Google is now the only search engine that can surface results from Reddit, making one of the web’s most valuable repositories of user generated content exclusive to the internet’s already dominant search engine.

404 Media via Stratechery

I first noticed this change last week, after watching a movie in theaters. Everytime I watch a great movie I want to check the /movies Subreddit and follow the discussion thread for that particular movie. It’s a lot of fun, and a way to see what others are thinking about plot points, certain characters, and spoilers. It’s an old habbit of mine going back many years. 

As I’ve grown accustomed to doing, I typed the name of the movie and appended the word Reddit into search. Because I’ve been primarily on Duck.com the last few years I expected to see the top results page come up. I was surprised to not be able to find it. 

Ben mentions using site:reddit.com, but I’ve always found what I needed just by adding the word reddit to a thread.

After a moment or two of frustration I tried Google and the thread popped right up. In that moment I decided to switch my default search engine from Duck back to Google. It’s too big of a hurdle. Already I find myself using Duck’s !g command multiple times per day when their own results aren’t good enough. Not having Reddit available was the nail in the coffin.

It’s unfortunate because I try to use alternatives when available, and have been giving Duck a serious go of it for a while.