Eighty million people use Reddit search every week, Reddit said in its Q4 2025 earnings call last week. The expansion followed a major change: Reddit merged its main search with its AI-powered Reddit Answers and began positioning the platform as a place where users could start — and finish — their searches.
- Management has included this measure as a response to changing behavior. People are increasingly researching products and making decisions by asking questions in communities rather than relying on traditional search engines.
- Reddit is betting that it can keep more of that purpose on the platform, rather than serving mainly as a source of links elsewhere.
Why do we care. Reddit is becoming a place where people start – and end – their searches without ever touching Google. For brands, that means visibility on Reddit is now as important as traditional rankings and AI search for many purchase decisions.
Reddit search preferences. CEO Steve Huffman said Reddit made “significant progress” in Q4 by integrating keyword searches with Reddit Answers, its AI-powered Q&A experience. Users can now navigate between traditional search results and AI answers in a single interface, with answers appearing directly within the search results.
- “Reddit is already a place where people go to find things,” Huffman said, adding that the company wants to be “the ultimate search destination.”
- More than 80 million people searched Reddit weekly in Q4, up from 60 million last year, as users increasingly come to the site to research topics — not just scroll through feeds or click on Google.
Reddit Answers is growing. Reddit Answers is driving much of that growth. Huffman said query responses jumped from 1 million last year to 15 million in Q4, and search usage has risen correspondingly.
- He said Answers works best for open-ended questions—what to buy, watch, or try—when people are looking for multiple opinions instead of one definitive answer. Those questions naturally fit into Reddit’s community-driven discussions.
- Reddit also expands Answers beyond text. Huffman said the company is exploring “dynamic agent search results” that include media formats, reflecting the interactive and immersive search experience to come.
Reddit’s ‘big’ search. Huffman said the company is testing new app layouts that offer prominent search placement, including versions with a larger search bar, which always appears at the top of the home screen.
- COO Jennifer Wong said search and answers represent a huge opportunity, although monetization is still early in some areas.
- Wong described Reddit’s search behavior as “increasing and incremental” to existing engagement and often tied to high-purpose moments, such as researching a purchase or comparing options.
AI answers make Reddit so valuable. Huffman also linked Reddit search to collaborations with Google and OpenAI. He said Reddit content is now the most cited source for AI-generated responses, highlighting the platform’s growing influence on how people find information.
- Reddit sees AI snapshots as an opportunity — moving users from AI responses to Reddit communities, where they can read conversations, ask follow-up questions, and participate.
- When someone asks “what’s the best forum,” he said, Reddit wants users to find not just a summary, but a community where real people debate a topic.
Benefits of Reddit. Reddit Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Results; Announces $1 Million Share Repurchase Program
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