Should you be including TikTok in your Search Marketing strategy?

Google has been the go-to search engine for over two decades since becoming the leading site in around 2004, so when you think about internet search, Google is probably the first website that comes to mind. However, over the last few years, things have started to change. 

While Google is hugely important when it comes to SEO, and still one of the first places people will turn to when looking for answers, data shows social media platforms like TikTok are quickly catching up. As of July 2025, TikTok has an astounding 1.59 billion monthly users worldwide, spending an average of 34 hours a month (95 minutes a day) in the app, generating an incredible amount of search data. 

Utilising Authentic Content

User-generated content (UGC)  is not a new concept, but the push towards bite-sized, authentic videos with TikTok is making it more prevalent than ever. This kind of quick, digestible content appearing on your feed and For You page sparks a desire for something you never knew you needed and leads to you heading to the search bar to find out more. 

Searching on TikTok is perfect for finding hotspots to visit when you’re in a new city, researching holiday destinations, and finding out about new openings where you live, making it an incredible platform for hospitality brands. All it takes is a high-performing ‘My Top Five Restaurants in Sheffield or ‘The Best Pizza in Leeds’ video to mention you, and you’ve reached thousands of potential customers or inquisitive travellers looking to elevate their holiday itinerary. However, the app can offer so much more than opportunities just for hospitality businesses. 

Recent data from Adobe Express shows that in 2025, tutorials are the most watched content on TikTok, with 66 per cent of users saying that it is their favourite content on the platform. Thinking from a brand perspective, this news might seem daunting initially, but tutorial content can be one of the easiest types of posts to create to engage users. For example, if you are creating content for a bar, could you give a tutorial on how to make your signature cocktail? Or maybe you can share an explainer on the different types of beer you have on offer. 

TikTok Shop 

Product searches are also on the rise on TikTok, with e-commerce brands becoming hugely successful on the platform.  The fact that you can now shop directly on TikTok and swipe up on a video to see the products featured with links to buy them shows just how effective it is as a sales tool, so hitting the top of popular searches could result in an impressive increase in sales. Think about product placement, where possible, could you be selling your own cocktail shakers directly in the app, linked from the tutorial video I mentioned before? The opportunities with TikTok Shop are endless. 

Creating Your TikTok Strategy

Keeping in mind how many users are now using TikTok for their daily searches, it’s important to keep the well-known SEO tactics at the forefront when crafting content for the platform to make sure your content appears in the ever-growing search results That means following the same rules as internet search; keyword research, location tags, answering the questions consumers will be looking for. 

As social platforms continue to evolve and further embrace SEO, using an agency that understands the importance of search could be key to your social media strategy and its success 

Contact the Chapter II team to find out more about how we could help build a successful social media strategy and utilise TikTok to improve your brand visibility.