Strategies That Work To Improve Reddit Karma

Although everyone can start with Reddit easily, it doesn’t mean they can freely post anything they want right away. Reddit uses a strict set of rules to protect its communities. It has its own algorithm that defines certain boundaries for the fair usage of Reddit.

What is Reddit Karma?

Karma is a point system used by Reddit. It works according to the number of upvotes (up arrow) and downvotes (down arrow) your posts receive.

There is no rule that the more upvote you get, the more Karma you will earn. Also, if the overall Karma level increases, it becomes more difficult to earn more Karma. Karma drops as you get downvote.

What types of Karmas Exist?

There are 2 types of Karmas.

Link Karma and Content Karma. Link Karma earned for link submissions while content karma is earned for comments posted in a thread.

Also, if the post is “text-only” it is called a “self-post” and it will also earn karma.

Another important thing to note is “vote fuzzing.” If you look at your posts and notice that your karma score fluctuates a few points constantly, it is because Reddit automatically hides the score. This is a very normal thing.

If you are concerned about your Reddit karma score keeps changing or not updating, it is due to the vote fuzzing.

Reddit does it to prevent people from using bots to game its system. However, you will always get the real score on your karma totals, but can be different than what you see on individual posts.

How Does Reddit Karma Work?

Karma defines how everything should work on Reddit. Which users can post, where they can post, how often they can post etc. all are very closely tied up Karma points.

If you don't have enough Karma and you try to post content beyond your limits on Reddit, your post will be taken down by Reddit moderation immediately.

Also, some subreddits have a hash limit. In other words, a certain level of Karma is needed to subscribe to some pages. Some sub's don't allow post if there isn't enough hash.

Most people don't like Reddit due to its strict rules limiting people freely interact on it. Although it may seem like a minus, in fact, it works like a major plus for Reddit. Karma effectively prevents spammers to take advantage of Reddit's platform.

I have seen many posts online people are complaining they can't use Reddit since it doesn't allow to post anywhere. The reason people want to post content on Reddit is that it is a high-quality platform.

If Reddit allowed everyone to come and spam their links, and irrelevant posts everywhere, people would quit using Reddit.

Why Do You need Karma Points?

It is definitely nice to see you have accumulated a fat number of Karma points under your account. However, you should not be earning these points for the sake of “earning points” only.

Here are the things how you can use your karma points in order to maximize the benefit of Reddit for your goals.

✔️ Post comments as much as you want.

If you don't have enough karma yet, Reddit will ask you to wait for a while (usually a few minutes) before posting another comment. Once you have enough at least some Karma, you will not need to wait anymore.

✔️ Join “exclusive” subreddits.

There are subreddits that will ask you to have a minimum amount of Karma for you to join. For instance, r/CenturyClub requires at least 100K Post or Comment Karma (not combined) to join them.

✔️ Enjoy more credibility.

Earned karma credits are displayed publicly. What that means everyone who wonders how much karma a user has can easily find out. Hence, Redditors take pride in their karma as it is often associated with respect on Reddit.

More karma means a better reputation you have on the platform. People are more likely to give credibility to what you have to say.

✔️ Rules will stretch and will work for you.

Reddit rules become less dictating once you improve your karma. For instance, self-promotion is more tolerated if it is coming from a person who has more Karma.

Many people built their authority and used their Karma to promote their brands or services. Although it is possible, still not well aligned with Reddit's fair use.

How Is It Calculated?

If you are a new user, almost every upvote will add points to your Karma. However, once you reach thousands, things get a little more complicated.

Reddit doesn't disclose how its algorithm calculates Karma. We are not even sure if there is a dedicated karma algorithm.

What we think more upvotes a comment or link gets, the less karma each upvote is worth.

Also, there is no formula telling us how much Reddit karma per upvote you can earn. Hence a comment with 10K upvotes will not necessarily earn you a 10K of Comment Karma.

How to Increase Reddit Karma?

Reddit seems not very welcoming new users since new users start without authority on it. If you are just started to use Reddit, you need to build your authority on the platform by earning Reddit Karma points.

The mechanics of earning Karma is not very clear, most new users want to crack the code to earn Karma credit points easier.

Like most online communities user reputation is very important on Reddit. The more you use Reddit by engaging people and providing value to its communities higher your Karma will be.

But I want to give you a few tips or tactics that will help you to earn Karma quickly.

Trust me Reddit is much more fun once you are able to freely post on most places you want to without any significant limitations.

1. Join Popular Subreddits

You need more interactions with what you post to quickly improve your Karma points. Find big subreddits where a lot of people hang out.

If you post something interesting and that hits people at an emotional level (anger, love, excitement, etc.), you can get lots of Karma from a single post alone.

The minus of interacting with larger communities is that they’re more strictly moderated, and even if you could succeed to post as a newbie, you will likely have a hard time standing out from the crowd.

2. Reply to threads on the Hot tab

In your account, you will see a “HOT” tab.

This tab shows the most popular threads from the subreddits you have subscribed to. Because many people are engaging in these threads, your comments will very likely to gain more visibility and more up-votes.

3. Write Relevant Comments

You can increase your karma points by writing comments. It would make more sense if you do this to content that is recently added to the subs you follow instead of the front-page.

There is no point in commenting on posts that were shared hours ago and received thousands of comments.

⭐Here is my killer tip. If you send a message to the moderation in some subs, they can approve your post even if you don't have enough karma yet.

4. Post Things That Can Go Viral (Funny, Unique, etc.)

If you can post something really outside the box that can go viral you will quickly build your authority on Reddit. I am sure you have seen the photo of a crazy cat, or a guilty behaving dog gets quickly viral on many platforms.

You know the type of content people have no option but to share with their friends. There is no magic formula or proven methodology producing viral content. However, if you can achieve it you will surely dominate Reddit.

The more engagement your posts get more Karma you will earn. If you post only a few things and expect them to go viral immediately, you will get disappointed. You need to try new things, unique content that is not shared anywhere else before.

5. Discuss Controversial Topics

The more controversy your post creates the more engagement it will likely attract. Try to talk about polarizing subjects that are people emotionally compelled to interact.

Being said that, you should not take this advice too far. If you post type of content against the Reddit's content policy, you may find yourself kicked out of Reddit. Know the boundaries and play the game according to the rules.

6. Earn Upvotes

Karma is earned not only from submitted posts but also from upvotes from post comments. So you can raise your Karma level even without posting! In contrast to the submitted posts, a hash is earned for each upvote in the comments written.

7. Be the first one commenting

Monitor new posts in hot subreddits and engage with the ones that have decent upvoting potential. If it goes as you have planned your comment will sit at the top position.

Once you have found the piece of content you want to engage, provide a relevant and insightful comment to it.

The more engagement a post gets, chances are higher to get even more engagement. Because people tend to agree with the earlier people if the majority already reached a consensus about it.

8. Ask and Answer on r/AskReddit

If you truly want to maximize your potential engagement, I would recommend you to check out r/AskReddit. It has 23 million members who are more than the population of some countries in Europe.

It works quite simply. Ask questions, and give answers.

You can pretty much ask anything here that you can't find a solution for years. If enough people believe your question is worth asking, you will earn thousands of Karma to your account.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Can Reddit Coins or Reddit Premium earn you Karma?

Reddit Coins or Reddit Premium has nothing to do to increase your Karma.

Can you sell karma on Reddit in exchange for money (not a Reddit account)?

You can buy/sell Reddit karma however it is against the Reddit's terms and conditions. Accounts involved both buying and selling karma (comment or link) will get banned if it is found.

Buying karma is not recommended and doesn't really worth it. If you post good engaging content you will earn karma points easily.

What are some good Reddit karma milestones?

There are no magic numbers that can be accepted as the Reddit Karma score milestones. Some people can acquire a few hundred, some a few thousand, or six figures in a few years.

Usually a six-figure (100K) considered as a high karma level by many people.

It depends on how actively you are involving in the Reddit community, how much value you bring to the platform, and how other people perceive your contribution.

Most new users on the platform develop a syndrome called “Reddit karma addiction” which means trying to improve karma score continuously.

However, it is a vicious cycle that users should avoid getting trapped. Because there will be always someone who has better karma.

Try to grow your karma without worrying if you have enough karma for an account that is certain years old.