Reddit’s CEO says Google’s AI Mode ‘does not drive traffic’

Reddit chief executive Steve Huffman said Google’s AI Mode is not sending visitors to Reddit, as the search experience shifts from directing users to websites towards answering queries on the results page. The change matters because Reddit and other publishers rely on search referrals to reach readers, and the company says those referrals have fallen.

Reddit reported that search referrals in October dropped by more than one million per week on average. Huffman also said AI Overviews and AI Mode push links further down results, while machine-translated Reddit content may rank lower outside the US; he said Reddit remains a popular Google search. The company is trying to encourage direct, regular visits with a personalised feed and plans to require users to log in.