2 builders who never spoke to each other

Take a slot in the forum results

Google now surfaces discussion threads on a large share of product queries, and visibility is concentrated in two giant domains, so plan an independent forum as a trickle rather than a windfall. Bolt one onto a content brand you already run so it starts with an audience, wire commenting on an article into posting a thread, and prefer many narrow single-subject communities over one general one.

The method

1. 01

   An independent forum can hold a top slot but should be planned as a trickle rather than a windfall, because visibility in the feature is concentrated in two domains.

2. 02

   Bolt a forum onto an existing content brand you already run, so the community starts with an audience instead of from nothing.

3. 03

   Expect the forum feature to spread across more domains over time and plan for that opening rather than assuming two sites will always take everything.

4. 04

   Run many narrow single-subject communities instead of one general one, since each niche forum can hold its own slot and the portfolio compounds.

5. 05

   Wire the forum into your editorial content so that commenting on an article is the same act as posting a forum thread.

What it returned

• 100

  Of the top 100 domains, 70 were independently owned, 22 belonged to media brands and 8 to large brands. Reddit and Quora together were listed 14,802 times while every other domain combined managed 7,914.

• 3

  Future runs forums on AnandTech, Android Central, PCGamer, Tom's Guide and Tom's Hardware. Android Central's forum holds more than 3 million members alongside 6.9 million posts, and AnandTech's forums carry over 34 million posts. Internet Brands and Ziff Davis also placed multiple community sites in the top 100.

• 2024

  Between February and July 2024 Reddit's listings dropped from 14,263 to 9,532, sites earning a double listing rose from 78 to 268, and the average site's presence went from 6 search results to 19. Glen Allsopp made the prediction in February and reported it coming true by August.

• 13

  VerticalScope owns 13 of the top 100 domains benefiting from the feature, up from 9 in February, and runs more than 1,200 communities holding 55 million members between them, including separate forums for most dog breeds. Their Q3 shareholder letter reported 100.5 million monthly active users, up 1.8% on Q2, with forum community MAU up 19.7% year on year in October.

Sources

• The Discussion Forums Dominating 10,000 Product Review Search Results - Detailed.comGlen Allsopp · detailed.com · Are Media Goliaths Still Dominating, Or Do Independent Forum Owners Perform Well? · 2024-02-14
• How 16 Companies are Dominating the World's Google Search Results (2024 Edition) - Detailed.comGlen Allsopp · detailed.com · Product Review SERPs Are Changing, And That Has to Be a Concern for All of Them · 2023-03-07
• The marketing genius of Lil Nas XHarry Dry · Marketing Examples · Part 3 · undated