According to analytics firm Semrush, Reddit has become the second most-cited website in Google’s AI Overviews – just behind Quora. While this is a strong endorsement, it also brings unique challenges. Since going public last year, Reddit has been busy trying to attract advertisers and boost profitability.
Google’s AI Overview, which creates AI-generated summaries of search results, leans on Reddit’s wealth of niche discussions. Both Reddit and Quora host deep dives into specific questions, turning them into rich resources for very detailed AI prompts. A further nod to this value came with a $60 million deal in 2024, which lets Google use Reddit’s data to train its models.
This boost in exposure has driven more traffic to Reddit – mainly from users not logged in. Yet, analysts at Redburn caution that this surge might be misleading since these casual visitors often look for quick answers rather than engaging deeply with the content.
Adding to the complexity, Google’s detailed natural language summaries may reduce the need for users to click through to Reddit, which in turn could impact overall site traffic. This concern even showed up in Reddit’s stock performance, which dipped following the launch of Google’s new AI Mode. Neither Reddit nor Quora has commented on these recent shifts.
Reddit’s ongoing partnership with Google highlights its determination to stay relevant amid a rapidly evolving AI search landscape. Whether this high-profile collaboration will eventually translate into financial gains for the platform remains to be seen.
