Google's AI search results will now turn to Reddit for 'Expert Advice'

Source: Engadget

Google is updating AI Overviews and AI Mode, the AI‑generated portions of its search engine, to highlight sources in new ways and more prominently feature first‑hand accounts from forums, social media, and Reddit.

New “Expert Advice” Section

A new Expert Advice section can appear in AI responses, showing “a preview of perspectives from public online discussions, social media and other firsthand sources.” In the sample screenshot Google provided, quotes from forums, WordPress blogs, and Reddit were arranged above links to their respective sources. Google also plans to add more context to these links—displaying a creator’s name, handle, or community name—so users can gauge the relevance of a source at a glance.

Additional Changes to AI Responses

• In‑depth article recommendations will appear at the end of AI responses, offering further exploration of a topic.
• Links to sources will be embedded directly within the generated answers rather than only listed at the bottom.
• If users subscribe to publications and link those subscriptions to their Google account, AI responses will highlight sources from those subscriptions.

Context and History

AI Overviews and AI Mode have been iterated on consistently since their launch in 2024 and 2025, respectively. Pulling from Reddit and other social platforms isn’t new—an early AI Overview hallucination was traced back to information from Reddit. The decision to cite Reddit more prominently now is notable, as some consider Reddit “a more useful source of information than Google” (Fast Company). Even before this update, the search engine has been featuring Reddit links in standard search results.

Potential Impact

Whether adding more links and recommending long‑form reporting makes a meaningful difference for the dwindling number of publications Google pulls from remains uncertain. As of 2025, Google claimed that its AI search tools were leading to more searches and higher‑quality clicks on the websites it cites (Engadget). Regardless of how much the company tweaks its AI responses, one outcome of AI Overviews and AI Mode is the creation of scenarios where users don’t need to click away to another website at all, because Google answers the question directly.