Reddit Ads for Small Businesses

Setting up the ads account

Everything below comes from the Reddit Ads Help Center and Reddit's advertising policy pages. Reddit says that creating an ads account "is free and only takes a couple of minutes". You need a Reddit user account first, either an existing one or a new one. Reddit notes that "Karma won't affect your ad performance" and that "Ads can't be run on accounts set to Not Safe For Work (NSFW)."

A few set-up fields are permanent, so decide them before you start:

• Username. It appears on your ads if you use that account as a posting profile, must be 3 to 20 characters, and Reddit warns: "This can't be changed later." Use your brand name.
• Business legal name. Reddit shows it in your ads and on your billing receipt.
• Country and currency. Reddit states that "The country and currency for your ad account can't be changed later."

If an agency runs ads for you, it marks that it works with an advertising agency during set-up, and colleagues join through an invitation to your business in Reddit Ads. Keep ownership of the business account yourself and invite others, rather than sharing a login.

Campaign types

Reddit's About Campaigns page lists several ways to build a campaign: Max campaigns (beta), Standard campaigns, Simple Create, Bulk Import with a CSV file, and the Ads API. Within a campaign you choose the audience, timing, spend and ads.

Max campaigns are the automated option. Reddit says they use "artificial intelligence to automatically adjust bidding, creative selection, and more", with budget and bids allocated automatically to minimise cost per action. They are available for the traffic, app promotion, sales and leads objectives. For a traffic Max campaign you choose cost cap or lowest cost bidding. For sales or leads you pick your Reddit Pixel, conversion goal and optimisation window, and Reddit warns that these "can't be changed later". Standard campaigns give you control over each ad group and ad, which helps when you want to test one community list against another.

One more setting matters for some businesses. A special ad category covers housing, employment and credit campaigns. These campaigns cannot target gender, age or postal codes, and Reddit notes: "Existing campaigns cannot be edited to add this designation." If you advertise jobs, lettings or loans, turn it on when you create the campaign.

Choosing an objective

The campaign objective decides what Reddit optimises for, which post types you can use, and how you pay:

• Awareness and consideration: optimise for impressions (paid per thousand impressions, CPM) or for 6-second or 15-second (beta) video views (paid per view, CPV).
• Traffic: send people to your website or a post on Reddit; optimise for clicks (paid per click, CPC) or Landing Page Visits (beta, paid by CPM).
• Sales: optimise for actions such as Purchase, AddToCart, SignUp, Lead or PageVisit. Clicks is the only goal if you have no signal integration.
• Lead generation: optimise for Lead or SignUp events from website leads, or clicks without a signal integration.
• App promotion: installs and in-app events.

For sales, lead generation and app promotion, lowest cost and target cost bidding is charged as optimised CPM (oCPM), and cost cap as CPC. Reddit has announced that "Starting February 10, 2027, cost cap will no longer be available" for these three objectives, so plan new campaigns around lowest cost or target cost.

For most small businesses the practical choice is traffic while tracking is not set up, and sales or lead generation once the Pixel or Conversions API records the action you care about. Our Meta ads guide, LinkedIn ads guide, TikTok ads guide and Snapchat ads guide cover the same decision on those platforms.

Targeting communities, keywords and interests

Reddit's audience targeting overview describes four types of audience:

• Reddit audiences: interest targeting (topics based on the IAB standard), community targeting, which reaches people in communities they "subscribed to, viewed, or visited in the last 28 days", and keyword targeting, which matches content containing keywords you define. Keyword targeting is supported in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish and Dutch.
• Custom audiences: website retargeting through the Reddit Pixel and Conversions API, customer lists built from emails and mobile advertising IDs, lookalike audiences, and engagement retargeting of people who interacted with your Reddit ads in the last six months.
• Demographics: location (countries, designated market areas in the US only, regions and postal codes), gender and language.
• Device and carrier: specific devices and mobile carriers. Reddit notes that the device audience cannot be edited after you create an ad group.

Reddit strongly recommends automated targeting, which reaches other relevant audiences beyond your selection. When it is on, custom audiences have an OR relationship with other targeting, so people outside your list may see your ads. If you want to test one specific set of communities, check this setting first.

The estimates tool shows audience size, reach, impressions and clicks for an ad group. Reddit says audience size estimates are "directional only", are calculated on a 30-day window, and are not a guarantee of delivery.

The targeting guidelines set limits. Advertisers may not use Reddit's tools to discriminate, and Reddit prohibits targeting by sensitive categories such as health data, political beliefs, religion, sexual orientation, race or ethnic origin, and users under 18. Communities in four categories can never be targeted: Addiction Support, Mature Themes and Adult Content, Medical & Mental Health, and Trauma Support.

Ad formats and specs

According to Reddit's ad unit specifications, ads run in two placements: the feed (Home, Popular and community feeds) and the conversation page, inside a thread. Reddit recommends using both. The ad types are:

• Image: one image.
• Video: one video.
• Carousel: 2 to 6 images.
• Free-form: a longer post with "Up to 20 images, 5 videos, and 40,000 characters in the rich body text".

Reddit recommends keeping headlines to 100 characters, or 80 if truncation is a concern. Click-through URLs must use HTTPS, and "Animated GIF and ProRes aren't currently supported." For video ads, files are MP4 or MOV up to 1 GB and 30 frames per second, and the length can be "2 seconds to 15 minutes", with 5 to 30 seconds recommended. The display URL must match your destination URL's domain.

Free-form ads work like a Reddit post with rich text, inline links, lists, images and video, and are available with the traffic or awareness and consideration objectives. Reddit's own advice is to "Provide a TL;DR at the beginning" and to break up long text with media and headings. This format suits a business that has something to explain, such as how a service works.

Reddit Pixel and Conversions API

The Reddit Pixel is a JavaScript snippet that tracks the actions visitors take after seeing or clicking your ad. You can install it by hand, through Google Tag Manager, through the Shopify integration or through a partner, and set up events with Reddit's event setup tool. Check it with the Pixel Helper and Events Manager; Reddit notes that third-party cookies must be enabled in your browser for event testing.

Two Pixel settings are worth knowing. Enhanced metadata sharing is on by default and collects page and product data such as Open Graph tags and JSON-LD structured data; you can turn it off in Events Manager under Pixel Configuration, Settings. A Limited Data Use flag helps you opt out users who have not consented to behavioural targeting. If your site uses a Content Security Policy, the Pixel's Reddit hosts must be allowed or its events are blocked.

The Conversions API (CAPI) sends conversions from your server to Reddit. Reddit says events "must be sent within seven days after they occur", recommends a conversion token so access does not expire, and requires event deduplication when you send the same event through both the Pixel and CAPI. You can connect it directly, through server-side Google Tag Manager, or through a partner. Reddit recommends using both together for better conversion coverage. Our guides to the Meta Pixel and Conversions API and UTM tracking links explain the same ideas for other channels.

Brand safety: inventory types

Reddit's inventory types control which content your ads may appear next to. You set the tier under Brand Safety in Ads Manager, and it applies to all campaigns in the ad account:

• Expanded inventory (Reddit's recommendation): the widest reach, content from wholesome to broad.
• Standard inventory: a balance of suitability and reach, wholesome to moderate.
• Limited inventory with Integral Ad Science: the strictest tier, wholesome to mild, available only for managed accounts.

In every tier, Reddit says it will not serve ads next to categories such as nudity, terrorism, excessive profanity or gore, and content that promotes irresponsible drug use.

Ad review and policy

Every ad is reviewed by Reddit's team. The ad review process page says reviews "are typically completed within one day but may take longer", and recommends submitting at least 48 hours before your planned start. Editing the copy, destination URL, budget, creative or targeting sends the ad back to review; changing the bid or schedule does not. Some ads, for example for healthcare products or financial services, need certifications, and ads for alcohol, gambling and pharmaceuticals must be pre-approved by a Reddit sales representative.

The Reddit Advertising Policy lists separate rules for categories including alcohol, dating services, financial and cryptocurrency products, gambling, healthcare, lead generation ads, political ads, tobacco and weapons. It also states: "Advertisers are responsible for the content of their ads." The editorial requirements catch many small advertisers:

• "No more than 50% of the ad copy should be capitalized", and no excessive emojis, symbols or punctuation.
• No clickbait: ads must not withhold information or use sensational tactics to get clicks.
• The display URL must match the landing page URL, and the product in the ad must be available on the landing page.
• The landing page language must be consistent with the ad, and the page must not trap users or contain non-working links or buttons.

If an ad is not approved, the rejection email gives the reason and how to fix it, and you can edit and resubmit.

Before you launch

1. Create the ads account with the right username, legal name, country and currency; these cannot be changed later.
2. Install the Reddit Pixel, add CAPI if you can, and check events in Events Manager.
3. Choose the objective that matches what you can measure: traffic without tracking, sales or lead generation with it.
4. List the communities and keywords where your customers talk, and decide whether automated targeting should be on.
5. Turn on the special ad category for housing, employment or credit ads.
6. Build a landing page that matches the ad, in the same language, that works well on a phone; see our landing page guide.
7. Submit ads at least 48 hours before the start date.

Frequently asked questions

Is a Reddit Ads account free?

Yes. Reddit says creating an ads account is free and only takes a couple of minutes. You pay for the ads you run, and you need a valid payment method before you launch.

Can I target specific subreddits?

Yes. Community targeting reaches people in communities they subscribed to, viewed or visited in the last 28 days. Reddit recommends automated targeting, which also reaches other relevant users, so turn it off if you want to test only your list.

Can I change my Reddit Ads username or currency later?

No. Reddit states that the username and the ad account's country and currency cannot be changed later, so choose them carefully at set-up.

Do I need the Reddit Pixel?

For sales and lead generation campaigns, yes, or the Conversions API. Without a signal integration, clicks is the only optimisation goal available. Reddit recommends using the Pixel and Conversions API together, with event deduplication.

How long does Reddit ad review take?

Reddit says reviews are typically completed within one day but may take longer, and recommends submitting at least 48 hours before your planned start date. Editing copy, creative, URL, budget or targeting sends the ad back to review.

Which businesses have extra rules on Reddit?

Housing, employment and credit ads must use the special ad category and cannot target gender, age or postal codes. Healthcare and financial services may need certifications, and alcohol, gambling and pharmaceutical ads must be pre-approved by a Reddit sales representative.

Want landing pages that turn ad clicks into enquiries? See our website development service and all our services, or email [email protected].