Reddit Stock Falls After CEO Confirms Google Traffic Decline

Reddit's stock dropped 36% over the past week, Search Engine Roundtable reported on November 2. The decline followed an interview in which Reddit CEO Steve Huffman told CNBC that traffic from Google Search had been falling.

Huffman told CNBC that Google-driven search traffic had declined meaningfully this quarter, pointing to the shift to AI Mode and AI Overviews as the cause. He said past Google algorithm changes tended to come and go, but this AI shift is a fundamental change in what the product does, moving away from sending traffic at all.

Huffman also said the traffic decline was part of what pushed Reddit toward requiring logged-in access for more of its content. He said the relationship between Google and the rest of the internet is evolving, and that Reddit's focus going forward is on the core users who come directly to the platform.

Huffman's comments reportedly came during a CNBC interview tied to Reddit's third-quarter 2026 earnings. Reddit has complained about shrinking Google traffic since February 2025, but this marks the first time its CEO has acknowledged the trend so directly in public.

It isn't clear the decline is entirely due to AI Overviews. Google has previously said Reddit gets no special treatment in Search. SEO consultant Glenn Gabe pointed out that Reddit's AI-translated pages took a hit from the May 2026 core update and the June spam update, suggesting other factors may be mixed in as well.

Barry Schwartz, the site's Executive Editor, said every SEO out there knew this was coming eventually, adding that while he isn't an investment expert, the stock looks risky to him.

Community-driven sites like Reddit, which rely heavily on user-submitted content for traffic, may feel the shift of Google search traffic toward AI Overviews and AI Mode earlier and more sharply than most. Still, this case involves other overlapping factors, like algorithm updates and translated-page quality issues, so it's too soon to pin the entire decline on AI Overviews.

If your own site's traffic has dropped, it's worth checking algorithm updates and content quality alongside any AI Overview impact rather than assuming a single cause. Keeping multiple explanations open and ruling them out one at a time tends to produce a more accurate diagnosis than settling on one early.

Source: Search Engine Roundtable, November 2, 2026. Checked November 3, 2026. Read the original