originally posted to www.carnsight.com

It’s been no secret that Google is slowly losing its status as the default search engine. With TikTok as an evolving social media platform, younger generations are looking to discover things beyond Google.  

It’s been talked about before, but it’s fully coming into play now. And as a brand, you need to adapt to the needs of your audience. Search engines aren’t dead, and they won’t be anytime soon, but it’s no longer just about being visible on Google. To be visible across your social content as well, you need to optimise for social search.  

What do we mean by social search?

Social search describes any user behaviour which involves searching for information directly within the social platform, instead of using Google. And this is steadily on the rise – it’s reported that 23% of users search within the first 30 seconds of opening TikTok. 

TikTok pioneered this growth in social search with its interest-based algorithm, offering users a personalised experience they hadn’t had before. It made discovery less passive – instead of being fed the content of people we follow, TikTok made it so users can actively search for the content they want to know more about.  

That content also became more engaging than a traditional Google search, with social media making education both accessible, and attention-grabbing. Audiences began to trust the storytelling in User Generated Content. For a quick dinner meal idea, people are turning to TikTok and getting inspiration from a creator, rather than following a written recipe. So just as your recipes want to rank high on Google, it’s time to get them visible for social search. 

How do you optimise content for social search?

People are much less likely to randomly stumble across your content. They have a need, they search for that need, and if your content appears for that search term, they will watch it.  

It’s similar to implementing SEO for Google – social content needs keywords, captions and on-screen text to rank. TikTok’s algorithm has to give your content an accurate label, for it to appear in a user’s search results.  

Whatever your niche may be, Google Trends or Creator Search Insights can help ensure your content is based around trending and related searches. Creator Search Insights will show you the topics that are frequently searched for on TikTok, but it can also show you the search topics that have fewer relevant posts. You can identify content gaps within your niche, and tailor your content plan to fill this gap. Less competition means more visibility for your brand, so do your keyword research before you create your content, rather than trying to shoehorn it in later.  

How is your content discovered?

After your post the content, TikTok will index your video, essentially putting it into a category that will appear when another user searches similar keywords. But that’s not the only way to get your content discovered, and TikTok’s comment section can be just as effective as its search bar. When you look through comments of a video, you may notice some turn blue: 

This is a feature added by TikTok – if the words in a comment are relevant to the specific videos, or are frequently searched, TikTok will turn the comment blue to link it straight to that search term.  

So again, keywords are essential. And the more relevant your keywords are to the content you’re posting, the more discoverable that content will be.  

Testing the algorithm

Of course, this is something that may take some trial and error. The algorithm isn’t perfect, and you can’t expect TikTok to accurately index your videos all the time. For example, say we wanted to rank for the term ‘ice cream’, so we posted a video eating an ice cream in Marshfield. Despite the content being more relevant to ice cream, writing Marshfield in the caption could trigger a location tag from TikTok, meaning the content would now rank for the term ‘Marshfield’.  It’s a bit of a delicate balance, but TikTok lets you tweak captions for up to 7 days after posting, so if you find your content is ranking for the wrong search term, it may be worth trying a different caption, and removing the location tag. 

It may be something you have to keep testing, but it’s definitely something to start trying. Optimising across multiple platforms, including both search engines and social search, is key for top visibility, and letting your audience find you however is best for them. 

Looking for more SEO tips? Here’s how to get started with Google. 

About Carnsight Communications

At Carnsight Communications we create strategies and campaigns to showcase our clients’ brilliant work through PR, content and social media. We help them get noticed by the right audience, at the right time. We specialise in creative agency PR.