Reddit CEO Steve Huffman reported that Google’s AI Mode and AI Overviews are failing to drive traffic to the platform. Reddit saw search referrals drop by more than 1 million on average per week in October, prompting the company to shift toward becoming a direct destination.
The shift in how Google handles search is creating a friction point for publishers. During a Q3 2026 earnings call, Steve Huffman noted that while Google continues to crawl Reddit aggressively, the actual delivery of users to the site has stalled. Huffman believes AI Mode and AI Overviews now push most results further down the search page.
The reality is, AI Mode does not drive traffic. 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.
Steve Huffman, Reddit CEO
Reddit’s strategy to bypass Google referrals
To reduce its reliance on search engines, Reddit is attempting to transform into a direct, sticky, daily destination
. This transition includes the recent introduction of a For You
feed that provides recommendations based on user interests. The company also began testing an AI experiment in August designed to convert posts into short-form videos.
As part of this pivot, Reddit announced it will now require all users to log in. Huffman stated this move is intended to protect Reddit data, align with safety regulations, improve the ads business, and enhance the overall user experience.
Search ranking and monetization struggles
The traffic decline isn’t limited to AI summaries. Huffman indicated that Reddit’s content translated by machines into other languages is being ranked lower in search results, a trend that primarily impacts the company’s reach outside the United States.
Google is facing its own internal complications with these features. The company reported yesterday that it is seeing lower monetization
within AI Mode ads, even as it expands those ads into more countries.
Despite the drop in referrals, Huffman maintains that consumer demand remains high, noting that Reddit continues to be a top search term in Google
.
