I have found search results to be very good with Reddit links in the past. I get that Reddit needs to pay for their hosting (just like everyone else) but with so many more Internet users waking up to federated sites and truly open APIs, we are seeing a lot of what was on Reddit, now blossoming on the various Reddit alternatives on the Fediverse.
Just like Mastodon had to grow through its multiple waves of growth (thanks to Elon Musk), the Reddit alternatives seem to be going through the same growth spurts now.
Most users seem quite OK with how the alternatives work, as most are active where they joined, and have not fully explored how to follow and interact with other instances (and there is no need to really unless they want to). The key thing with searching for Communities (Subreddits) is to change the default from Local to All at the top, to see all communities no matter where they are, and just subscribe. That’s really all there is to it. Carry On as normal.
So, as the communities are growing and flourishing, the content will also start to get richer, and hopefully the search engines will soon also start to show results from the various Fediverse sites as well. It is time that search engines and organisations started to adjust to the decentralised model of social networking. It has been interesting to see which organisations have already been dipping their toes into Mastodon, Bluesky, etc and yes, at some point the advertising is going to also arrive whether anyone likes it or not. One big difference is there is no paid push advertising (but don’t underestimate marketing teams!).
For me, it is not just about the cost of the Reddit API, it is about the freedom of use, and the future. We want something that can stay open and not be arbitrarily charged for, or manipulated, by a single individual company. It is much the same reason why I have long supported open standards such as ODF, PDF, ActivityPub, and many more. They help us interact and exchange data more easily and cheaper, whether for recreation or business, and they will endure the test of time for the future.