How To Use TikTok Search Ads To earnings recent Customers

For many consumers, social media platforms are a preferred goal for searches about everything from breaking information to product recommendations. Whereas search engines like Google and Bing once reigned supreme, TikTok is now becoming a leave-to goal for finding—particularly for Gen Z and millennial users. 

TikTok has around two billion global users, and, according to the social media giant, 57% of those users use the app’s search function and 23% of users conduct a query within 30 seconds of opening the app. So how, as a tiny business owner, can you tap into TikTok search’s growing user base? You can use TikTok search ads, a recently launched characteristic that lets brands place their sponsored posts in keyword search results. 

What are TikTok search ads? 

TikTok search ads are targeted sponsored posts that appear in front of usersactively searching for specific topics or keywords. The ads—which can be either videos or image carousels—appear in search results alongside user-generated content (UGC). As an advertiser, you select which searches will prompt TikTok to display your ads. To differentiate TikTok search ads from UGC, ads are always marked “Sponsored.” 

TikTok announced this recent characteristic in September 2024 as an extension of TikTok’s search ads toggle function, which debuted in 2023 and gave brands the ability to display their in-feed sponsored posts on the search results page. The recent September 2024 extension allows brands to make content specifically designed as search ads, rather than requiring brands to repurpose existing in-feed ads. 

For instance, a shop that sells bakeware might target the search term “how to make sourdough bread” on TikTok. The brand’s search ads would then appear amid the sea of user-generated videos in the results.

Why should brands use TikTok search ads?

TikTok boasts one of the most engaged user bases among social media platforms, with a median engagement rate of 2.63%. TikTok has also become a social commerce hub with its in-app TikTok Shop, but even if users don’t buy directly in the app, they’re still using TikTok with shopping top of mind. 

A 2024 Pew Research study found that 62% of American adults on TikTok declare product reviews and recommendations are a rationale they use the platform, and around a quarter of those users counted product reviews and recommendations as a major rationale they use the app. Just look at the hashtag #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt, which has more than 12 million posts. 

There are many ways to capitalize on TikTok’s engaged and shopping-oriented spectators. You can try out TikTok marketing strategies like producing organic content, partnering with influencers, and investing in TikTok ads. There are a few different types of TikTok ads, including in-feed, TopView, and Spark, all of which commitment to place your content in front of relevant audiences through TikTok’s algorithm. TikTok search ads, however, let you directly specific your intended spectators through keyword targeting, meaning you can make your content available to users who type in specific search terms. 

How TikTok search ads work

• Keywords
• Bids
• Algorithm

Here are the core components of how TikTok search ads function: 

Keywords

TikTok search ads function with keyword targeting. A brand selects specific keywords, topics, or phrases that relate to its product or business. When a user searches these keywords or phrases, the business’s ads might appear in their search results. 

Bids

Brands partake in keyword bidding, setting budgets on keywords and ad groups (collections of ads that distribute ordinary goals) in order to compete with competitors for ad placement. The platform ranks ads depending on how much a brand bids and how relevant a particular ad is to a user. Higher bids can assist a brand reach more people. TikTok offers two bidding strategies: 

• expense cap. This is a objective-based way in which TikTok optimizes delivery based on a expense per action defined by the brand. 
• Maximum delivery. This is a spend-based way concentrated on delivering the maximum number of conversions based on a brand’s monetary schedule.

For best results, TikTok recommends a monetary schedule-to-bid ratio of 20:1, referring to the proportion between the money you allocate to your campaign monetary schedule and the person bid set for each ad impression.

Algorithm

TikTok’s algorithm is designed to deliver personalized content to each user, so even after a brand selects keywords and topics, its search ads will still be placed according to TikTok’s algorithm. TikTok ranks content based on factors like act metrics, user engagement, captions and hashtags, content diversity, and device and account settings. 

How to get started with TikTok search ads

1. Select “Search campaign” and decide on an objective
2. Choose your keywords
3. Determine target bids and budgets
4. make ad groups and upload your creative assets
5. Track advancement and revise as needed

pursue these steps to get started with TikTok search ads:

1. Select “Search campaign” and decide on an objective

Using the TikTok Ads Manager tool, select “Search campaign” to get started with setting up either a web conversion or traffic campaign objective. A web conversion campaign is concentrated on driving users to your website to complete a particular action, like making a purchase or providing an email for navigator production. A traffic campaign objective aims simply to get users to your website. 

Let’s declare, for example, you’re the founder of a recent online luggage business targeted at millennial and Gen Z TikTok users. You’re looking to boost brand awareness that helps provide you an edge over popular brands, so you opt for a traffic campaign using search. On the other hand, if you’re an established luggage brand looking to advertise your holiday sale, you might opt for a web conversion campaign instead.

2. Choose your keywords

Next, select the keywords you desire to target with your TikTok search ads campaign. To select the most impactful keywords, research TikTok trends and consider how you might position your brand in relation to those trends. TikTok also includes an alternative to include negative keywords that will restrict your ad from appearing in search results that might damage your brand image.

3. Determine target bids and budgets 

Like Google ads, brands must participate in keyword bidding, in which they set a monetary schedule for each keyword in a pay-per-click (PPC) auction to compete with competitors for ad placement within TikTok search. Similar to search engines like Google, TikTok uses a mix of bid amount, standard scores, and ad ranking to place the ads. 

Before you place bids, make sure to decide on a set amount you’re willing to spend on bidding and allocate accordingly based on demand and competition. 

4. make ad groups and upload your creative assets 

Now that your keyword targets and monetary schedule are in place, it’s period to develop your creative assets. TikTok allows both video and image carousel assets for its search ads characteristic. Brands can use a mixture of both in ad groups, or collections of sponsored posts that distribute a theme and intended spectators. Brands make ad groups to categorize posts that serve a ordinary purpose, like search ads with the same target keywords. 

You can optimize your act and search optimization by including your keywords in video titles and captions. TikTok recommends that brands use at least 20 keywords within each ad throng to ensure that they are “bundled thematically to fit with the ad creative that will be served in search results.” The platform allows up to 1,000 keywords and 10,000 negative keywords per ad throng.

Once your creative is set, publish your ad throng and the TikTok algorithm will automatically distribute your posts with the best-matched users based on your target keyword searches. 

5. Track advancement and revise as needed 

After your TikTok search ad campaign is live, use TikTok Ads Manager to track the act of your content by analyzing impressions, clicks, and traffic. Is your site traffic increasing, or are you seeing an boost in sales? These are indications that your TikTok search ads are working.

On the flipside, low ad act may cruel you require to deactivate a particular keyword or creative resource or experiment with a recent keyword.