TikTok SEO: Tips to Increase Your Reach

TikTok SEO is extremely important on this social network, as it has the power to make your videos discoverable. By working your SEO well, the social network makes your publications seen by more people.

In this article, we’ll explain what you need to do to do a good SEO job on TikTok. But first, let’s clear up one important thing…

What is SEO on TikTok?

TikTok SEO means optimizing your content for search results so that it is easily discoverable by users on the platform.

TikTok’s algorithm currently serves users the content they know they’re interested in based on a number of factors, such as the posts they interact with, the accounts they follow, and more.

With an SEO strategy, you can create content that works for the algorithm and is likely to be searched by your target audience. Everyone wins.

TikTok SEO is the practice of optimizing your videos on TikTok to rank higher in search. Just as you would use keywords and analytics to optimize your website content (and get it found by Google), you can also use these tactics to help your TikTok videos appear in more search results.

Another positive point of working on SEO on TikTok is that your videos can also be found on Google. Yes: Google shows TikTok videos in its searches, as you can see in the screenshot below:

TikTok SEO significa otimizar seu conteúdo para resultados de pesquisa, para que seja facilmente descoberto pelos usuários na plataforma.

Worrying about searching on TikTok is important because, according to Google‘s own data, 40% of young people use TikTok and Instagram for research.

In addition, TikTok has search engine features such as suggested keywords in its search bar and comments sections, thus encouraging users to search within the platform itself.

SEO Ranking Factors for TikTok

Now that you understand what SEO is, it’s time to show you what you need to do to get a good ranking on the platform. The requirements are:

User Interactions

One thing is certain: the more interaction your content has, the greater the chances of it being found in TikTok’s search. After all, if he’s had a lot of interaction, it’s because he’s interesting.

User interactions can include anything from videos that users like, videos that are hidden, videos that users bookmark, and videos that users watch to the end. Therefore, the first rule for good SEO: be able to generate interaction in your content!

Video Information

All the information contained in a video can affect its ranking on TikTok. This includes captions, hashtags, sound effects and music. TikTok looks for videos that contain relevant keywords in their titles and descriptions, as well as videos that cover trending topics.

Let’s take an example: If you talk about flowers and your video has the hashtags #flowers or #flowery, this helps TikTok to understand that your video is about flowers and with that it shows users that they are interested in this topic.

But if you’re out of ideas on how to find keywords, an easy trick is to use TikTok’s search bar predictive text.

Just enter your base keyword and see what other keywords TikTok suggests:

 

Going back to our Flowers example, you could type Flowers into your search bar and see what TikTok suggests. Usually, the higher the suggestion is, the more that hashtag is sought after.

Account and Device Settings

These are the settings TikTok uses to optimize performance. These include language preference, country setting (you’re more likely to see content from people in your own country), mobile device type, and interest categories you selected as a new user.

Please note that while account settings are considered in TikTok’s SEO ranking, they are given less weight than video information and user interactions.

What’s not included?

You’ll be happy to know that TikTok doesn’t consider follower count in its SEO ranking algorithm. That is: it is not because you have more followers that someone has a better SEO score. This helps small producers to achieve better results even with a small audience.

This means that if you create great content that speaks directly to your target audience, you’re just as likely to land on the For You (aka For You) page as TikTok’s biggest stars.

TikTok SEO: How to improve?

So far we’ve seen how the algorithm works and how it defines your ranking. But all these are technical details of the platform. And you, what can you do in your content to be better positioned? That’s what we’re going to talk about next.

Tags on relevant accounts

On TikTok, being tagged by highly authoritative accounts also helps you rank well in search. Let’s look at an example to understand better. Imagine that you recorded a video of a beautiful soccer move that you made. If Cristiano Ronaldo watches your video and tags you in another video, TikTok understands that your account is relevant and therefore starts benefiting your content in search. Getting noticed by big accounts isn’t easy, but it’s so worth it!

Have Expertise

When someone comes to your content, does he easily understand what you want to explain? Does the content help her in any way? Having expertise in a topic helps you solve the user’s problem or entertain him and this reflects in more time viewing your content or interacting with him. Therefore, knowing what you are recording indirectly helps your SEO.

Be Relevant

Content must be related to what users are looking for to rank well. No one wants to see a page on WWII history when looking for makeup brush cleaning tips.

Define a niche

To be really good at a topic and have a faithful audience, you need to know how to define a niche. If you talk about flowers one day and the next day about economics, you won’t create a loyal audience. And remember we said that interaction in content helps with TikTok SEO? That’s right: without a defined niche you have less interaction and with less interaction you have less well-positioned videos.

Be New

While SEO on TikTok is important, it doesn’t guarantee that content will rank well forever. A video that was successful 6 months ago on a topic does not mean that it will be successful forever. And that’s why the novelty factor is so important: you need to publish new content, as this is also a ranking factor.

Include up to Five Relevant Hashtags

Using the right TikTok hashtags can get you in front of your target audience, giving you plenty of engagement and new followers.

The best suggestion would be to use a mix of broad and niche hashtags.

It’s the best of both worlds, broad audience (or more popular) hashtags have the potential to reach a massive audience, while niche hashtags can appeal to people who are already interested in content like yours.

And while TikTok doesn’t set a strict limit on the number of hashtags you can use, it’s best to stick with a few strong hashtags, 3-5, to keep your content relevant.

If you create local content (e.g. Best Restaurants in Mossoró), use TikTok geological tags in your videos (and relevant hashtags) to appear in TikTok’s Near You feed.

Use Popular Audios on TikTok

Most successful TikTokers say that audio is “essential” to their overall experience on the app, which also makes this advice essential for SEO on TikTok.

If you want to follow a trend a little more specifically, a quick trick is to open TikTok and type “viral sounds” into the search bar.

Filter videos to “this week” and presto, you’ve just unlocked content from creators sharing the most popular audios and how you can use them.

Did you like our tips on how to improve TikTok SEO?

Creating content on content on TikTok is only part of the process. If you want to be really relevant on the platform, you need to work on SEO so that your content is found. What’s the use of investing several hours in the production of the video and then it is not found? If you liked our tips, share this article with people who also produce content on this social network. SEO on TikTok is essential for videos to be seen by more people! In the text we explain step by step how to do a good SEO.