Reddit CEO says Google AI Mode does not drive traffic

What Reddit reported for October

Search Engine Journal reports that Reddit's referrals dropped by more than 1 million per week, on average, during October. That followed a third quarter in which referral traffic was "down meaningfully". Reddit's letter to shareholders says the decline sped up late in the quarter and carried into October.

Logged-out and web traffic took the biggest hit, with some carrying over to logged-in and app traffic, since many users come back that way. Daily active uniques held at 130.3 million globally, but the US figure fell from 53.2 million to 50.7 million, driven by logged-out users.

The numbers have limits, since the letter doesn't give the weekly referral count behind that drop or say how much came from Google. If the rate continues, Reddit warns total daily uniques could fall by a low-double-digit percentage in the fourth quarter.

Why Huffman points at Google AI Mode

Huffman's hypothesis has two parts, and the biggest is AI Overviews and AI Mode. Google appears to be expanding both aggressively in the US and elsewhere, he added. At a minimum, they push other results down the page. The second part is machine-translated content, which Reddit believes is being ranked lower, mainly outside the US.

Neither the letter nor the call says how much of the decline belongs to each factor. To Huffman this doesn't look like an algorithm change that comes and goes, though Reddit has no visibility into that. Demand for Reddit hasn't changed, he told shareholders, and "Google is crawling us as hard as ever". AI Mode "does not drive traffic", he went on, not for Reddit and, as far as he knows, not for anyone else.

Treat that last line as one CEO's view, because the report includes no figures from other sites. Reddit's own numbers still matter, as its threads rank across a wide range of Google queries and so give a first-party look at clicks. Reddit is also in active discussions with Google and OpenAI about data deals, which is worth keeping in mind.

What these AI features do to other results

Huffman's point is about position: at a minimum, both features push other search results down the page. He pairs that with demand, saying the word Reddit is still among the most-searched words on Google even as referrals fall. The report gives no figure for how far those results move, so treat this as his reading rather than a measurement.

The logged-in test and what Google visitors will see

The other announcement concerns logins. Reddit plans to start testing a logged-in-only version of the site in select markets outside the US this quarter, and it hasn't named them. The test will partly decide how much of Reddit people see before a login prompt, including people who arrive from Google. Some of Reddit will stay available before a hard login prompt, according to Huffman, and Reddit wants shared links to keep working.

"This is a test, but we are going to make this transition," Huffman said, adding that Reddit will likely trade reach for engagement. Logged-in and app users account for most of Reddit's monetisation, according to the letter. It adds that logging in gives Reddit more ad targeting signals and protects access to its corpus. Huffman's own point was that the vast majority of scraping happens through logged-out access.

A Reddit thread that ranks in Google has generally been readable without an account. In test markets, that will depend on where Reddit puts the login prompt. Reddit says the results will inform a logged-in-only Reddit globally.

Who AI Mode affects in the UAE

The report gives no UAE figures, and nobody outside Reddit knows yet whether the UAE is a test market. The wider question still reaches Dubai, since Huffman thinks these AI search features are expanding beyond the US. Outside the US, Reddit's daily uniques grew year over year. Even so, COO Jen Wong told shareholders that Reddit raised international marketing spend partly to replace reach lost from referrals.

Two groups should look closer: UAE businesses that win leads from people exploring a topic, and brands whose buyers research a product on Reddit. The first group is most exposed if an AI summary on Google covers what their pages say. The second would feel the change if the UAE joins the test, since a buyer clicking through from Google might meet a login prompt.

What a Dubai business should do now

Start with your own numbers, because Reddit's figures only describe Reddit. If you have access to Google Search Console, try comparing clicks with impressions for your homepage and top pages over the past three months. Pages with steady impressions and falling clicks deserve the first look, since that pattern fits Google answering directly on the results page. If you'd rather hand that review over, it's routine work for our SEO agency in Dubai team.

Do this legwork before you change anything, and note how any drop breaks down by page. Some pages may have improved over the same period, so look deeper at the ones that fell. Then discuss with your team which of those pages bring in leads, because that list sets the order for the steps below.

1. Check the results yourself. Run multiple searches for each page on several devices, including desktop and the Google app, using complex queries as well as short keywords. Note where AI Mode or an AI summary appears, and how far down the screen your own listing sits, since that's Huffman's point. If your buyers are searching in Arabic and English, check both and keep each language in its own browser tab.

2. Read what Google shows. Keep a basic log of each AI response, with its text and images, and flag any AI-powered response with links to your site. Compare those AI-generated summaries with your own pages, then refine the wording where needed. Write down your reasoning for each change you make, and the date you introduced it, so you can compare before and after.

3. Rebuild the pages that matter most. Put a direct answer at the top, then add the detailed information and first-hand insights a summary won't have. Give readers a reason to visit with an interactive tool, plus a way to send a request or book directly. Getting pages ready for AI results is the focus of our AI visibility work in Dubai.

4. Make the next step obvious. If you sell reservations or tickets, put the booking option near the top and keep the page's structured markup accurate. Watch how visitors interact with those pages, and change one thing at a time so you can see what worked.

5. Widen your traffic sources. Reddit raised its international marketing spend partly to replace lost reach, and a smaller business faces the same sums. Aim for a blend of organic and paid, and use our look at Google Ads vs Meta Ads to decide where to run new experiments.

6. Keep the visitors you win. Reddit plans to keep moving mobile web visitors into its app, and only a small share of eligible users see that prompt today. You don't need a login wall to copy the idea. Ask for an email address or a WhatsApp chat, then handle the follow-ups behind the scenes with AI marketing automation.

7. Answer questions on your own site. Add an AI chatbot to your key pages so users can ask complex questions without leaving. Feed it from your support tickets, because those show what buyers want to know, and keep a person reviewing the replies.

Be wary of anyone selling a shortcut into generative AI results. Asked whether brands advertise on Reddit to show up in AI models, Wong called Reddit "pretty skeptical of GEO" and fairly resistant to manipulation. Generative engine optimisation isn't part of its advertiser partnerships today, she added. Content that's helpful to a real buyer, with concise answers and first-hand detail, is a safer bet.

Judge all of this by leads rather than visits. The Adnika Dashboard: one live view of a client's ads, analytics and CRM data, with AI recommendations reviewed by the strategist. A client worried about AI Mode sees lost Google clicks beside ad results and CRM leads, so it's clear whether they cost any business.

What to watch next

When Reddit's login tests start, check how much of a thread a visitor from Google can read before a login prompt. CFO Drew Vollero said Reddit will keep reporting logged-in and logged-out daily uniques by geography, though an earlier letter planned to phase that out. Those numbers will show whether the decline carries on.