Reddit keyword alerts that tell you who to answer
updated 1 November 2026
Reddit's own notifications cover replies, messages and posts from communities you follow. They don't tell you when someone uses a keyword. For that you need a saved search you check yourself, a free keyword alert service, or a tool like HearBuyers that reads each match and alerts you only when the post is worth answering.
Free ways to get Reddit keyword alerts
- A saved Reddit search. Search your phrase, sort by new, and bookmark the page. Our Reddit search builder writes the search for you, including subreddit and author filters.
- A Google alert on Reddit. Google Alerts with
site:reddit.com "your phrase"catches some threads, usually a day or more late, and misses most comments. - A free keyword alert service. Tools such as F5Bot email you posts and comments that contain your words.
All three send you every match. That works for your brand name. For buying signals, it means reading dozens of posts to find one buyer. In our one-week test of 10 keywords, 16% of 264 matches read as buyers.
How redditors set up keyword alerts
When people on Reddit ask how to get keyword alerts, most answers name the same free setups, plus one warning about noise.
- F5Bot, a free service that emails you posts and comments containing your words, was one of the two tools commenters named most often in the threads we read on 1 November 2026. The other was Reddit Pro, Reddit's own tool for businesses.
- An RSS feed of a search. Add
.rssto the end of a Reddit search URL and put the feed into any reader or automation tool. It's free, and it shows posts but not comments. - Pick communities first. Several replies say choosing narrow subreddits cuts more noise than clever keywords do. "Every time I try to monitor Reddit keywords seriously, I end up drowning in alerts that aren't actually relevant," wrote u/Emotional_Piccolo870 in r/AskMarketing (thread).
- Expect most alerts to be noise. We sampled 6,507 recent posts across 41 subreddits on 17 and 18 October 2026, and about 5% read as someone looking to buy or hire.
How we pick and check these threads is on how we research Reddit.
Alerts that only fire for buyers
HearBuyers starts from your website, not a keyword list. It writes the phrases your buyers use ("looking for a bookkeeper who knows Shopify", "alternative to" a competitor), reads the matching Reddit posts and comments, and scores each one from 0 to 100 for buying intent.
- Only posts at or above your threshold become alerts.
- Alerts go to Slack, a daily email and a team inbox.
- Each alert shows the sentence that matched, a one-line reason and a drafted reply.
- A person approves the reply and posts it themselves.
Which keywords to set alerts for
Use the Reddit keyword research tool to turn what you sell into buyer phrases. Good alerts mix three kinds:
| Kind | Example |
|---|---|
| Requests | "looking for a", "can anyone recommend", "need help with" plus your category |
| Problems | the problem in the buyer's words, such as "invoices keep bouncing" |
| Switching | "alternative to", "moving off", "switching from" plus a competitor |
Frequently asked questions
Can Reddit notify me when a keyword is mentioned?
Not natively. Reddit notifies you about your own posts, your messages and communities you follow. Keyword notifications need a saved search or a third-party tool.
Are Reddit keyword alerts real time?
HearBuyers scans on a schedule, not instantly. Matches reach Slack as each scan finishes, so you can answer the same day.
Do Reddit alerts include comments?
HearBuyers reads both posts and comments. Plenty of buying questions get asked in the comments under someone else's thread.
See who is asking for what you sell
Paste your website. Your first scored matches from X and Reddit arrive within minutes, each with a drafted reply. Free for 14 days, no card.