Projected to grow to 955.3 users by the end of 2025, TikTok is one of the fastest-growing social platforms. Its global rise has sparked a digital revolution impacting technology and culture.
Keeping these numbers in mind, businesses are eager to leverage TikTok for marketing, and TikTok SEO (search engine optimization) is the way to go. Learn how to set up TikTok for business, excel in influencer marketing, and establish a successful presence on the platform.
Table of Contents
What is TikTok SEO?
TikTok SEO is a marketing avenue for companies aiming to optimize content and boost visibility when people use the search functionality. Implementing TikTok SEO helps your videos appear for search phrases and keywords relevant to your brand and product or service offers.
Through SEO TikTok, you can:
- Attract the attention of users
- Direct them to visit your website
- Expectantly convert them to newsletter subscribers or even paying customers
TikTok SEO Strategies
Let your brand stand out, rank well on TikTok, and engage with the right audience with these TikTok SEO strategies:
1. Keyword Relevance
Build your content around questions, topics, and themes that users search for. Longer, niche-specific targeted longtail keywords can more likely rank better than shorter, more competitive keywords with high search volume.
These types of keyword phrases enable you to establish authority in your industry over time. And since longtail key phrases have higher intent, they are more likely to convert viewers into purchasing consumers.
This is especially true for product advertisements. Create a repository of videos targeting longtail keyword clusters instead of ambiguous keywords. Examples of longtail keywords are “where to buy oversized scrunchies” or “how to style hair with oversized scrunchies.” These will help your video uploads rank better and reach your target market rather than targeting “scrunchies” or “how to style hair.”
You can build your crowd as more people use your choice of longtails on their own posts, shares, and reposts of your videos. Fostering a community through the proper use of keywords will make it easier for your uploads to rank higher in searches for higher-volume and broader keywords.
2. Keyword Density
Besides using narrowed-down keywords, including keyword variations multiple times on the caption, onscreen text, description, and voiceover is just as important and beneficial. These variations will validate the central topics your videos are focused on and signal the app about them.
3. Hashtags
Hashtags are a strong consideration for SEO TikTok when it calculates video relevance to search words and phrases and contributes to creating viral videos.
4. Onscreen Text
Onscreen texts weigh as much as keywords. They have a greater impact the sooner they appear on your videos. That is why it is recommended to place them within the first two to three seconds of the post.
Moreover, TikTok SEO algorithms favor larger typefaces that are closer to the center and with optimal contrast. This logic follows after TikTok spotted some creators’ strategy to make numerous onscreen texts smaller, less noticeable, and even outside video frames. It was an unfair workaround with the purpose of ranking for multiple keywords at once.
5. Primary Keywords as Part of Account Name
Use an account name that helps you with TikTok SEO. For instance, write “Instagram tips for content creators.” Having optimized keywords in the name section can assist you with getting higher search results ranking.
6. Voiceovers
Say the primary keywords within the first several seconds of your video. This SEO TikTok strategy is crucial as the application automatically turns anything you say into closed captions.
7. Completion and Audience Retention Rate
The completion rate is the percentage of users who watch your entire video. This is an essential metric that TikTok utilizes to rank content for the For You page (FYP) and in search results. It goes hand-in-hand with the audience retention rate, i.e., the viewership percentage of users dropping out during your video.
The completion rate and the audience retention rate indicate viewers’ degree of interest in your uploads. They determine if viewers watch a video from start to finish without moving forward the progress bar.
These metrics are similar to how Google evaluates a website visitor’s time-on-site and bounce rate to gauge page quality.
8. Rewatch Rate
Watching a video many times and rewinding to view a particular part of it are signs of robust engagement.
Best Ways to Implement TikTok SEO
- Keyword Research
- Interesting Content
- Adequate Number of the Right Hashtags
- Description Text
- Text Heading Over Video Cover
- Regular Posting Frequency
- Redirecting to Your Business Website
- Collaboration With Other Creators
- TikTok Ads
- TikTok Marketing Analytics
Here are the actions you can take to implement a special form of social media marketing that is TikTok SEO properly:
1. Keyword Research
You need to identify the most fitting keywords for your brand, products, or services. Leverage them to rank well on TikTok.
Take the following steps to perform extensive keyword research:
1.1 Brainstorming
Run through the topics related to your:
- Enterprise
- Product and service names
- Consumer pain points
- Solutions to these customer problems
- Jot them down for future purposes.
1.2 Using TikTok Keyword Autosuggest
Take one of the topics from your list. Key it in the search bar and note what relevant ideas the autosuggest functionality recommends.
1.3 Listing Down Your Target Keywords
Repeat the first step. However, this time, create a list of more targeted keywords based on the information you gathered from TikTok’s search suggestions.
2. Interesting Content
It can be easy for a prospective client to swipe past a video. That is why you should ensure you create and upload engaging video content. To do this, keep these pointers in mind:
Your TikTok videos, as a form of viral marketing, should hold the attention of your audience within two seconds. Since engagement is a key consideration in the channel’s algorithm, you will want to get the attention of users the soonest. The copywriting framework AIDA — attention, interest, desire, and action — is an excellent approach to follow.
Post videos with production value. Veer from irrelevant clickbait. Drawing in audiences with posts of no value may get you longer viewership at some point. But eventually, it will take its toll on your brand and TikTok account as it will annoy more users as long as the video is up for watching.
Make a statement through unique, brand-specific content. It is good to catch up with trends, but it does not always work favorably for business owners. Stay caught up on these trends but do not copy the same formula over and over either. It is a saturated marketplace and you should differentiate your company so you do not get lost in a huge crowd of competitors.
Find your tone of voice and marketing style. Use this voice to tell your company’s story that resonates with your target consumers.
Do not just aim to attract views. Use the tool to market, engage audiences, convert, and make a sale.
Understand what drives your target market to make a purchase or avail of a service. Utilize this knowledge to connect with them genuinely.
3. Adequate Number of the Right Hashtags
Social sites use hashtags to support the discoverability of content. This significant aspect of TikTok SEO helps users find associated video content. And it can help make your numbers rise as well.
When using TikTok SEO to reach potential clients, ensure you incorporate the right hashtags into the description text. Consistency with your choice and use of hashtags will help your videos appear in the most ideal places for your marketing initiatives.
Your content may wind up in the FYP of your target viewers or on an advantageous ranking on the search results. Either way, you can say that your usage of SEO TikTok is a success.
Creating your own brand-related or product-specific hashtags is also beneficial when promoting a specific offer from your business. They will encourage online users and buyers to make user-generated content (UGC). And UGC is an organic marketing method—a promotion from your brand patrons and loyalists.
4. Description Text
Maximize the opportunity to use the video description. This text should explain what the video is about, helping provide more context for users to understand your content more vividly.
Remember to include, or ideally frontload, the target keywords you have collected previously.
5. Text Heading Over Video Cover
Videos with keywords placed on the first frame and the cover image are likely to rank toward the top of search pages and the FYP.
6. Regular Posting Frequency
To get the most out of TikTok SEO, strive for both quality and quantity.
It is true that you should aim for high-quality content. However, make sure you do not spend too much time trying to perfect your videos. Choose to learn as you go and focus on producing them in batches.
7. Redirecting to Your Business Website
Buying consumers get on TikTok to see more than promotional videos and advertisements. They are looking for businesses that can offer them exceptional products or services that deliver.
Increase traffic to your business web pages by pointing potential customers to your eCommerce site. Send them to the path of conversion. This will also help build credibility and trust, positioning you as a thought leader in your niche.
When TikTok users reach your landing page, give them a reason to subscribe to your emailing list. Additionally, this will pique their interest further, and they may even follow your socials—Facebook business page, Twitter, and Instagram account.
In other words, offer them a reason to stay, navigate through your pages, and discover more about your company.
8. Collaboration With Other Creators
Work with credible creators and social influencers. They usually have a solid viewer base that you can tap into when you team up with them.
Find brand partners who are interested in your product and service offers. Choose creators whose values are aligned with your brand culture and what your company stands for.
This will be mutually beneficial, encourage you to be more creative and think out of the box, and expand your content type.
9. TikTok Ads
TikTok ads are another effective way to promote your business online. These enable you to communicate directly with your ideal customers. There is no limit to the number of ads you run on TikTok.
10. TikTok Marketing Analytics
Analytics data and insights are among your top assets when strategizing for TikTok SEO. Sign up for a pro account to gain access to all your account statistics, including:
- Number of views
- Number of followers and at what rate you gain new ones
- Number of videos that make it to the trending section
- The sources of your traffic—it can be from FYP, profile visits, and follows
- Your audience’s location
These details will help you make more informed decisions for executing upcoming TikTok SEO tactics.
TikTok SEO Ranking Factors
Here are some factors that may influence the visibility of TikTok content:
Factor | Explanation |
Engagement Metrics |
|
Video Completion Rate | TikTok may favor content that is watched from start to finish. |
Consistency | Regularly posting content may improve your visibility. |
Use of Hashtags | Using popular and relevant hashtags can increase the discoverability of your content. |
Trend Participation | Participating in trending challenges and using trending sounds or effects can boost visibility. |
Video Quality | Higher-quality videos may be favored by the algorithm. |
Profile Completeness | A complete profile with a profile picture, bio, and other details may contribute positively. |
User Interactions | Interacting with others on TikTok, such as following, liking, and commenting, may also impact your visibility. |
Duet and Stitch Collaborations | Creating duets or stitches with other users can increase the visibility of your content. |
Geolocation Tags | Adding location tags to your videos might help your content reach a local audience. |
Keep in mind that TikTok's algorithm is dynamic, and the platform may update its ranking factors over time. It's also important to note that user preferences and trends can change, so staying informed about the latest TikTok trends and adapting your content strategy accordingly is crucial for success on the platform.
Best Content Types For TikTok SEO
These are the most recommended styles of content for better SEO TikTok:
Humor
Given that a vast majority of users log onto TikTok to find entertaining and funny content, it only makes sense for creators to share light-hearted, fun, and playful videos. People are naturally inclined to consume this content type.
Integrate humor into your videos to engage more viewers and in turn, appeal to and promote your brand to a larger market.
Education
In your informative videos, recount your company history. You can showcase your vision and goals. Or teach potential customers tips and tricks for product usage. Tell them about a troubleshooting hack that addresses pain points.
You can also research client FAQs and use TikTok to provide answers.
Trends
When done right, following trends can benefit your brand visibility on TikTok. Trends can range from fads, songs, and hashtags to popular challenges.
As long as it complements your advertising intent and is valuable for your business, content built around trends will trigger TikTok that your posts are relevant. The platform will then make your videos more visible to viewers.
Putting It All Together: Why TikTok SEO Is Important
You need to take TikTok SEO seriously if you intend for your brand to thrive in TikTok marketing. A considerable portion of prospective customers are on TikTok to use it as a preferred alternative to search engines.
Implement SEO TikTok best practices you have just learned, learn more along the way, and you could barely go wrong. Alternatively, you can let professional social media marketing companies do it for you.
TikTok SEO FAQs
How to do SEO on TikTok?
For successful SEO campaigns on TikTok, you should optimize your TikTok content by focusing on engagement metrics like likes, shares, and comments. Use popular and relevant hashtags, participate in trending challenges, and create high-quality, complete profiles. Interact with others, collaborate through duets, and leverage geolocation tags for broader reach. Stay informed about evolving trends and adapt your strategy accordingly.
Do keywords matter on TikTok?
Yes, keywords matter on TikTok. Incorporate keywords in captions and descriptions to help the algorithm understand your content and increase its visibility.
