Unlocking the Power of TikTok Search Ads

TikTok Search Ads are a new addition to TikTok’s advertising tools. With the recent introduction of keyword targeting for these campaigns, TikTok could soon play a much larger role in your advertising strategy.

Though it’s a relatively young platform, TikTok’s popularity with both users and advertisers has soared since its 2016 launch. The platform now offers a potential ad reach of over 945 million adults — a 14.6% increase since 2021.

Retail advertisers are especially drawn to TikTok. According to TikTok’s data, 15% of product discovery now happens on the platform. And this is just the start — TikTok’s ad revenue is expected to nearly triple by 2027.

TikTok is especially popular with younger users. According to Google, about 40% of 18-24 year-olds turn to TikTok or Instagram instead of Google when searching for products to buy.

TikTok had the highest estimated IVT rate on mobile app traffic in May (18%), showing the largest increase month-over-month (up from 13% in April), so performance marketers aren’t completely protected from wasted spend. For a detailed look at Pixalate’s global social media invalid traffic (IVT) benchmarks report.

Despite this, TikTok presents a significant opportunity for performance marketers, especially with the introduction of TikTok Search Ads. In this guide, you’ll discover everything you need to know about TikTok Search Ads: how they work, why they’re worth considering, potential challenges, and what results to expect.

What are TikTok Search Ads?

TikTok Search Ads let brands connect with their audience by tapping into search intent. As TikTok explains:

"With the Search Ads Toggle, brands can extend the reach of their campaigns to high-intent users who are seeking information relevant to their business, driving incremental engagement and revenue potential."

Search Ads use your existing ad content to appear in search results, alongside the usual in-feed placements. When users search on TikTok, your ads show up as sponsored content, putting your brand in front of people who are actively looking to buy.

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Reports indicate that several brands have already seen success using TikTok’s Search Ads. Kenny Gold, Managing Director and Head of Social, Content, and Influencer Marketing at Deloitte Digital, shared his thoughts:

“It’s compelling—an elegant, non-intrusive approach to search integration. The product feels straightforward. Not overly basic, but easy to grasp. TikTok is focusing on discoverability and leveraging its unique audience that isn’t overlapping much with other social platforms. It’s a smart strategy for broadening reach, and I think they’re aiming to fully integrate it into their self-serve platform.”

— Kenny Gold, Head of Social, Content, & Influencer Marketing, Deloitte Digital

Keywords in TikTok Search Ad Campaigns

In September 2024, TikTok introduced revamped Search Ad campaigns, building on the relative success of their earlier version. The update added several keyword-based features, making their targeting capabilities more comparable to Google Ads. Key features include:

• Keywords (limited to 20 per Ad Group)
• Ad groups
• Bids (with a recommended budget-to-bid ratio of 20:1)

Previously, TikTok Search Ads only allowed ads to appear in related search queries within the app, without letting advertisers target specific keywords. This made their functionality quite limited.

With the update, advertisers can now select and target specific keywords, significantly improving placement control. These enhanced Search Ads are available for both traffic and web conversion objectives, bringing TikTok closer to other platforms in terms of ad capabilities.

However, while these changes are a step forward, they don’t yet meet all marketers’ expectations. For instance, TikTok hasn’t introduced keyword match types, meaning a universal match type is likely used. Additionally, the 20-keyword limit per Ad Group may feel restrictive for some campaigns.

Despite these limitations, TikTok’s new features signal their ambition to compete as a key player in the search ad space. TikTok stated:

“With Search Ads Campaign, brands have full control over how their content appears on the TikTok search results page, ensuring the right creative is served to the right users. Currently, Search Ads Campaign supports both Traffic and Web Conversion objectives, meaning that advertisers can optimize their campaigns for both scale and performance.”

What Marketers Are Saying About TikTok Search Ad Keywords

Performance Marketing Specialist Thomas Eccel was quick to share his thoughts on LinkedIn, stating that "TikTok Search Ads are definitely a real threat to Google."

Marketers were quick to share their opinions on the news. Elmar Aga, VP of Paid Search at MuteSix, noted that TikTok Search Ad campaigns might be more of a threat to Amazon PPC than to Google Ads.

Monde Austin Mtolo, a Paid Media Specialist at Stratitude, highlighted an important point: with TikTok’s core audience being teenagers and young adults, it may take a while for the platform to gain significant market share from Google.

A major challenge looms: if TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, doesn’t sell the platform within nine months, TikTok could face a complete ban in the US. This would halt the growth of TikTok Search Ads before they even gain traction. Talha Mumtaz, Growth Manager at Phiture, summed it up perfectly:

Web Analytics Consultant Rasel Miah highlighted an important consideration: the success of TikTok Search Ads may heavily depend on the tracking metrics the platform chooses to implement.

How to Turn TikTok Search Ads On or Off

You can manage TikTok Search Ads using the Search Ads Toggle, located in the Placements section of TikTok Ads Manager.

By default, the toggle is switched on, meaning your ads will appear in search results. If you don’t want this, you’ll need to manually switch it off.

You can enable or disable the toggle either during campaign creation or later. However, turning it on after the campaign is live won’t restart the learning phase.

When the toggle is on, TikTok automatically creates and serves search ads based on your existing In-Feed Ad content and targeting. As TikTok explains:

“With the toggle set to 'on,' search results ads will be automatically created using the advertiser's existing In-Feed Ad content and targeting, and served against relevant user queries adjacent to organic video results.”

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Improve Brand Safety with Negative Keywords

TikTok allows advertisers to use negative keywords, helping to ensure your ads don’t appear in searches that conflict with your brand values.

This focus on brand safety makes TikTok a more secure option for advertisers compared to platforms like X (formerly Twitter). X’s recent integration with Google Display Network has raised concerns about brand safety, especially given the controversial content and bot issues often associated with the platform.

Maximizing Ad Visibility with Hashtags and Descriptions

Since TikTok serves ads based on relevant user queries, it’s crucial to optimize the hashtags and descriptions in your videos. If you’re not using the new campaign features to target specific keywords, TikTok relies on your hashtags to match your ads with searches. Using irrelevant hashtags could mean your ads won’t reach the right audience.

To help TikTok’s algorithm display your ads for the right searches, include the keywords you want to target as hashtags and in your video description. While this doesn’t guarantee your ad will appear, it improves TikTok’s ability to match your ads with relevant queries.

Whether you’re using specific keywords or relying on hashtags, avoid keyword stuffing. Instead, focus on adding three highly relevant search terms as hashtags and in your description for each video. This keeps your content targeted and effective.

Benefits of TikTok Search Ads

The key advantage of TikTok Search Ads is their ability to target users with active purchase intent. This makes them especially valuable for retail advertisers who can use the right content and bids to tap into real-time buying interest.

Unlike in-feed ads, which are shown to users passively scrolling without a clear intent to buy, Search Ads appear to users actively searching for a product, service, or topic. While in-feed ads are great for boosting brand awareness, they may not drive as many direct sales.

Searches signal a stronger interest, meaning users are more likely to convert when they see a relevant ad. Andres Bustamante, Senior Media Buyer at Linx Digital, explains:

“If people are searching for a specific item or results related to your product or service, that’s incredibly powerful. It’s more than just sharing content for entertainment or value—these ads allow you to monetise and get a return on investment for what you’re promoting.”

By targeting users based on their search intent, TikTok Search Ads offer higher ROI. As the case studies below demonstrate, advertisers are already seeing better results with Search Ads compared to relying on in-feed ads alone.

TikTok Search Ads: Case Studies

Early adopters of TikTok Search Ads have reported impressive results. Here are two examples shared by TikTok to demonstrate the potential of this feature:

1. Clinique: 51% Higher Click-Through Rate

Clinique’s experience proves that Search Ads can deliver better ROI than in-feed ads. By using TikTok Search Ads, the brand achieved:

• 74,000 incremental search impressions
• A 441% increase in conversion rate

Post-campaign research also showed a 7.4% increase in ad recall, suggesting that search users found the campaign more memorable. Based on these results, Clinique plans to include TikTok Search Ads in all eligible campaigns moving forward.

2. DIBS Beauty: 22% Lower Cost-Per-Acquisition

During Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 2022, DIBS Beauty used TikTok Search Ads to showcase a product. The campaign delivered:

• An 8% increase in conversions
• A conversion rate six times higher than in-feed ads alone

Additionally, the campaign significantly reduced cost-per-acquisition, cutting costs by 22%. These results highlight how simply enabling TikTok Search Ads can drive major benefits for retailers, especially during peak shopping seasons.

TikTok Search Ads is a game-changer for retailers and e-commerce brands, especially those with an established TikTok advertising strategy. However, to maximize the effectiveness of your TikTok campaigns, it’s crucial to protect your ads from invalid traffic.

Tapper safeguards both TikTok Search Ads and in-feed ads, ensuring you achieve the best possible return on your ad spend.