Social media marketing is quickly becoming the way of the future. Did you know that you can market yourself on social media by using some of the same principles of online marketing? It’s true! Social media marketing is a form of digital marketing, and you can use the same tools that you use on your website on TikTok.
One of the most important tools of digital marketing is known as search engine optimization, or SEO. In this article, we will provide you with the ultimate guide to TikTok SEO so that you can boost your standings in the TikTok algorithm.
What is SEO?
First and foremost, let’s go over what SEO is. As we mentioned earlier, SEO stands for search engine optimization but you may still be wondering what this means. SEO is a method of using specific keywords in your content that will then appear in the algorithms of search engines. If you use SEO for your websites, you might be wondering how this works for TikTok as well.
But did you know that TikTok is in fact also a search engine? When you are uploading content to the app TikTok, its own search engine needs to find a way to categorize your TikTok videos. By using keywords that are applicable to your videos, brand, and content, you are able to tell TikTok what category they should put your content in and eliminate the guessing game.
How Does TikTok SEO Work?
TikTok SEO is done through two distinct ways on the app, hashtags, and video descriptions. Both of these ways to interact with your potential viewers are ways that you can embed keywords into your TikTok videos in order to boost your presence in the app. Doing so will also improve your likelihood of appearing on the For You Page function on TikTok.
Hashtags
Including hashtags on your TikTok videos is a must for the algorithm. Even if your hashtags are not SEO keywords, you will have a better time with TikTok visibility than if you were to use no hashtags at all. Hashtags are a very specific way to give TikTok information about your content.
Some people choose to use trending hashtags that have nothing to do with their content. This is another way that you can use hashtags on your TikTok videos, but it is not necessarily search engine optimized.
Video Descriptions
Video descriptions on TikTok can serve multiple purposes but they are also a great way to include keywords that will help you to optimize your videos for the search engine that runs the TikTok algorithm. Your video descriptions can also help to establish context for your videos or perhaps add a joke that ties into your video on TikTok depending on the intention of your TikTok video.
Three Steps to Improve TikTok SEO
Pick relevant hashtags.
These terms should be related to the theme and content of your video. As well, they should be representative of your brand. This is to help people to find your content directly by searching for it. This will be helpful to you because your audience will be composed of the people that either have purposely searched for content with this hashtag or have enjoyed content with this hashtag before.
You can use keywords to do this just like you would on your website. Odds are people are probably searching for the things that interest them just like they would on Google. You can even play into the angle of answering the questions that people may have about your brand or service! These days people are starting to use TikTok’s search engine like they would use Google!
Add in a popular hashtag or two.
There is a reason that many people decide to add trending hashtags to their content that may not necessarily be relevant. One example is the hashtag #fyp, which stands for ‘For You Page’. This is a commonly added hashtag to videos that are trying to reach the ‘Recommended’ page on TikTok for users.
This method focuses less on your own brand and more on what tags are popular, so it is less likely to result in you getting traffic to your TikTok page that is specifically people looking for brands and pages like yours. However, this can still be a helpful way of finding visibility on the app!
Use viral trends and challenges!
TikTok is the absolute place to be if you love to market with current trends. In fact, TikTok’s algorithm is really excellent at picking up on what people are loving at the moment. By creating a video of a current trend that is associated with your brand and business, you will be playing directly into the TikTok algorithm.
This is a method of using SEO without necessarily putting your brand first, so it might be a little tricky to pull off at first. However, a brand that is doing this method of advertising that you can look to is Duolingo. The popular language learning app is doing especially well at taking a viral trends-first approach to their online marketing on TikTok.
Use viral sounds on TikTok.
An interesting element of TikTok that is much different from other forms of social media is TikTok’s sound library. Just like our advice about viral trends, there are viral sounds on TikTok that can help to boost the visibility of your videos on TikTok. Choosing a viral sound instead of creating your own sound can help you to appear both in the search results for that sound and on the For You Page more often.
You can even choose a viral sound and turn the volume all the way down on TikTok! This makes it so that you don’t necessarily have to use the music while you are recording your TikTok video, but you still reap all of the benefits of associating the TikTok sound with your video!
Conclusion
As it stands there are many useful ways that you can use visibility tools such as SEO in order to make yourself seen on TikTok. Between using keywords and using specific trending pieces of music, you are sure to see increased visibility on the app by using these tips!