Advice and answers from the Advanced Web Ranking Team
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[SERP Features Tracking in AWR] Discussions and Forums
Learn what the Discussions and forums result is, how it looks on SERPs and how to track its presence on SERPs to evaluate its impact.
Discussions and Forums is a SERP feature that highlights user-generated content from online forums and community-based websites. It typically appears as a dedicated block in between the organic search results and includes links to discussion threads relevant to the user's query.
These results often come from platforms like Reddit, Quora, or other niche forums and are displayed when Google considers that users may be looking for peer opinions, personal experiences, or community advice.
Discussions and Forums on Desktop
Discussions and Forums on Mobile
How do you track a Discussions and Forums result using Advanced Web Ranking?
In Advanced Web Ranking, you can track the Discussions and Forums results using the Google Universal search engine: Google Desktop Universal for desktop searches and Google Mobile Universal for mobile search results.
You can add these search engines for monitoring from the Project Settings > Search Engines section.
How is the Discussions and Forums result reported in AWR?
When found in the SERPs retrieved from Google, the posts featured within the Discussions and Forums block along with their links are reported on the same ranking position since they are part of the same search result element.
How can you identify the keywords that trigger a Discussions and Forums result in AWR?
You can quickly spot which keywords triggered a Discussions and Forums result and monitor their SERP performance by applying the SERP Features filter in the Ranking > Keywords report.
In the filtered results, the SERP Features column shows which features appear on Google’s search results pages for each keyword, helping you easily identify Discussions and Forums and other result types.
If the selected website (main or competitor) ranks for a specific SERP feature, the corresponding icon is highlighted in green. If the site isn’t featured in any SERP feature, the icons remain blue.
How can you rank in a Discussions and Forums block?
To appear in a Discussions and Forums block, your content needs to come from a recognized forum or community platform that Google considers trustworthy and relevant for discussion-based queries. Here are a few ways to increase your chances:
Post Valuable Content on Popular Forums: Engage in conversations on platforms like Reddit, Quora, or niche-specific forums. High-quality posts that answer questions in detail and earn upvotes or responses are more likely to rank in this SERP feature.
Target Query-Style Keywords: Google tends to trigger this feature for search queries phrased as questions or seeking opinions (e.g., “best laptop for gaming 2025 Reddit” or “how to fix error code 0x000...”). Tailor your titles and content to match these intents.
Ensure Indexability and Clear Structure: If you host discussions on your own site, make sure each thread has a unique, crawlable URL, with SEO-friendly metadata and a clear HTML structure. Use schema markup (like QAPage or DiscussionForumPosting) where applicable.
Foster Ongoing Engagement: Google prefers forums with fresh, active participation. Encourage replies, follow-up questions, and active moderation to maintain quality and keep threads alive.
Do you have any other questions? Don’t hesitate to get in touch and we will keep building the FAQ.
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