DesignRush SEO Roundup: Reddit Milestone, Discover Update, WebMCP Launch

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This week brought Reddit's massive search usage reveal, Google's Discover crackdown, and Bing's new AI citation tracking tools.

Here's a breakdown of the most significant search developments over the past seven days.

Reddit Search Reaches 80 Million Weekly Users

Eighty million people use Reddit search every week, Reddit disclosed on its Q4 2025 earnings call.

This figure positions it as a significant search platform, capturing query volume that previously went to traditional search engines.

The growth reflects users seeking authentic peer discussions and recommendations through Reddit's search function, bypassing Google for certain query types.

Google Rolls Out February Discover Update

Google launched a February Discover core update targeting clickbait articles.

The update specifically aims to reduce low-quality content that uses sensational headlines to drive clicks without delivering substantive information.

Google and Bing also don't recommend separate markdown pages for LLMs, as this may be considered cloaking and violates Google's policies.

Bing Launches AI Performance Report

Bing Webmaster Tools rolled out an AI performance report, enabling users to see how often their content gets cited in AI answers.

The tools show which URLs are referenced and how citation activity changes over time, providing visibility into AI search performance.

This represents the first major search engine to offer transparent citation metrics, giving publishers data they've lacked for measuring AI visibility.

Video Content Dominates LLM Data Hierarchy

A five-minute video provides more data for an LLM than most blog posts, according to new research from Search Engine Land.

Authoritative videos provide semantic information through their transcript and visuals, becoming the canonical source of truth that overrides opinions from Reddit and other sources.

The findings suggest that video investment delivers much stronger AI visibility benefits than traditional SEO considerations.

Google Previews WebMCP Protocol

Google previewed WebMCP, a new protocol for AI agent interactions that lets developers tell LLMs exactly what each button or link on a website does.

The protocol could enable automated task completion through clear action labeling.

WebMCP represents a potential standard for how AI systems interact with web interfaces programmatically.

Industry Expert Insights

SEO expert Matt Diggity shared that 90% of your SEO wins are hiding in just 20 pages on your site, offering tips on how to discover them.

The observation applies the Pareto principle to SEO, suggesting that concentrated optimization on high-performing pages delivers better results than broad-based improvements.

SEO expert Lily Ray is also reminding marketers about Google's guidance document for writing good reviews, which was published in 2023 but is still relevant today.

This comes as Google continues targeting low-quality review content across multiple updates.

These updates create three immediate action items:

• Monitor Reddit as a search competitor by tracking brand mentions and discussions, since its search function now represents significant discovery volume.
• Audit Discover content for clickbait patterns, as the February update specifically targets sensational headlines that lack substantive backing.
• Use Bing's AI performance report to establish baseline AI citation metrics and identify which content types earn the most visibility.

Video content's data density advantage for LLMs also suggests that video production should be a core component of your AI visibility strategy.

Our Take: Is Search Fragmenting Into Specialized Channels?

I think that Reddit's 80 million weekly search users demonstrates that "search" now happens across multiple specialized platforms, with each serving different user needs and query types.

The video data density finding reveals that AI systems prioritize rich media formats that pack more semantic information per minute of user attention.

Bing's AI performance report may also force Google to either match transparency on AI citations or accept that publishers will lack basic performance data for a growing traffic source.

I suspect WebMCP represents Google's attempt to standardize AI agent interactions before uncontrolled automation creates website accessibility and security problems.

For insights on Google's listicle crackdown and WordPress AI guidelines, check out last week's SEO roundup.

Looking for guidance on AI citation optimization and multi-platform search strategies?

These top SEO agencies develop approaches that address fragmented discovery across search engines, social platforms, and AI systems.