With the rise of influencer marketing and the ever-increasing popularity of social media platforms, TikTok has become a force to be reckoned with in the world of content creation. In fact, in our recent newsletter to creators, we highlighted the story of a food influencer who was able to make millions on the platform despite having little to no cooking skills.
If you want to make the most out of your TikTok content in 2023, then you should be focusing on increasing your visibility on the platform. And when it comes to increasing visibility on TikTok, you should be thinking about TikTok SEO.
In this blog post, we’ll be discussing some strategies for optimizing your content for search engines on TikTok. Whether you’re new to TikTok or you’ve been creating content on the platform for a while, these tips will help you get more views, more followers, and more engagement on your TikTok videos.
What is TikTok SEO?
TikTok SEO, TikTok search engine optimization, refers to the techniques and methods used to optimize your TikTok content. This is done with the ultimate goal of achieving higher rankings for relevant searches within the app. If you are creating content related to specific topics, such as “video making tips” or “how to update your Iphone version” TikTok SEO strategies can help increase the visibility of your videos, positioning them at the top of search results when users search for those keywords.
By optimizing your TikTok content using SEO, you can also enhance the chances of your content being recommended to users through their For You page (FYP), resulting in increased exposure and engagement. TikTok SEO is similar to optimizing your website for Google SEO. It involves leveraging the factors that TikTok’s recommendation engine utilizes to suggest videos to users.
Why TikTok SEO?
For the Gen Z, TikTok has emerged as their go-to source for finding educational resources. This is on a wide range of topics, including health, fashion, lunch spots and careers.
Given TikTok’s massive user base of over 1.5 billion monthly active users, businesses are increasingly turning to the platform to create brand awareness and drive sales. If you’re looking to boost engagement on your channel, SEO is an essential tool for improving your visibility on TikTok and reaching your target audience – whether that’s potential customers or followers (or both).
It’s worth noting that TikTok is becoming more competitive with each passing day. In the period from Q1 2018 to Q3 2022, the platform’s average monthly user count skyrocketed from less than 100 million to over 1.5 billion users. And this trend shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
Optimizing your TikTok content for search engines is important because it can help you reach a wider audience and increase your visibility on the platform. TikTok SEO is also important for building your brand and establishing yourself as an authority in your niche.
TikTok’s Algorithm
Although TikTok doesn’t disclose the specifics of its algorithm, it employs sophisticated methods to present relevant content to its users. The process commences with demographics and location data, which TikTok utilizes to showcase content based on users’ age, gender identity, and geographic location. Additionally, TikTok employs cookies to leverage a user’s browsing history to personalize their experience on the platform based on their interests. This is an ongoing learning process that helps TikTok refine its understanding of each user’s preferences and curate a stream of entertainment that resonates with them. As users engage with the app, TikTok gathers more data and insights, enabling it to continuously improve the quality of content it presents to them.
TikTok SEO Tactics
The following suggestions have been demonstrated to be effective in achieving a high ranking on TikTok’s algorithm and increasing the visibility of your content to a greater number of individuals.
Know Your Audience
It is essential to identify your target audience before delving into creating a plethora of content for your TikTok channel. To achieve this, there are several questions you should ask yourself to help narrow down your audience.
Firstly, you need to know who your target audience is. This involves understanding their demographics, such as age, gender, location, and income. Secondly, you should consider their interests and hobbies, as well as what they enjoy watching on TikTok.
It is also crucial to understand what your target audience dislikes, as this can help you avoid producing content that will not resonate with them. Additionally, identifying the problems that your audience faces can provide insight into the type of content they are likely to engage with.
By answering these questions, you can tailor your content to meet the needs, wants, and emotions of your target audience. This will enable you to create high-quality content that will resonate with them and help you achieve your desired goals on TikTok.
Perform Keyword Research
The phrases that users input when searching on TikTok are known as keywords, such as “make up tutorials” or “millioniare tips.” These keywords play a crucial role in TikTok SEO, just as they do in traditional SEO on Google.
To effectively plan your content and generate ideas, it is essential to conduct keyword research. This involves searching for relevant keywords on TikTok that align with your content ideas, as well as exploring other keywords that your target audience might be searching for.
TikTok’s search function automatically generates suggestions based on the phrases you enter, which can provide valuable insights into the specific keywords that users are searching for and help spark new ideas for your content.
Add Keywords To Your Content
After completing your keyword research, the next step is to incorporate those keywords into your content on TikTok. To optimize your content with keywords, here are some helpful tips:
- Use your keywords in your hashtags.
- Incorporate your keywords in your title and description.
- Mention your keywords in your voiceovers, which can then be picked up by closed captions.
- Add your most important keyword as a text layover.
- Ensure that your video content is related to your keyword. It’s frustrating to see hashtags and overlays that have nothing to do with the video content. Avoid using trending hashtags and keywords unless they’re relevant to your video.
- Don’t overuse your keywords in your content. Keep it natural and avoid overwhelming your audience with too many keywords. You don’t need to include a keyword in every spot mentioned in this list.
- Test different placements for your keywords to see which ones get more views.
Produce Relateable Content
Ultimately, optimizing your TikTok content for search engines is a matter of producing engaging videos that your followers are eager to watch. This means carefully considering your content ideas and ensuring they are both purposeful and informed by research into topics that your audience will appreciate.
It is generally advisable to focus on creating content that offers value to your viewers, whether that be through educating, inspiring, entertaining or even a combination of all three. In fact, some of the most successful TikTok posts are those that manage to combine these elements effectively.
A great example of a post that has managed to achieve this feat is the now-iconic ‘corn kid’ video, which proved hugely popular on the platform. By creating content that resonates with your audience and provides genuine value, you can help to ensure that your videos perform well on TikTok and beyond.
Share Your Content On Other Platforms
The popular video-sharing app, TikTok, has its own set of search engine optimization (SEO) rules that are primarily designed for its platform. However, to optimize your content and gain maximum visibility, it’s important to promote it across your other social media channels as well.
If TikTok is your primary platform for creating content, it’s a good idea to consider creating longer versions of your videos for YouTube. On the other hand, if you regularly produce video content for YouTube, you can repurpose and share snippets of that content on TikTok to increase your reach and exposure.
Furthermore, since you’re already investing time and effort in creating these videos, it’s beneficial to share your TikTok content as reels on other social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook. By doing so, you’ll be able to tap into a wider audience that may not have discovered your content on TikTok yet.
Evaluate Your Content
To ensure growth on any platform, it’s essential to track progress. Identify what’s working well and replicate it while experimenting with different methods for areas that didn’t see as much growth.
TikTok provides creators with access to a wide range of analytical data to evaluate their content’s performance. To view your TikTok analytics:
- Navigate to your profile.
- Click on the menu icon.
- Select “Creator Tools.”
- Choose “Analytics.”
The analytics are grouped into three primary categories: Overview, Content, and Followers.
In the Overview tab, you can review video views, profile views, follower growth, likes, comments, and shares for any custom date range up to 60 days.
In the Content section, you can analyze data for each video to determine what’s working well based on engagement. Pay attention to metrics such as average watch time and the percentage of users who watched the entire video.
In the Followers tab, you can learn more about your audience, including their location and the most popular times they view your content.
Keep Testing
To enhance your TikTok presence and expand your reach, it is essential to constantly evaluate and upload exceptional content. Experiment with new approaches and various video formats to determine which resonates best with your TikTok followers.
As you implement the recommendations suggested in this article, such as optimizing your content and devising a plan, you will gradually develop a consistent posting routine. While not every video will become an overnight sensation, with persistence and good search engine optimization, you can steadily grow your TikTok account and draw in new audiences.
