Reddit is going logged-in only. Blame Google AI Overviews.
Source: Business Insider ·
Like publishers everywhere, Reddit is learning the hard lesson that Google giveth — and Google taketh away traffic.
From the source
Reddit's Google search-fueled traffic bonanza has come to an end.Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP via Getty ImagesReddit announced it will be going logged-in only (with some caveats).This comes after Reddit's search traffic has fallen, as people use AI more and more.But in 2024, Reddit had a search traffic bonanza after cutting a deal with Google.Reddit announced on Thursday that it will soon start being a (mostly) logged-in-only experience, citing declining search traffic as one of the reasons. Redditors, who are famously level-headed and open to change, reacted about how you would expect.In an earnings call, CEO Steve Huffman said that Google's AI Overviews "are not traffic drivers"," and that "Google has really shifted in their relationship with the rest of the internet."It wasn't so long ago — June 2024 — that I wrote an article with the headline "Reddit's traffic is way, way up. Like, banoodles up."Things have changed a lot in those two short years!Here's what happened back in 2024.…
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