Reddit is a massive website, featuring thousands of threads and comments across a range of subreddits. As such, if you want to find a post that addresses a particular topic, it’s a good idea to get to grips with the various ways of using Reddit’s search engine.
So in this post, we discuss how to search Reddit to get better results.
How to Search Reddit for Posts, Subreddits, and Users
If you want to browse through all of Reddit—whether you’re searching for a subreddit or a post—you may use the search bar.
The search bar is placed in various locations based on the type of Reddit interface you choose. If you are using the old Reddit style, the search bar is in the top-right corner. If you’re using the latest Reddit interface, it’s at the top in the middle.
Type what you want to see in here and press the Enter button to search. If you use the search bar, Reddit will retrieve subreddits, users, and posts that include your search word. For example, if you search for “cats,” you can find subreddit/r/cats, as well as any Reddit post that has “cats” in the description.
If you just want to browse for subreddits, you can visit the subreddit tab. This is used to monitor the subreddits that you follow, but it also comes with a search box designed specifically for the purpose of discovering new groups.
How to Search Within a Subreddit
If you’re searching the subreddit and you don’t see what you’re looking for. Instead of searching until you locate it, you can just check the subreddit you’re on. To do this, type what you’re looking for in the search bar.
If you are using old Reddit, click the checkbox in the search box that says, “limit my search to [subreddit name]” When you press Enter, only the results of the subreddit will surface.
However, if you use the latest Reddit design, you won’t see a tickbox. Instead, search for the word as if you were searching the whole internet. Then on the results tab, find the drop-down option at the top that says “Search Results” then choose your subreddit This then filters the search to reveal only the content of that subreddit.
How to Search Reddit Comments
You may have realized that the search engine can’t look at the comments on Reddit; at least at the time of writing, it can’t. However, there is already a way to search Reddit comments; we just need to step away from Reddit and use third-party resources instead.
Pushshift Reddit Search is one of the best resources available. This website will allow you to browse through the comments on Reddit, but as you can see as you visit the website, that’s not all it can do. If you’re disappointed with Reddit’s search engine, make sure to use this one instead.
To check for comments, make sure you are on the “Search” category in the first row of choices. On the second row, uncheck “Posts” and pick “Comments.” Choose the time frame you intend to check in on the third row. Enter what you are looking for in the “Search Terms” box.
If you want to search a particular subreddit, insert it in the “Subreddits” field. The “Domains” field is checking for posts that link to a particular website, so you don’t need to fill in if you’re browsing for comments.
When you press “Search,” Pushshift will scroll through Reddit and bring up all the comments that fit your question.
How to Find Search for Comments on Reddit
Perhaps you’re digging thru the thread for a discussion. You will see a comment that says “[Deleted],” followed by a series of responses that address the matter further. The start of the dialog is lost forever—-or not.
There’s a helpful website named Removeddit that saves as many comments as possible on Reddit. As a result, if a comment is deleted, Removeddit will “remember” it and show you what it used to say. In addition, it can also let you know if the user has deleted their own comment by marking it blue, or if the mod has erased it by marking it red.
To use Removeddit, navigate to the Reddit comment section that you want to search for. Then edit the URL so that the “Reddit” portion of the domain name becomes “removeddit.” There is no need to delete the name and retype it just add “move” after “re” in “Reddit.”
When you press Enter, you’ll load the Removeddit page for that comment thread. Removeddit will look through its database and show all of the comments it has on file for that thread. If Removeddit managed to archive the comment before it was deleted, you’ll find it here in its former glory. Otherwise, if it got deleted before Removeddit could see it, the website will show an error message instead.
How to Search Reddit Using Modifiers and Operators
- title:[text] searches only post titles.
- author:[username] searches only posts by the given username.
- selftext:[text] searches only the body of posts that were made as self-posts.
- subreddit:[name] searches only posts that were submitted to the given subreddit community.
- url:[text] searches only the URL of non-self-post posts.
- site:[text] searches only the domain name of non-self-post posts.
- nsfw:yes or nsfw:no to filter results based on whether they were marked as NSFW or not.
- self:yes or self:no to filter results based on whether they were self-posts or not.
You can also use boolean operators to better refine your search.
- AND means you want both sides to be true.
- OR means only one side needs to be true.
- You can use parentheses () to group modifiers together in case the search query is a complex mixture of ANDs and ORs.
- You can negate/exclude certain modifiers by preceding them with – (minus sign).
Search More Efficiently on Reddit
As you can see, there are different ways to search Reddit. You might also use one of Reddit’s free alternative browsers. So if you’re searching for a new community to enter, or trying to find a clever meme that you came upon weeks ago, you should be all right. Especially if you make use of the above-listed tips.