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Dofollow Digest #30: Why UGC is the secret weapon companies aren't using

Dofollow Digest #30: Why UGC is the secret weapon companies aren't using

Eric Carrell
June 13, 2025

Hey, it's Eric 👋

User-generated content is getting more attention in search results, with Reddit threads increasingly appearing in top rankings. New research explains why this is happening and what it might mean for how we think about content strategy.

The shift toward UGC in search reflects changing user expectations. While it presents interesting opportunities for SaaS companies, it's also incredibly challenging to execute well. I'll break down the realities below.

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🔍 DEEP DIVE: Why UGC is the secret weapon SaaS companies aren't using

Here's a stat that should grab your attention: up to 15% of Google searches every day are completely new queries. Meanwhile, most SaaS content is reactive – we create it only after keyword research shows there's search volume.

This creates a massive opportunity gap, and user-generated content is filling it.

Reddit's 1,328% visibility increase between June 2023 and April 2024 wasn't luck. It happened because people increasingly want answers from other people, not polished marketing content. They want real experiences, unfiltered recommendations, and authentic advice.

For SaaS companies, this shift represents both a challenge and a potential opportunity.

The challenge: Your perfectly crafted product pages and feature descriptions are competing against authentic user experiences and peer recommendations. When someone searches "best project management tool," they're just as likely to find a Reddit thread comparing tools as they are your landing page.

The opportunity: You can try to harness this trend, though it's far from simple.

The most successful SaaS companies we work with are already doing this in three key ways:

First, they're leveraging customer reviews strategically. Not just collecting them, but using review data to identify what information users actually find helpful. When 98% of people say reviews are essential for purchase decisions, your customer feedback becomes a valuable source of content insights. We've seen clients analyze their most helpful reviews to identify content gaps in their product descriptions, then fill those gaps with authentic, user-driven insights.

Second, they're creating spaces for community discussion. But let's be honest – this isn't easy. Building a community that actually contributes meaningful content requires significant resources, constant moderation, and ongoing engagement efforts. Many communities fail to gain traction or become ghost towns within months. It's high risk, high reward. When it works, you get authentic content that Google loves. When it doesn't, you've invested months of effort with little to show for it.

Third, they're treating UGC as market research. The patterns in user-generated content reveal what people really want to know about your product – information that often doesn't appear in traditional keyword research. This data helps create genuinely people-first content, which aligns perfectly with Google's current content guidelines.

Google's framework for helpful content emphasizes three pillars: helpful, reliable, and people-first. UGC naturally hits all three in ways that traditional marketing content struggles to match.

Here's the bottom line: The SaaS companies that will succeed in 2025 are those that understand these shifting user expectations and adapt accordingly. This doesn't mean every company needs to build a community or chase UGC trends, but it does mean recognizing that authentic, user-driven content is becoming more important in search. This means creating systems to capture, organize, and leverage the authentic experiences your users are already sharing.

The shift toward UGC isn't just about Google's algorithm – it's about meeting users where they are and giving them the authentic information they're increasingly demanding.

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Til next time,

Eric