Reddit wants to be a search engine now

Reddit, the popular online community platform, is making a strategic move to become a go-to search engine. The company is investing in improving its own search capabilities, recognizing the value of the data it has from its active user base. Reddit's CEO, Steve Huffman, has stated that the company is "concentrating its resources on the areas that will drive results for its most pressing needs," which includes "making Reddit a go-to search engine." The platform's core search already has over 70 million weekly active unique users, and its AI-powered search tool, Reddit Answers, has seen a significant increase in usage, from 1 million weekly users in the first quarter of the year to 6 million weekly users currently. To further strengthen its search capabilities, Reddit is planning to expand Reddit Answers globally, integrate it more deeply into the core search experience, and make search a central feature across the platform. This move could be a strategic response to the growing competition from search engines like Google, which are increasingly providing direct answers using AI, potentially reducing the traffic to Reddit. As Reddit celebrates its 20th anniversary, the company is embracing the evolving landscape of the internet and aims to solidify its role as a community-powered platform for human connection, with search being a crucial component of this strategy.