Reddit Rolls Out Updates to Improve User Experience for Logged-Out Users
Reddit is implementing several updates to enhance its website for users who are not logged in. These updates include improved performance, a more user-friendly search results page, and better suggestion of communities and related posts.
In a blog post on Monday, Reddit stated that it wants to improve the experience for occasional or first-time visitors who come to the site from various search engines looking for relevant user-generated content on specific topics.
To make searching easier, Reddit has simplified the layout of the search result page, particularly on mobile devices where posts are prioritized over other elements.
The landing page design has also been revamped to allow browsing without conducting a search. The top of the page now displays six trending posts instead of four, with larger titles and improved image and video presentation.
For desktop users, Reddit’s new site features a sticky sidebar that allows independent scrolling through the content. This sidebar highlights relevant communities and posts. When non-logged-in users visit a subreddit’s landing page, they will find information about the community in the sidebar, such as the community banner, description, number of members, and rules. Custom styling for subreddits is not visible to logged-out users at this time.
Furthermore, Reddit has implemented performance adjustments to improve loading times on the logged-out site experience, making pages load twice as fast as before.
This is Reddit’s second update rollout this year aimed at enhancing the experience for non-logged-in users. In March, the platform made its pages screen reader-friendly and streamlined their appearance.
The company has stated that these updates will be available across both mobile and desktop web experiences. However, some users have noticed an annoying popup on the mobile site prompting them to open a post in the app, which has drawn criticism from the community.
Last week, Reddit announced testing of verification marks through ‘official’ badges with limited accounts. It has also promised new accessibility features for its apps in August to cater to screen readers. However, these promises were met with dissatisfaction from communities protesting the API changes that caused many third-party apps to shut down.
Reddit’s efforts to accommodate users without accounts are well-received. Twitter briefly required users to log in to view tweets, but later removed this requirement. While specific tweets can be viewed without logging in, users cannot fully explore the site without an account. The Threads app by Meta and the decentralized social network Mastodon also offer partial access to accounts and posts, but they lack full web functionality.
With more users utilizing Reddit as a search engine, even appending “Reddit” to their Google searches, the platform’s improved web experience provides an additional surface for displaying ads and aligns with the company’s focus on profitability.
