Reddit is aiming to position itself as a “go-to search engine” as part of a broader push to improve how users find information on the platform. In its latest update to investors, CEO Steve Huffman said the company is concentrating resources on initiatives that address its most immediate priorities — with search now at the forefront.
According to Huffman, hundreds of millions of people visit Reddit each week seeking advice, and the company wants to convert more of those visits into active use of its native search. Reddit’s built-in search currently sees over 70 million weekly active unique users, while the site as a whole averages 416.4 million weekly active unique users. The company’s AI-powered search tool, Reddit Answers — launched in December 2024 — has grown from 1 million weekly users in Q1 2025 to 6 million today.
Reddit plans to expand Reddit Answers globally, integrate it more tightly with its core search functions, and make search “a central feature across Reddit.” The strategy reflects both an effort to improve user experience and a potential hedge against changes in how people discover content online. Historically, appending “Reddit” to Google searches has been a popular way to surface human-written responses in search results, but as Google integrates more AI-generated answers directly into its search pages, platforms like Reddit risk losing referral traffic.
By improving native search, Reddit is aiming to keep more users on-site and help them find relevant content without relying on external search engines. The move also builds on the company’s broader embrace of AI, which has included licensing data to companies such as OpenAI and Google.
Reddit, which celebrated its 20th anniversary last month, sees its role as a “community-powered platform for human connection” becoming more important as the internet evolves. CTO Chris Slowe recently told The Verge that early feedback on Reddit Answers has been positive, and the company believes that expanding it globally could make Reddit a more direct destination for people looking for advice, discussions, and answers from real users — not just a stop along the way from another search engine.
