Reddit CEO Steve Huffman says Google’s AI-powered search features are no longer sending people to the platform, and the company is responding by restricting access. Reddit will stop letting logged-out users and people without accounts view its content, starting with tests in what it calls “select markets” outside the United States.
Huffman made the case during the company’s third-quarter earnings call. Reddit reported that search traffic was “down meaningfully” in the most recent quarter, with referrals from search dropping by more than 1 million each week during October. He pinned part of the blame on how AI Mode and AI Overviews have changed the search experience and fueled zero-click search.
Why does Reddit say Google's AI Mode no longer drives traffic?
“The reality is, AI Mode does not drive traffic,” Huffman said. “Not for us, and not to anybody, as far as I know. That’s just a fundamental shift in how Google works. It used to be a traffic driver, now it’s not.”
Will Reddit's changes affect users outside the U.S.?
He said AI Overviews and AI Mode have “evolved a lot” and now, at a minimum, push “everyone down the search page.” Reddit also believes content that has been machine-translated into other languages is ranking lower in search results, a problem he said would hit the company mainly outside the U.S.
Huffman was quick to add that Reddit remains a “top search term in Google.” “This doesn’t say anything about the internet consumers’ demand for Reddit,” he said. “People still want Reddit. It says Google is not sending them to Reddit the way they used to.” He also noted that Google is “crawling us as hard as ever,” which he said suggests demand hasn’t changed from Google’s point of view.
Google has its own problems with AI search. The company said recently that it is seeing “lower monetization” in AI Mode ads, even as it expands AI ads to more countries.
Why is Reddit restricting logged-out access to its content?
The logged-in change is the most significant step Reddit has taken as it fights AI scraping and shifts in search. In a shareholder letter, Huffman wrote that “a key piece of work to retain new audiences is shifting Reddit to a logged-in-only experience.” He added that “moving to primarily logged-in will ensure our users have the best Reddit experience possible.”
Some users are likely to push back. Many already grumble about recent moves, including restrictions on Old Reddit. Huffman acknowledged the shift is a “big change” but said it is necessary.
He argued the benefits go beyond traffic. “It is better for our business because we will have more signals for ads targeting, and being logged-in leads to higher engagement generally,” he wrote. “It also allows us to protect access to Reddit’s extremely valuable corpus of data, and helps us better adapt to emerging regulations around the world.”
Huffman did not explicitly mention age verification laws, though requiring logins would presumably help Reddit comply with such rules. He also did not say exactly when logged-out visitors will hit a “hard prompt” to sign in. “We need to find the right boundary,” he said. “Whether they’re coming from a shared link or maybe from search... there’ll be some version of Reddit accessible for those moments before we do that hard prompt.”
Reddit’s relationship with Google adds another layer. The company has a licensing deal that lets Google access its data for AI training, reportedly worth about $60 million a year. Recent reports suggest Reddit may be reconsidering that arrangement. Asked about it on the call, Huffman said there are “active discussions” but offered no specifics. “What’s most important is that any deal we do needs to advance our long-term strategy, it has to be a fair exchange of value,” he said.
Reddit is also working on its own product changes to keep people engaged. It recently introduced a “For You” feed with recommendations based on user interests, and in August it started testing an experiment that uses AI to turn posts into short videos. Huffman said the company is adding “more organization” to its main feed to make it “more consistent” and “less grab bag-ey.”
He also floated an “incognito mode,” suggesting “private browsing” could help Reddit reach users who repeatedly uninstall and reinstall the app.
Este artículo fue escrito con la asistencia de IA.
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