Reddit Revamps Search Functionality, Includes Comment Search

Reddit has announced that it is overhauling its search system, adding the ability to search for comments.

According to a new report from The Verge, Reddit has made several improvements to the search functionality on its platform, including the global rollout of comment search.

“At Reddit, one thing we think about every day is how we can make it easier for people to find and engage in communities, content and conversations,” the company explained. “Over the past year, we’ve been steadily improving and updating our search experiences to support the millions of posts, communities and people that make up the platform, helping people find and engage in the topics that matter most to them.”

The comment search capability allows users to search for comment threads in specific communities rather than having to search through posts and comments to find the information that’s relevant to them. Reddit surveyed users last year and found that one of the top demands for its search function was the capability to search comments.

Reddit also updated its search function to make its results more relevant. For one, the platform is loosening restrictions on text matching in search, making it so that search results that don’t perfectly match the keywords will still turn up.

The site also will now monitor use patterns to turn up better results as a way of “understanding of user intentions” when they search for something, meaning that if someone is searching a popular topic that many other users are looking at, it will automatically sort results to prioritize the fresh content. It’s also looking at the popularity of posts within search results to determine how it prioritizes posts in topics when searched.

The platform also updated its user interface for search to prioritize posts over other content types, as well as simplify the results page to help users “more easily skim” to find what they’re looking for.

The new features are rolling out today. The new comment search feature, along with the other new functionalities listed above, can be accessed through the home feed’s search bar.

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