Reddit is taking steps to evolve from a discussion platform into a full-featured search destination, according to comments made by CEO Steve Huffman during the company’s Q2 2025 earnings call. The move comes as users increasingly add “Reddit” to Google searches to surface authentic, community-driven content – particularly in response to growing frustration with AI-generated or SEO-optimized results across the web.
Huffman emphasized Reddit’s unique value proposition, citing the platform’s “breadth of conversations and knowledge you can’t find anywhere else.” The company is betting on this rich user-generated content as a key asset in competing with traditional search engines and newer AI search products like ChatGPT and Perplexity. There’s some truth to this – there’s a known trend of appending the word “reddit” to a search queries on normal search engines, which avoids AI answers and specifically only displays Reddit threads containing real discussions from real people.
A cornerstone of this strategy is Reddit Answers, an AI-driven Q&A product launched earlier this year. Currently active in a dozen countries and serving 6 million users, Reddit Answers draws on the platform’s massive archive of posts and comments to generate responses. The tool is set to receive a global rollout and deeper integration into the site’s core experience.
Reddit plans to unify Reddit Answers with its traditional search functionality into a single, streamlined interface. A major redesign of the mobile app is also in progress, placing the search bar front and center for all users. These changes are intended to reframe how users interact with Reddit – not just as a social site, but as a primary tool for finding relevant, real-world answers.
