By Krystal Scanlon • September 24, 2024 •
Ivy Liu
After months of will-they-won’t-they, TikTok is finally getting serious about turning user searches into ad dollars.
As of today (Sept. 24), the short-form video giant has rolled out its Search Ads Campaign tool, giving advertisers the ability to target ads based on what users are actively searching for. The goal is to turn those searches into ad dollars by matching ads with user intent, and cashing in on exactly what users want.
For now, the ads are only available in the U.S., but TikTok is eyeing a wider rollout in early 2025.
“We’ve been doing a lot of beta tests in search for the last year,” said Blake Chandlee, TikTok’s president of global business solution.
Up until now, TikTok’s approach to search advertising has been relatively unique. Marketers couldn’t hand pick specific keywords like they would on other platforms. Instead, TikTok’s algorithms played matchmaker, pairing relevant ads with individual searches based on a mix of relevance, user search behavior and other data TikTok has up its sleeve.
That’s still an option, but with the new Search Ads Campaign tool, marketers now get more control over how their ads show up in search results. On top of that, they can target both traffic and web conversions, meaning they can fine-tune their campaigns for both reach and performance.
“Currently, Search Ads Campaign supports both traffic and web conversion objectives, meaning that advertisers can optimize their campaigns for both scale and performance,” TikTok wrote in its blog post on the launch.
These ads have been a long time in the making for TikTok. What started as a simple search function in its early days has evolved into something far more refined. From its rise as a go-to search engine to the recent testing of dedicated search result pages, TikTok has been steadily laying the groundwork for this moment.
According to TikTok’s own data, two out of three discoveries on the platform are now “active” — users searching with intent — compared to the more passive browsing that happens on the app’s For You page. Even more impressive, nine in 10 users take action after searching on the platform, which makes TikTok a ripe opportunity for advertisers.
“It’s a really quality, high intent for advertisers to start thinking about,” said Kris Boger, general manager of TikTok U.K.’s global business solutions. “We often speak with marketers about intense signals. So this has created a pretty good environment for us to be starting commercial product testing.”
However, don’t expect TikTok to start stealing Google’s search ad dollars anytime soon — if ever. TikTok users are on the app to be fed content, not to actively hunt for it like they do on Google. It’s more of a content discovery engine than a search engine in the traditional sense.
“Dollar signs start flashing when we talk about search because of Google’s almost $200 billion in search revenues. But it’s very tricky to take share of that market, as Bing knows all too well,” Jamie MacEwan, senior media analyst at Enders Analysis, explained.
Still, if TikTok did want to take a few plays from Google’s playbook, there’s potential — starting with branded search ads. Allowing advertisers to buy keywords on Google has made it easy for them to target people actively searching for their brands, increasing the chances of clicks. TikTok has a similar — though significantly smaller — opportunity to tap into that same user intent.
“What’s potentially more valuable to TikTok for search ads is branded search, which requires brands to bid defensively on terms that are relevant to them and could bring more advertisers to the platform,” said independent analyst and investor Eric Seufert.
What’s made TikTok so unique among social media platforms is its culture-led content and an algorithm that delivers exactly what users want to see. The big question now is how search ads will impact that experience. If promoted posts or ads start to appear in searches, TikTok risks disrupting its organic feel that users love.
But if TikTok strikes the right balance, search ads could help it carve out a bigger slice of the ad market — not just from big brands but also from smaller advertisers who’ve yet to make TikTok a key part of their strategies.
That’s why the timing of these ads is crucial. Dropping them just ahead of the holiday shopping season — a prime time for search-driven businesses — positions TikTok to capitalize on the busiest spending period of the year.
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