“In our studies, something like almost 40% of young people, when they’re looking for a place for lunch, they don’t go to Google Maps or Search. They go to TikTok or Instagram” – Google’s Senior Vice President, Prabhakar Raghavan.
TikTok and Instagram are fast becoming Google’s rival search engines as younger audiences continue to use them as a preferred method of discovery for their search queries.
TikTok SEO is ultimately based on gaining more views on your video as more people start to use TikTok as a search engine.
How to optimise your TikTok videos
1) Keyword research
Firstly you need to have a good idea of the keywords you want your video to appear for.
TikTok has its own keyword insights tool in its Creative Centre. This gives you keyword inspiration as well as insights into what’s currently trending.
Although TikTok is a great source of inspiration, it’s still worth using SEO keyword research tools like Semrush and Google Keyword Planner as TikTok videos also appear in the SERPs! Understanding the search terms people use and the intention behind those searches will get you one step closer to increasing your views.
2) Start searching on TikTok
Once you’ve found your primary keyword, type it into the TikTok search bar and you’ll see a long list of related suggestions straight underneath your search bar. This list is perfect for finding out what content is popular and provides relevant keywords that others have searched for. After all, there’s nothing more important than understanding your target audience and getting a good idea of what content they’re engaging with.
Once you’ve clicked on your search term and TikTok has brought up all the suggested videos a short scroll past the first few videos you’ll also find an ‘others searched for’ section with similar terms and trending topics for your chosen keyword.
Add these search terms to your list and you’ll have built out the perfect TikTok SEO keywords list.
3) Place keywords in your video
So now you have your keyword list but how do you use them to optimise your video?
Our first suggestion is to use your chosen keywords verbally in your video so that they appear in your video’s transcript.
If there’s no dialogue in your video the next way is to place important keywords in your video text such as in video titles. Or if you don’t want the text to ruin your aesthetic you can hide important keywords by camouflaging them into the video by minimising the size and changing the colour to prevent them from being seen by viewers.
4) Hashtags
There’s no better place to squeeze in your important keywords than in your post description and hashtags.
Hashtags help to drive traffic to your videos and make sure that the right people find you. Hashtags can help to build up your online community and get unique conversations going.
5) Strategic comments
Once the video is posted you can strategically reply to comments by integrating in more of your important keywords and hashtags but remember to make sense and remain discrete. The aim is to make your replies relevant and helpful to your audience whilst further increasing your visibility.
If you would like help with your social media strategy, our social media team have the skills and knowledge to help build your brand.
The best thing about TikTok?
The best thing about TikTok is that your follower count isn’t a factor in its SEO algorithm. This means that if your content speaks to your target audience, you have as much chance of landing on their ‘for you’ page as people with thousands of followers.
