Tik Tok SEO is about strategically optimizing your videos to make sure they land on the For You Page (FYP) of your target audience and rank high in TikTok’s search results.

But how can you do it?

It’s all about understanding your target audience, finding the right keywords and hashtags to use in your videos, and creating engaging content.

As a content creator, TikTok is an amazing platform to bring out your creativity.

And if you get good, you can even redirect people to your site or sell them your products.

Titktok tends to show on the FYP mostly videos that have a higher engagement (a lot of views, likes, comments, and sharing).

tiktok seo

And it also has its own search engine.

In fact, on the Tiktok Search Page, you can look for different types of information, guides, and product reviews – Exactly how you would do on Google.

tiktok search results

And of course, the videos that show up higher will have the most views.

But what are the most important ranking factors for TikTok?

TikTok SEO Ranking Factors

  • User interactions: TikTok Favorite the videos that have more interactions – This means that those videos that have a lot of views, likes, shares, savings, and have been watched for the whole length or even multiple times are the ones that will be “pushed” on top of the search page or FYP;
  • Optimized Videos: TikTok algorithm can “categorize” videos into certain niches or groups based on information like relevant hashtags, keywords, and sounds. This means that optimizing your videos with this information can help you appear on the “for you page” or TikTok search results.
  • Device and account settings: Another TikTok ranking factor is the language preference and country setting. This means that other videos made by creators who speak the same language as you, or live in the same country as you, are more likely to appear on your “for you page” or search results.

5 Tik Tok SEO Tips to Boost your TikTok Videos

Get to Know Your Audience and Competitors

Getting to know your audience is one of the most important steps as an online content creator.

Spend some time understanding what they like and dislike, at what time they are more active, and what are their pain points.

It might be useful to spend some time browsing TikTok videos to understand the tactics your competitors are using.

Try to understand if your competitor’s audience likes best videos that are edited, videos that start with a hook, or video content that looks natural.

Well, you got the point.

In general, try to have an objective mind and discover all the tricks your competitors are using to make their audience interact with them and do the same on your videos – but don’t copy them!

Do Keyword Research

Once you have a clearer idea of who your audience is, what they like, and who are your main competitors, it’s time to come up with some content ideas.

But how do you come up with interesting and new ideas that your audience likes?

Keyword research is the answer!

TikTok keyword research works the same as keyword research for traditional SEO.

Basically, it consists of finding relevant keywords or phrases your audience is interested in.

To find these keywords you can use keyword research tools (like TikTok keyword insight) or the TikTok search engine.

What types of keywords you should look for?

If you’re using keyword research tools, look for keywords with higher popularity or search volume like this example:

tiktok keywords

These tools will also show you related keywords to the main term you inserted.

If you’re using the TikTok search engine to find keywords and inspiration you can simply insert a key phrase in the search bar like this:

tiktok search bar

then scroll down and find the “other searched for” section

tiktok discovery search queries

In this section, you’ll find popular terms related to the main keyword you inserted

This is a great way to find more keyword ideas and build different types of content around a main keyword.

Create Engaging Content

Among all the other tips, this is the most important one: Create engaging content.

You’ve probably heard this a lot…what does really mean to create content that is ACTUALLY engaging?

  1. Learn how to do storytelling to build a stronger connection with your audience
  2. Use hooks to keep your audience engaged. These hooks can be visual, verbal, or textual
  3. Create content that looks natural, like you were speaking to a friend seated in front of you
  4. PRO TIP: Say something controversial – people will be more likely to engage with it and this will help you boost your videos

Keep in mind that from now on, TikTok wants creators to post long-form content – basically videos that are longer than a minute.

The TikTok algorithm started prioritizing longer videos, live, and also launched a new feature: TikTok series.

Why all this? TikTok started competing with big streaming platforms like Netflix.

Add Keywords and Hashtags to your Content

Make sure to add the most important keywords in a few key places:

  • Video Description
  • Text placed in the video – insert it directly in the TikTok app
  • Say it aloud in your video

Additionally, insert some hashtags in the video description, but don’t overcrowd it – 3 hashtags should be enough:

  1. What your video is about #dayinmylife
  2. What your video looks like visually #coffeerecipee
  3. Who you are #socialmediacoach

Engage with your Audience

Last but not least, engage with your audience!

How do you do it?

Reply and Like the comments you receive – Always! This makes them feel part of a community.

Answer to users’ questions, TikTok has even created a Q&A feature to do it: this make users feel heard, understood, and listened to.

Another option is Live streaming – this feature is not only extremely engaging but also can make you money.

What to Avoid

TikTok is an extremely powerful social media but at the same time it can make you completely invisible if you do these things:

  1. Post and then delete your videos frequently
  2. Use other creators’ videos
  3. Duplicate content
  4. Suddenly start talking about something that is completely out of your “niche” – the algorithm won’t be able to categorize your video information and as a result won’t show it to your audience.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is SEO?

SEO stands for “search engine optimization.” In simple terms, it’s the practice of optimizing content to increase its visibility in search engines.

How do I make my TikTok post viral?

If you want to make your TikTok post go viral here is what you have to do:

  1. Use TikTok SEO
  2. Create High-Quality Content that seems natural and tells a story
  3. Bring out yuo personality and point of view
  4. Interact with your audience
  5. Participate in TikTok challenges
  6. Prioritize long-form content

How many times should I post on TikTok to go viral?

Going viral on TikTok is not just a matter of posting frequency, but also about high-quality videos.

Experts say that you should be able to go viral if you post high-quality videos from 2 to 4 times a day.

But this is only because by posting more, you’ll increase the chance of people seeing them.

What are the best times to post on TikTok?

The best times to post on Tiktok US are:

  • 11 AM
  • 9 AM
  • 6 AM

Categorized in:

How to guides, SEO, Strategy,

Last Update: February 22, 2024