Reddit Traffic Fell 13% as Google AI Overviews Shifted Search

Reddit’s global visits fell 13% from October 2025 to October 2026, according to analytics firm Similarweb, as Google search referrals declined and the company prepared to require login for most web access.

In Reddit’s third-quarter earnings, CEO Steve Huffman said Google’s AI Overviews “are not traffic drivers” and have led to a drop in search traffic. In the investor letter, he wrote that Google search traffic was “down meaningfully.” If the trend continued, he said, Reddit could see a low double-digit drop in unique visits.

Reddit’s own metric points upward. A recent shareholder letter reported that weekly active uniques increased 16% year over year in October. A Reddit spokesperson said the company counts daily and weekly active uniques, while Similarweb estimates total visits. The figures measure different behavior, leaving Reddit with a specific problem: fewer total visits according to external analytics, but more weekly active uniques according to its internal reporting.

How did AI Overviews change the path to Reddit?

Google increasingly displays AI Overviews instead of a list of links, while people also turn to chatbots for answers. The change moves the interaction earlier: users can receive information on the Google results page without opening a result. For Reddit, the company links this more frequent and useful AI Overviews format to lower search traffic.

The company’s history makes the reversal more pronounced. In 2024, when Reddit’s search traffic was rising, it licensed its content to Google for AI training. Similarweb measured a 39% increase in Reddit traffic from May 2023 to May 2024. As Google expanded AI Overviews, Reddit’s traffic fell. The licensing deal came during the growth period; the later expansion of Overviews coincided with the decline.

Why is Reddit moving users behind a login?

Reddit’s response is to require login for most web access. The rationale is the value of identified users rather than the volume of referrals. Huffman said: “Search referral trends do not determine our relevancy, and they do not define our future. Logged-in and app DAUq are our most valuable users, and they are our primary focus.”

That choice is likely to deepen the public traffic decline because some readers will be shut out of the site. In practical terms, Reddit is changing a storefront into a members’ entrance: anonymous browsers may see less, while the company concentrates on people it can identify and engage through the logged-in product or app. Huffman also described the non-logged-in web traffic affected by the decline as Reddit’s most lucrative.

The company is not only tightening access. This week, Reddit said it would launch Reddit Reviews, which will organize user recommendations for products. The feature adds a product-focused area alongside the access change, while Reddit moves away from dependence on search-engine referrals.

If Google’s search-referral decline continues, Reddit faces the low double-digit unique-visit reduction Huffman warned about while it tests whether its logged-in focus can sustain engagement as anonymous web reach contracts.