TikTok SEO Guide For Maximizing Engagement in 2024
According to Demandsage, TikTok now has more than 1 billion monthly active users! Ranked as the fifth most popular social media site in the world and with its audience continuing to grow, it’s more important than ever for businesses to use smart TikTok SEO to maximize their engagement and conversions alike.
At Collabstr, we appreciate the challenges of succeeding in the ever-changing and highly competitive world of social media marketing. That’s partly why we’ve launched a marketplace for brands to find and hire influencers for a whole host of sites, including TikTok.
With that said, today’s focus is specific to TikTok SEO and how (with the inclusion of influencer support) the right strategy can increase your brand’s authority and sales while also giving you a better shot at even going viral. Let’s dive in!
What is TikTok SEO?
TikTok search engine optimization (SEO) involves optimizing TikTok content to rank higher on the platform, ensuring that the content has a better chance of reaching a wider audience.
TikTok SEO resembles conventional SEO in many ways, as the use of the right keywords in video descriptions and analyzing your content can lead to higher engagement and more conversions. One notable difference, however, is that succeeding on TikTok has a lot to do with the smart use of hashtags (i.e., choosing ones that are trending or performing well and which fit well with your brand's identity).
TikTok SEO can make or break your brand’s chances of success on the platform while also being key to having a shot at going viral.
For instance, a TikTok marketing campaign that uses the right keywords, relevant hashtags, and influencer collaborations, among other aspects of SEO, will be in a much stronger position than those without any SEO ingredients.
The correct SEO research (e.g., using tools like TikTok’s Keyword Insights tool and analyzing your account’s metrics) can also play a huge role in building a successful presence on TikTok.
With the potential for increased engagement and conversions, a planned-out TikTok SEO strategy is essential for your brand to succeed on this fast-growing social media platform.
With all that said, it’s also worth mentioning that TikTok SEO and Google SEO are interlinked these days since TikTok posts now appear on Google search pages. So, you’ll want to consider both angles, even if focusing on your strategy directly on TikTok (i.e., how you post on the platform itself), must be at the fore.
Why Is TikTok SEO Important?
Attract a Targeted Audience
In order to reach your target audience more effectively, it’s important to include various keywords aimed at potential customers.
Naturally, by finding keywords (and preferably high-search volume keywords) that relate to the interests of your defined target audience, your content will have better odds of reaching potential customers. And, of course, that means improved chances of raising sales.
Keywords, as part of an effective SEO strategy, can play an instrumental role in attracting your target audience. The same is true when it comes to hashtags and using the right captions.
Also, being aware of key TikTok statistics, in general, can not only help you better understand your target audience but increase your chances of going viral. Plus, you’ll have a greater possibility of enhancing your brand’s authority and name recognition, even amongst those less likely to make a purchase.
Boost Your Engagement
TikTok SEO can lead to increased engagement. Along with improved chances of SEO leading to increased views, the right TikTok SEO strategies can result in more likes, comments, and video shares - all of which can ultimately lead to more paying customers.
According to SocialBakers, using 1-3 hashtags increases engagement by 27%, so evidently, the right steps can make a real difference.
Whether it’s content that you post on your own account or a post by an influencer as part of a partnership (i.e., influencer marketing), an intelligent SEO strategy can have a major impact on the reach and engagement of such content.
Ultimately, engagement is arguably the most important metric after click-through rate (CTR) in terms of generating paying customers. So, using SEO to boost engagement can offer a strong return on investment.
Maximize Your Reach
While higher engagement is ideal, simply reaching more people can increase brand awareness all the same.
Depending on the sort of brand you have (e.g., niche vs. wide-reaching), simply reaching more users can increase your brand’s name recognition and authority on and offline!
This can pay off over time in a ton of ways. For instance, not every user will become a paying customer after seeing your content. But there’s a chance they might remember your brand and recommend you to family or friends who have an interest in what you offer.
Obviously, it goes without saying that higher reach also tends to mean higher engagement, conversions, and revenue.
Many approaches exist to boost TikTok views, with key tips including the use of trending sound effects, smart captions, and carefully selected hashtags.
How To Devise a TikTok SEO Strategy
While we’ve touched on many of the key ingredients to a successful TikTok SEO strategy, we’ll now take a deeper dive into devising a solid and effective approach. Notably, you can even promote your brand without showing your face.
Gain an Understanding of How TikTok's Algorithm Works
Knowing how TikTok’s algorithm works is key to succeeding on the platform. The main factors that shape the platform’s algorithm include location, trending sounds and hashtags, and user interactions.
Notably, the algorithm doesn’t factor in how many followers an account has, allowing small, blossoming accounts to go viral with the right use of hashtags and impactful content. The algorithm doesn’t consider the age of the video either.
By keeping the algorithm in mind, you’ll give your brand’s content the best chances of reaching more of your target audience and ultimately creating new customers.
Identify Target Keywords
TikTok has a superb keyword insights tool that allows you to explore trending keywords. You can also search keywords you have in mind to determine which ones carry the most weight.
This tool can unveil the popularity levels of certain keywords and to what extent the keyword has gained or lost popularity recently, as well as its CTR. The tool will also provide a list of related keywords for inspiration.
Using suitable trending hashtags can go a long way to promoting your content to a wider audience and more potential customers. With intelligent and targeted use of keywords and hashtags, you’ll put your brand’s account in a stronger position to generate new leads.
Create Engaging and High-Quality Content
No matter how many targeted keywords and hashtags you use, you won’t see much success if your content isn’t engaging and of a high standard.
For TikTok, it’s best to post vertical videos, and ideally, you’ll want them to last somewhere between five and 60 seconds.
According to Statista, the average length of videos from small accounts is 36.4 seconds, while large accounts with videos having 25,001 views or more last approximately 42 seconds on average.
Ultimately, in the land of TikTok, the main ingredient that makes a video appeal to users is that it’s simply fun. Users will want to come away after watching your latest video feeling like they got a few things from it, such as entertainment or intriguing knowledge.
Optimize Your Profile
TikTok SEO is important for your user profile, not just the content you publish. Firstly, it’s best to stick to a simple and memorable name. You’ll also want to choose an appealing TikTok profile picture that draws people in.
Another point worth considering is writing a smart, effective, and easily digestible bio. How short and sweet you’ll want it to be will depend primarily on the nature of your business and even its culture, ethos, and social media vibe. We’d also recommend including CTAs that feature external links (e.g., a link to your website).
Use Relevant Hashtags
As discussed earlier, suitable and trending hashtags can give your content the viral fuel it needs to reach the stars (or at least the Moon).
Simply visit TikTok’s Trend Discovery to discover the most popular hashtags on the site at any one time. You can also narrow your search by industry and to a specified timeframe. The search option can also help you find hashtags related to your business! It’s essential not to underestimate the value of smart hashtags to your content’s chances of success.
Collaborate With Influencers
Working with influencers/content creators is a fantastic way of adding an authentic human touch to your brand’s TikTok content.
Through Collabstr, you can find and hire TikTok influencers in seconds! Hire influencers to produce TikTok videos, live content, stories, and more to enhance your brand’s charm and ultimately draw in new customers! You can also hire content creators to produce high-quality and realistic user-generated content.
Use Tools
There is a wide range of tools you can use to devise and implement a smart TikTok SEO strategy. As already mentioned, TikTok offers a keyword insights tool and a trending hashtag discovery tool.
Other tools worth exploring include:
Just remember; these tools aren’t optimized for TikTok and built more specifically for search engines like Google (other than TikTokKeywords). They’re still incredibly useful, though, allowing you to identify trending topics that can translate well on TikTok. Plus, Google implements TikTok videos in SERPs nowadays, making it that much easier to spot topics that have the potential to go viral.
In general, SEO tools can help with trend analysis, content optimization, keyword research, competitor analysis, and performance tracking. Using TikTok’s keyword and hashtag tools will be your best bet at targeted SEO success. However, using alternative tools like Ahrefs may prove helpful for additional, broader research to better inform your overall TikTok SEO strategy.
Engage with the TikTok community
It’s best not to limit yourself to merely posting and engaging on your own page. After all, it is a social media site. Instead, we suggest engaging with content from other creators.
While this should ideally come in the form of those relevant to your business’ sector/industry, it’s certainly worth connecting with creators, whether they’re specific to your field or not.
This can allow you to grow relationships with influencers and ultimately reach more potential customers and increase your conversion rate. Also, engaging with other users’ content gives you better chances of securing a content collaboration deal. It goes without saying that content collabs can massively accelerate your efforts to extend your brand’s reach!
You can also use TikTok's video feature to reply to messages and comments from your account’s followers. Followers love to hear back from their favorite TikTok creators, so, naturally, engaging with your followers can increase visibility and engagement.
Overall, taking the above approach helps get your name out there and make it more likely for your followers to check out your website or/and other social media channels.
Post Consistently
If you want to establish your brand on TikTok, you need to post regularly, as this will keep your business in the minds of your followers.
However, since TikTok’s ‘For You’ page contains videos no more than several days old, consistently publishing content is key to growing your brand’s authority and increasing engagement over time.
In terms of the best times to post on TikTok, ensure you take the predominant time zones of your audience into consideration when deciding when to post. According to TikTok, it’s best to post between one and four times a day.
Analyze and Adjust
Developing a thought-out plan is one part of the process. However, you must also analyze your account’s performance and make adjustments where needed. After all, what seems like the ideal SEO strategy on paper may not work well in practice.
You’ll want to regularly use TikTok’s analytics to track key metrics (e.g., views, engagement, follower growth, etc.). By analyzing the performance of various videos, you may start to notice certain trends. Regular analysis can inform you how to change your strategy moving forward.
For example, you might notice that videos of a certain length tend to receive lower engagement than shorter content.
Whatever the case, don’t lose sight of your primary SEO objectives, brand mission, and other, broader and long-term trends with TikTok as a platform. The latter means adapting your business as the culture and nature of TikTok SEO evolve (e.g. what makes a video go viral in 2023 may not apply in 2025).
Don’t forget to analyze your rivals too. Also, it’s a good idea to research brands on TikTok for inspiration and ideas, whether they’re direct competitors or not.
Cross-Promote on Other Platforms
Ideally, your business will have several social media accounts (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter). Cross-promotion involves sharing content from one social media account on another. This way, you can grow your various accounts by making followers aware that they can follow you on TikTok, too (assuming they have an account).
Cross-promoting your content may also contribute to your brand’s status in the mind of followers across many social media platforms, particularly if they gain unique value from a short-form TikTok video shared on Instagram. This allows you to increase your brand’s reach beyond just your audience on TikTok.
Conclusion
In today’s guide, we’ve primarily looked at how you can develop a TikTok SEO strategy with the goals of expanding your brand’s authority, reaching new customers, and increasing revenue.
Whether utilizing keywords, employing relevant hashtags, or posting at the right times and with the ideal frequency, taking smart SEO steps can truly make or break your chances of success on one of the world’s fastest-growing social media platforms!
At Collabstr, we appreciate the wide-ranging challenges that businesses face when delving into a new digital frontier. That’s why you should check out our marketplace, where you can hire influencers/content creators in seconds!
Collabstr is the perfect place to find influencers/content creators who can help build your brand’s awareness with high-quality, engaging, and appealing content!
Collabstr features three paid packages with a monthly billing or annual billing option.
The first paid edition, Collabstr PRO, offers a range of benefits, including a few dozen influencers applying to your business monthly and the ability to post unlimited campaigns. A Collabstr paid package can prove an incredibly valuable asset for any business looking to launch or expand its influencer marketing strategies!
