Reddit Is Testing Ad Placements in Its Search Results

Reddit is testing ad placements inside its own search results pages, putting paid posts beside the community threads people search for. The company announced the test on 3 November and says it is limited to "a select group of eligible advertisers".

How the Search Placements Work

Reddit says the placements "leverage existing ad targeting" on its search results pages. An ad may appear based on a range of factors, including how relevant it is to what the user searched for.

The company gives two examples. A search for "espresso station" could surface ads for espresso machines, coffee beans or mugs. A search for "home office setup" could surface ads for monitors, desks or office chairs.

That makes this new inventory running on Reddit's current targeting rather than a new way to buy search. The announcement describes no way to bid on a specific query or to choose search placements on their own. It also gives no pricing, no advertiser count and no date for wider access.

Reddit describes its search pages as having "high purchase and search intent". It points to its own shopping research, in which half of Reddit users say the platform helps them discover something new.

From Shopping Carousels to Paid Search Placements

In February, Reddit began testing shopping carousels in its search results. Those carousels showed product cards for shopping queries, some drawn from Dynamic Product Ads partner catalogs, for a small group of US users searching for electronics. The new test goes further: the results page itself becomes a placement that advertisers pay for.

Search has been the stated target for most of the year. Earlier in February, on Reddit's fourth-quarter 2025 earnings call, CEO Steve Huffman told analysts that search "is not monetized today, but it's an enormous market and opportunity."

Why Reddit Is Moving Now

The test arrived five days after Reddit's third-quarter results. Revenue rose 53% year over year to $895 million, and ad revenue rose 54% to $847 million. Global daily active uniques grew 12% to 130.3 million.

The US is the exception. US daily active uniques fell 2% to 50.7 million, from 51.6 million a year earlier. Logged-out US daily active uniques, people using Reddit without signing in, fell 4% to 27.3 million from 28.5 million. International daily active uniques grew 24% to 79.6 million.

In its third-quarter shareholder letter, Reddit said search traffic dropped by more than one million referrals a week on average during October. It added that if that rate of decline continues, current trends would suggest total daily active uniques could fall in the fourth quarter by a low-double-digit percentage from the current base of 130 million.

A platform losing visitors from outside search engines has a clear reason to sell the searches that happen inside its own app, where it controls the results page. The search test fits that pattern. US revenue was $718.9 million of the $895 million total, so the shrinking audience is in the market that still carries most of Reddit's ad business.

What the Placement Looks Like

Reddit's mock-up shows a sponsored post, labelled "Ad" with a "Shop Now" button, in the results for "home office setup". In one version the ad sits below a summary answer drawn from community sources. In the other, it sits between community posts.

The announcement does not say which ad formats are eligible for search placements.

What Advertisers Should Watch

Reddit is the latest search surface to open to ads. On 28 October, Google said it was expanding ads in AI Mode to ten markets outside the US. Reddit's version, as described, places ads using the targeting advertisers have already set rather than through a separate search campaign.

Reddit says it will use the test to understand how users respond to the ads and refine the experience "for users and advertisers over time." Pricing, any query-level controls and a date for wider access are the details that will decide whether search becomes a separate line in Reddit media plans.