By Chiara Yeomans

If you’ve ever found yourself instinctively opening TikTok to hunt down the latest skincare hack or discover the best glowy primer for sensitive acne-prone skin… you’re definitely not alone. In fact, 51% of Gen Z now prefer TikTok as their go-to search engine over Google. I feel like I can totally relate to this too, as a ‘zillenial’ or whatever it is in between. The impact this app has had in just a few short years is undeniable – it’s gone from a fun video platform to genuinely rivaling the world’s biggest search engine. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves – TikTok isn’t quite running the search engine game just yet. Still, it’s clear that users are leaning into this platform to find their beauty must-haves, and for brands, this shift makes TikTok an essential tool for reaching younger audiences.

“Did you find that on TikTok?”

I feel like most of us have either said or had someone say this to us in conversation over the last couple of years, usually while showing off the latest product we swear by at the moment. The conversation around TikTok’s role in search has been gaining momentum over the past couple of years, as marketers have clocked onto the increasing demand for visual, real-time content. And TikTok makes that search experience effortless. With over 1 billion users on the app (90% of them scrolling daily), that’s a massive number of people hitting the search bar every day, looking for content to entertain and inform them. For brands using digital marketing to grow their presence, the opportunity here is huge and definitely shouldn’t be overlooked when shaping a social strategy.

TikTok SEO best practice

Similarly to Google, having an effective SEO strategy in place can help to categorise your TikTok videos accurately, making them easily discoverable and ensuring they appear organically in front of your target audience. TikTok’s algorithm prioritises engagement metrics (likes/comments etc) as well as video description and hashtags. Ensuring your branded content contains the right key words, search terms and any relevant trending audios and phrases is key to optimising your content and TikTok’s algorithm being able to categorise it properly and show it to the right audience. Having solid knowledge of what your audience’s key search words are is key to optimising your content and ranking higher within the search page. A quick and easy way to do this yourself is to write one key word into the search bar and see what the list of suggestions are as these are frequently searched terms. If you have a product that will give the best “coverage for rosacea”, ensure your video mentions this.

Consumers want results, and they want them now

With our attention spans hooked on short-form video (whether this is a proud statement or not, there is some undeniable truth here), it’s no shock that 73% of consumers say they prefer watching videos when researching products. For an industry as visual as beauty – where shade ranges, makeup swatches, and before-and-after transformations are key components to selling a product’s benefits – it makes total sense that people are heading straight to TikTok for answers. Unlike static swatch images that don’t always translate accurately, or lengthy written explanations (although I don’t suggest anyone to stop reading!), TikTok serves up thousands of engaging videos to choose from featuring real people with different skin tones, textures, and concerns, making it a much more relatable and useful tool. 

And let’s not forget the sheer number of beauty trends that are born on TikTok. Type ‘glazed’ into the search bar, and you’re instantly met with a list of beauty trends to tap into – glazed donut nails, glazed skin, glazed lips… the list goes on.

How can brands capitalise on this?

For beauty brands, keeping a close eye on search data and trends is key to shaping an effective social strategy. For example, one of the latest skincare trends is centred around optimising one’s beauty sleep. This is driven by trends like #morningshed, and a quick TikTok search unveils an endless list of videos using the latest creams and masks and even face tape that help you wake up glowy and refreshed. Are they all necessary? Probably not, but the trend has got people talking and is ultimately influencing a whole generation of viewers to try out new products.

Think about how you can integrate, or even spark a new trending beauty moment or hack within your influencer campaigns. Pay attention to the search terms your target audience is using within the app so that your content appears in search results, driving organic traffic.

“Trends that are big on Search show that there is consumer intent to purchase or engage with a trend. If these trends have low views on TikTok, there’s an opportunity for brands to seize on this opportunity by creating content to establish themselves as a trend leader with a specific audience.” [Yarden Horwitz]

TikTok is no longer just a platform for entertainment – it’s shaping how people discover, research, and buy beauty products. If your brand isn’t already thinking about TikTok through the lens of search, now’s the time to start.

Head here to check out some of the campaigns we’ve done at The Fifth within the Beauty sector.