Alghorithm. With a switch of a button LLM can and will change their algorithm. I have not seen it multiple times how SEO has changed over the years. Heck even paid media isn't very safe either.

Companies can't be and win thousands of conversations with their link building or bot farming. It will damage their reputation. Rather than spending money, just focus on making brand advocates and being someone who they can actually trust (without manipulating).

My humble solution to this LLM stuff:

1. Create brand account (preferrably like e.g. Wix_David; CoolerMaster_Justin etc.).

2. Find your communities.

3. Once a day, spend 30-60minutes actually help people even if it doesn't earn you money.

4. Do not make posts unless it is helpful or an actual PSA.

5. Respect moderators and their rules.

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