Reddit is the 2nd most-cited source in Google AI Overviews, but that might not mean much for its bottom line
Reddit's relationship with Google is complicated.
The social media forum, which went public last year and is under pressure like never before to attract advertisers and turn a profit, has recently enjoyed priority status on Google Search.
And now that Google has launched its AI Overview, a natural language synopsis of search results at the top of the page, it seems its preference for citing Reddit remains.
Analytics firm Semrush shared data this month on how AI-powered search is affecting traffic. It found that Reddit is the second most-cited website in Google AI Overviews, following Quora.
"Quora and Reddit users often ask and answer niche questions that aren't addressed elsewhere. Making them rich information sources for highly specific AI prompts," the study's authors wrote. "Reddit may also perform well because Google has a partnership with Reddit and uses Reddit data to train its systems."
Reddit and Google entered a partnership, worth a reported $60 million, in 2024 that allowed Google to train its AI models on Reddit's content. Google said the deal would "facilitate more content-forward displays of Reddit information."
All of this has helped Reddit increase its traffic over the last year, which might entice more advertisers.
That traffic, however, is largely coming from so-called logged-out users, meaning they aren't account holders at Reddit and are unlikely regular visitors. Analysts at Redburn called much of Reddit's growth"misconstrued."
"Accelerated user growth has been driven predominantly by logged-out users who arrive on the platform largely via Google Search," the Redburn analysts wrote in March. "These users are much less valuable to Reddit as they are typically just looking for an answer to a query and thus spend little time on the platform."
And while Google AI Overview might often cite Reddit as a source, the way it displays search results in a natural language summary means many searchers will be less likely to click through to Reddit itself.
Reddit's stocks fell in May after Google launched its new AI Mode, as concerned analysts said the new feature would likely decrease traffic to Reddit.
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