TikTok Debuts Keyword Controls to Allow Target its Search Results Page for Product Research

TikTok announced the new TikTok Search Ads Campaign on Tuesday, marking the company’s debut in the search advertising space.

Blake Chandlee, TikTok’s president of global business solutions confirmed the update in a statement.

The short-video-sharing platform TikTok is now pursuing its Search goals even further by enabling marketers to target its search results page, after expanding its Search product over the last few years to compete with Google.

The goal of the new advertising offering is to assist brands in utilising the platform throughout the product discovery stage more successfully.

TikTok has a significant opportunity in search, as users increasingly use the app as a search engine. Forbes and Talker Research recently reported that 46% of Gen Zers use social media as their primary search engine.

Google has acknowledged that younger consumers are using social media apps like Instagram and TikTok for their queries rather than Google.

Therefore the launch presents a challenge to the search engine giant’s search ad business.

TikTok is a very popular site for search. TikTok statistics from June show that 57% of users use the platform’s search feature, with 23% searching for something within 30 seconds of starting the app.

“TikTok is a destination for discovery and a place where users come to search,” said David Kaufman, global head of monetization products and solutions at TikTok.

“We are excited to offer advertisers a new way to tap into TikTok’s multifaceted search behaviours, where highly motivated users discover content both intentionally and serendipitously.”

TikTok conducted a test to determine how effective it is to combine search and in-feed ads. The results showed that brands using both ad formats increased conversions by 20% and that 18% of users did not convert at first but later did so after seeing a search ad.

“We’ve been doing a lot of beta tests in search for the last year,” Chandlee stated.

The jewellery company Mejuri and the cosmetics company Glossier were two of the first companies to use the new Search Ads Campaign.

We earlier reported that TikTok revealed that certain regions are seeing the rollout of its revamped “Subscription” monetisation service for qualified creators.