Will TikTok SEO replace Google?
Maybe, but not yet and not for a long time if it ever happens in my opinion - but here's why you shouldn't sleep on TikTok if you want younger people to discover your products, services or hospitality business (especially if you’re a bar, restaurant or food truck). So, what kicked off speculation that TikTok SEO would one day overtake Google SEO?
It’s because, at a recent event, Google’s Senior Vice President Prabhakar Raghavan said: “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."
Anecdotally, I've found that people tend to use Google Maps after they learn about a new place to go and want to check out reviews, find opening hours or discover how easy it is to get there. But still, as you can imagine, people weren't expecting someone so senior at Google to admit to losing out to TikTok for some discovery-led searches amongst younger audiences.
TikTok SEO - is it a new trend?
Should social media SEO come as a complete surprise? Not really, not if you've been following consumer trends on social media. In a recent study, 1 in 3 people said they use social media to discover new products or brands (Business2Community). People have been using social media for product discovery alongside Google for some time now.
Social media platforms have been encouraging this behaviour by developing their ecommerce features, improving keyword search functionality and pushing ad platforms. This isn’t to say they people behave the same way on social media as they do on Google - and it definitely isn’t saying that the methods used to get discovered on each channel are the same.
Before anyone writes Google off and hails TikTok as the future of SEO, it’s important to remember that Google is still an overwhelmingly popular discovery tool - it’s estimated that Google processes over 5.6 billion searches per day and 61% of marketers named SEO as a top marketing priority in 2021 (Hubspot).
However, some younger users are indeed turning away from Google because they say TikTok lets them find relevant information faster. Mashable recently reported that “people are sick of the Google recipe algorithm that prioritizes obscure search engine optimized blogs. It's been a running joke on the internet that in order to read a recipe you have to get through the blogger’s entire life story, but this is actually deterring the young people I talked to from searching for recipes on Google. Because a TikTok has to quickly grab your attention, recipe videos on the platform are to the point, putting the focus on the food, not the creator."
It’s a fair point. A study conducted by Microsoft found that people's attention span has dropped to eight seconds, which is 25% less than it was only a few years ago. So it tracks that some people just want to find what they are looking for in as little time as possible and aren’t always willing to read SEO-optimised content in some situations - like when trying to find a recipe.
Is TikTok SEO an opportunity for you?
Google's admission that younger users are turning to TikTok and Instagram for some discovery searches should make you take note of this trend - even if it only refers to younger people finding new places to eat or new bars to try for now. Last year, it was reported that TikTok beat Google to become the most accessed domain - the caveat is that the report uses global data (however, it doesn't include visits to TikTok's parent company ByteDance's other app Douyin which is extremely popular in China).
Some younger users are turning away from Google because they say TikTok lets them find relevant information faster.
Brands that are interested in reaching younger customers may see this as an opportunity to get their products discovered either now or in the future. Especially now that TikTok has developed its ecommerce functionality and has started experimenting with new features such as linked keywords in comments and descriptions to make it easier for users to perform keyword searches.
This doesn't mean you need to scrap your current SEO strategy and start filming TikToks. But, savvy business owners who are wondering if they should expand their definition of what SEO is to include discovery on TikTok may want to take note of this trend even if they don’t intend to act on it yet. If you’re in that group, here are some tips to help get the ball rolling.
Should you be doing SEO on TikTok?
Have a clear understanding of who your audience is and what platforms they use for discovery-led searches
If you're not on TikTok, keep up with the platform's development so you can make an informed decision on whether to start using it or not
Familiarise yourself with TikTok, so you're aware of how it's being used by brands and what opportunities it presents for you should you decide to use it for your business
Notice how other brands are doing SEO on TikTok i.e. how they using keywords in descriptions
If you’re using TikTok and Google SEO for discovery, keep an eye on your performance data so you know how each platform is performing and where they fit into your conversion cycle
If you're keen to give your digital marketing efforts a boost, feel free to get in touch for a chat to discuss everything from SEO audits to social media marketing management.