Google’s AI Search Threatens Reddit’s Traffic Dominance

Reddit’s days as the go-to forum for real human answers might be numbered—Google’s AI now cuts out the middleman.

The search giant’s generative answers bypass Reddit threads entirely, serving up distilled wisdom without the memes or flame wars. No more sifting through r/explainlikeimfive when algorithms deliver instant clarity.

Traffic dips could hit Reddit’s ad revenue hard—though let’s be real, their IPO already priced in maximum dystopian growth anyway.

AI Mode puts Reddit’s search traffic at risk

One platform with the potential to be heavily affected is Reddit. Traditional Google Search has been very good for Reddit.

You can use any search engine you want, but many of us end up on Reddit when looking for human answers to real-world problems, regardless of whether we are logged in. Google has even prioritized Reddit links in the search rankings in recent years, understanding that users can often put more trust in a forum than a cookie-cutter website.

But with AI Mode, Google could start answering user questions directly from data scraped off sites like Reddit—without ever driving a click to them. So fewer people will potentially click through to Reddit properly.

This is no small concern. The recent growth on Reddit has been powered largely by logged-out users—people who browse Reddit casually and find the site via search. These users are not the loyal base of Reddit, but they do have numbers.

If AI Mode starts feeding Reddit-style responses without pointing to the site, that could be the quickest path to drying up a big source of visitors. That fear is already being reflected in the market.

In February, Reddit’s stock tumbled more than 15% after the company announced its traffic had been “choppy” since Google’s search algorithm changed. Reddit’s chief executive, Steve Huffman, has said Google’s updates have meant that Reddit is unsure what traffic it can count on going forward.

Reddit strengthens its community to offset AI traffic loss

While search traffic is nice to have, the company’s strength is its logged-in user base. These regular users visit Reddit directly and participate in community discussions.

These users stay longer, engage with more meaningful content, and bolster ad revenue.

However, Reddit is also developing its own AI tools. In March 2025, it introduced Reddit Answers, an AI system that surfaces useful summaries from Reddit threads.

Now, the platform is putting Reddit Answers front and center by adding it to its main search bar to help people find authentic, community-driven content more easily. This is a play partly in defense and partly in offense. It tries to lock users onto the platform using AI tools from Google and others.

Reddit’s CEO, Steve Huffman, expressed confidence in the long-term value of human voices despite the rise of AI in search. He acknowledged that large language models (LLMs) change how people search online.

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