TikTok SEO

October 25th 2023 By Ella Hughes 2 minute read

When SEO is mentioned your first thought may be search engines such as Google or Bing. And while these search engines play a huge part in SEO, it’s also important to consider other forms of search engines too, such as search engines in social media apps. 

Social media SEO isn’t anything new, it’s been around for some time. But, TikTok SEO is relatively recent. 

Over the last couple of years, TikTok has become the fastest-growing social media app. And with the growing number of people using the app, it means the number of people using it to find information also grows. 

Brands cannot afford to overlook where their target audiences are spending their time. So if your target audience is spending time on TikTok, it’s time to get clued up on TikTok SEO.

TikTok as a search platform 

TikTok is now overtaking Google Maps and Google Search for the queries of its (predominantly Gen Z) audience. 

Gen Z is heading to TikTok to search for places to travel, places to eat, clothes to buy, shows to watch etc. You can see where I’m going with this. 

Basically, if they want to know something, instead of turning to Google, Gen Z are heading to TikTok to find the information they need. And where Gen Z go, the older generations will eventually follow.

And even if you aren’t using TikTok itself as a search platform (yet) search engines such as Google are now showing relevant TikTok’s in their SERPs. Even ahead of Instagram and YouTube. 

 
 

It’s important to consider why people are choosing to search on TikTok, over the likes of Google. It’s because we are impatient. Short-form content is what people are after, and so it only makes sense that Google will reward short-form content in SERPs. 

You can read our recent blog on short-form videos here.

And of course, it’s all good and well knowing that people are using TikTok as a search platform, but that information on its own isn’t very useful if you don't know how to optimise your own TikTok SEO.

How to optimise your TikTok content for search 

Hashtags. One important factor of TikTok SEO is using hashtags. Using 3-6 hashtags that contain keywords will help optimise your content. These hashtags can be trending topics and keywords related to your brand/product or service.

1) Adding keywords into the text of your video. TikTok uses the keywords of the text within the video itself to serve the video to the users looking for that content.

2) Adding the keyword within the video can be more effective than adding it in the caption. 

3) Adding keywords in your captions. TikTok now has a 2,200-character limit. This means there are plenty of characters available to add your keyword into the caption. 

Need help optimising your TikToks? Or want some help with SEO? We’d love to chat! 

 

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