After writing a two-part series last year about Reddit heavily scaling AI-translated content, I wanted to check in to see how things were going now. Below, I’ll cover how Reddit’s AI translation project is firing on all cylinders and how that content is being heavily rewarded by Google in the search results.
In March of last year, I covered how Reddit was heavily scaling AI-translated content, how Google explained it was ok if high-quality content is being translated, I explained how Google changed its stance about auto-translating content over time, and more. I also covered how companies in the past have received manual actions for heavily scaling via AI-translated content, yet Reddit was doing the same and being heavily rewarded in the SERPs across countries and languages.
So now that we’re a full year after my two-part series about the situation, I wanted to check in to see how things were looking for Reddit’s AI-translated content. Are they still scaling that content, have they expanded their efforts, and how is that content performing in the search results?
Reddit’s AI translations are BOOMING:
Well, that escalated quickly… After checking the situation, it’s clear that Reddit has charged forward with AI translations over the past year. And that content is ranking extremely well across Google. Below, I’ll quickly cover what I’m seeing on that front, including how much content is being translated now, how search visibility looks for that content, the number languages the content is being translated into, and more.
31 Hreflang Tags:
When checking hreflang tags, I’m seeing some pages with 31 tags on the page. Last year when I wrote my post, I believe the highest number was 22. So, Reddit has continued expanding the number of languages and countries they are targeting. Hreflang tags are used to signal to Google that there are alternate urls targeting other languages and countries. So if you translate your content, you should be using hreflang tags.
AI-translated URLs ranking per country and number of queries leading to those urls:
When I first wrote about the situation last year, I found as many as 2-3 million urls containing AI-translated content ranking in the SERPs for some countries. Fast forward to today and I’m now seeing 4-5M urls for those countries. So the number of urls ranking in the SERPs with AI-translated content has doubled in some cases. Let’s take a look at some specific countries so you can see what I mean.
Below, I’ll provide the estimated traffic leading to AI-generated content from Google Search, the number of queries that content is ranking for, and the number of urls containing AI-translated content that are ranking per country (for seven countries). Check out the growth over time in the graphs below:
France:
- 4.5M AI-translated pages ranking in the SERPs.
- 10.9M queries ranking.
Germany:
- 4.7M AI-translated pages ranking in the SERPs.
- 10.6M queries ranking.
Spain:
- 5.2M AI-translated pages ranking in the SERPs.
- 9.5M queries ranking.
Italy:
- 3.7M AI-translated pages ranking in the SERPs.
- 8.1M queries ranking.
Brazil:
- 4.2M AI-translated pages ranking in the SERPs.
- 10M queries ranking.
Turkey:
- 2.6M AI-translated pages ranking in the SERPs.
- 3.9M queries ranking.
South Korea:
- 1.6M AI-translated pages ranking in the SERPs.
- 2.0M queries ranking.
So yes, Reddit has massively scaled their AI-translations across many languages and countries. And it has been rewarded greatly by Google with strong rankings.
Reddit’s Quarterly Earnings and the importance of Google search traffic:
In Reddit’s latest quarterly earnings, they explained that logged-in user growth is slowing (people that have signed up for an account). That should be concerning, but they also explained that logged-out user growth is strong. That would be users coming in from Google search and other sources (although Google search is the driving force there).
So, you can see why scaling content to more countries and languages can directly benefit Reddit (on several levels). It also tells a good story with increasing logged-out user numbers.
Here is what The Information wrote about Reddit’s user growth:
“Reddit’s user growth has been slowing, however, particularly among “logged in” users in the U.S.—those who have signed up for accounts, as opposed to people who arrive at Reddit after a web search, who are “logged out.” The number of logged-in U.S. users rose just 1% in the quarter to 23.2 million from 23 million, where it flatlined last year. Overall global users rose 17% year on year, a slightly slower rate of growth than in the fourth quarter.”
Again, this is why finding more ways to drive users to Reddit via Search is important. Of course, the risk for Reddit is that one turn of the dial algorithmically from Google and search traffic can come crashing down. Reddit’s search visibility has increased exponentially since the fall of 2023 but that doesn’t mean it will always stay that strong. I’m sure that keeps Steve Huffman up at night…
Here is my tweet about this after Reddit’s quarterly earnings were released. I explain how relying on logged-out users is a big risk. One turn of the dial by Google algorithmically and traffic could come crashing down:
And here is Reddit’s search visibility in the United States since the fall of 2023. I challenge you to find that type of growth across another site… But again, that doesn’t mean it will always be that strong.
If Reddit is scaling AI-translated content, can you as well?
Now, if you are wondering if scaling AI-translated content is ok for your site, I provided some key points below that you absolutely want to review. And it’s critical to understand the importance of translating high-quality content and not just any content. Don’t overlook this key point.
After I wrote my post about Reddit scaling AI-translations last year, I reached out to Google to see if they changed their stance about auto-translations. They explained that using AI to translate content is fine if the content is high-quality and valuable to users. That’s a super important point with a lot of nuance involved.
Here is what Google said (I bolded an important part about value):
“While we don’t comment on the status of specific sites or pages, nor do we provide individualized support for any site, our policies do not strictly define content that has been translated by AI as spam. Our scaled content abuse policy mentions automated transformations, including translations, as part of the overall warning against creating large amounts of unoriginal content that provides little to no value to users.”
Some, ok many, site owners are too close to their own content to objectively rate the quality of that content, so that leaves them susceptible to scaling lower-quality or thin content via AI translations. And if that happens, you could receive a manual action for “Scaled content abuse“. And you definitely do not want that. You can read my recent case study about a site that scaled like crazy with AI-generated local news articles to see what can happen. It’s not pretty. Here is their trending below…
Final bullets for site owners thinking about scaling AI-translations:
If you are seriously considering scaling via AI translations, then review the bullets below carefully. Do not just run and start scaling a ton of content via AI translations:
- Quality matters. Do not scale lower-quality or thin content. You can turn into the next “Mt. AI” after receiving a manual action for “Scaled content abuse”.
- Google has said it’s ok to use AI to translate content into other languages if it’s high quality and valuable for users (see their comments above). But again, make sure your content is truly high quality.
- In order to objectively understand if you content is high quality, speak with your audience, run user studies, and more to get objective feedback about the quality of your content. You might be too close to your site to objectively review it.
- Do not think you are Reddit and can do anything you want. You are not Reddit. You don’t have their users, their conversations, and their partnership with Google. Again, make sure you are scaling high-quality content and not just any content.
Summary: Yep, Reddit’s AI translations are booming, but will yours follow?
It was fascinating to check in with Reddit to see how their AI translation project was progressing. Needless to say, AI translations are booming on the site. There are dozens of translations per url for some pieces of content, those translations are ranking well across languages and countries, and driving a lot of traffic to Reddit from Google. And with the importance of logged-out users for Reddit, that’s an important source of traffic.
And again, if you are thinking about scaling AI translations, make sure that content is high quality. You don’t want a manual action for “Scaled content abuse” and you don’t want to become the next “Mt. AI”. Beware.
GG