Photo by Zukiman Mohamad on Pexels
Reddit is aggressively pursuing a strategy to transform itself into a major search engine player. CEO Steve Huffman has emphasized the company’s commitment to becoming a ‘go-to search engine,’ leveraging its vast trove of user-generated content and existing partnerships with AI giants like OpenAI and Google. With over 70 million weekly active users already utilizing Reddit’s core search function, and 6 million engaging with the AI-powered ‘Reddit Answers’ tool, the platform is laying the groundwork for significant expansion. Plans include a global rollout of Reddit Answers, tighter integration with the core search experience, and positioning search as a central feature across the entire platform. CTO Chris Slowe has reported strong initial performance for Reddit Answers. This bold move appears to be a proactive measure to mitigate potential traffic losses stemming from Google’s increasingly prominent AI-driven answer boxes in search results. Reddit’s intensified focus on AI signals a major strategic shift towards dominance in the search landscape.