Having trouble getting discovered on TikTok?
TikTok is a fast-moving platform and jumps from one trend to another as soon as the first one arrives. It can be hard to keep up.
Not to mention that it’s been more than five years since the app first became popular during the pandemic. Most niches are full of competition by now.
In this article, we share tips on how to use TikTok SEO to get discovered on the platform.
1. Create better TikTok content
There are small tweaks you can make with your titles, profile, and publishing schedule, but none of that will make a difference if your content isn’t very good to begin with.
So before you optimize anything else, make sure you optimize your content for quality and get results better content ideas.
Ask yourself the following questions:
- Are you creating short content under a minute?*
- Does each video have a hook that grabs your audience’s attention within the first three seconds?
- Is your content useful?
- Is your content entertaining?
- Do you have good sound quality?
- Do you use compelling narration and visuals to keep a single second of your video from cutting off?
*Each video doesn’t have to be under a minute, but it certainly helps if most of your content is short.
Review your content carefully and make sure it meets these criteria before deciding to optimize it in other ways.
2. Be more consistent
Consistency in social media means two things: how often you post content and the types of content you post. Audiences love both, and so do social media algorithms.
So, after creating a tiktok, instead of publishing it, choose a specific publishing schedule and stick to it. This way, your viewers know when to expect your next video.
But like I said, consistency can also dictate the types of content you create.
If you post reviews, post more reviews. If you publish a tutorial, publish more tutorials.
If a social media user really enjoys the video you’ve created, they’ll want to watch more of it. When they like a video, they’ll see similar videos you’ve created on their For You page (fyp).
3. Choose a better publishing schedule
how do you know when to post content? How do you manage your TikTok publishing schedule more effectively?
The TikTok analytics section within the app has a subsection that lets you know when your audience is most active. Consider publishing content during or before this time.
When it comes to scheduling TikTok content, you can Schedule posts from TikTok Studio or use a social media planning tool like They went viral.
The latter option also allows you to schedule posts for other social media platforms, organize your social media content into groups, and manage your social media inbox from a single dashboard.
4. Add captions to your videos
Few elements affect TikTok SEO, but one of them is the captions you add to your videos.
As users read the captions to understand the videos a little better, the algorithm uses them to figure out what the videos are about.
So they are quite important.
TikTok posts can be up to 4,000 characters long, nearly double Instagram’s 2,200 character limit.
Users are more likely to read shorter titles, but if there’s relevant information you don’t want to include in your video, consider adding it to the title instead.
Make your captions as catchy as possible, but keep things relevant and descriptive at the same time.
5. Use keywords
Use a when publishing content keyword research tool and TikTok search suggestions to find relevant keywords related to that content.
When you find the right keyword, add it to the post title using natural language.
So instead of creating a headline that just reads “purple acrylic nails tutorial” with some hashtags, write something a little more catchy like “This is my favorite way to do purple acrylic nails.”
If you want, you can also use main keywords in your bio and username.
Just avoid putting too many keywords in one title and don’t add unrelated keywords to your title. This is known as keyword stuffing and algorithms see it as spam.
6. Use hashtags
Add some relevant hashtags to your titles. But probably not as much as Adam did in the example below. 😅
TikTok’s search tool has a tab for hashtags, which you can use to find relevant hashtags just like you use to find relevant keywords.
It is better to choose more than five hashtags that are relevant to your content. Choose the ones that are most relevant to your content.
Some creators add trending hashtags to their titles so they appear in results when users search for those hashtags, but if your content doesn’t match those hashtags, users and the algorithm alike will ignore your content.
7. Use trendy sounds
TikTok has a unique feature where a creator can convert the audio part of their video to sound so that other creators can use that sound as the audio part of their video.
So sounds can be trending on TikTok.
Spend at least 20 minutes watching TikTok every few days. You will have a good idea of what sounds are currently trending in the app.
Consider posting your own review of these sounds. Your videos can be seen when users watch those sounds.
It’s amazing how these voices can help. Even some less trendy sounds.
This helped one of Adam’s BMX videos get over 7,000 views in the video below. Is it a wild thing? It was on a brand new account with almost no followers.
8. Use trend filters
TikTok also has filters with overlays that you can interact with or use to change the look of your video.
Sometimes filters become quite popular. Consider joining the trend when they do.
9. Participate in trends
Some trends are independent of hashtags, votes and filters.
For example, “stick nation” is a trend where TikTok users share interesting sticks they come across.
Still, the more you browse TikTok, especially the For You page, the more you’ll get to know the trends that are trending on the app.
When you participate in trends, try to match them to your niche as much as possible. This not only gets you noticed in your niche, but also gets your place noticed by the general population of TikTok users.
For example, if you are in the martial arts field, you can use the stick nation trend to showcase your staff’s skills.
10. Add captions to your videos
Captions are text overlays you can add to your videos that only appear as thumbnails in certain parts of the app, including your profile page and search function.
Titles are useful for two reasons: they help the algorithm understand what your video is about, especially if you use a relevant keyword in the title, and they help users find videos that are relevant to them as they browse your page.
When a user can find more of your videos that they like, they will like, comment on, and maybe even share those videos.
The more users do this, the more your content will appear on their page for you.
11. Engage your audience
As you know by now, the more engagement your content gets, the more it will be liked by the algorithm.
Here are some ways to get your TikTok audience more interested in your content:
- Include funny, surprising or exciting moments in your videos
- To give your audience a taste of what’s to come, add an interesting moment of the video to the beginning of the video, then play the rest of the video from the beginning as usual
- Ask viewers to like your video. For example, you could say “if you want to see more videos like this, be sure to hit the like button.”
- Ask viewers to share your video with someone who will benefit from it
- Challenge your audience! Tell them you’ll do something exciting if they reach a certain number of likes. For example, a previous “nailtok” creator might say, “If we get 10,000 likes, I’ll wear five inches of acrylic all day.”
12. Collaborate with other creators
It’s a common technique that creators of all sizes use to get their content in front of more people.
When you collaborate with other creators, especially creators with larger followings than you, your brand and content are exposed to a whole new audience.
This is your reason new follower ratio to grow it increases engagement for some of your videos quite quickly and at the same time in a short period of time.
As a result, your content, like content you create with another creator, will be more visible on the For You Page.
13. Connect with your audience
Respond to more comments and consider responding to comments with videos from time to time.
You should especially do this if you receive content requests that you can easily fulfill. Not only does this create more interesting content, but other viewers can chime in with their own wishes.
14. Monitor your performance
How can you be sure your performance will improve as you optimize your content?
Your best bet is to use a TikTok analytics tool.
SocialBeefor example, it includes analytics that allow you to track your engagements, reach, and views.
Final thoughts
It’s over 1.5 billion people use TikTok. And its algorithm is more forgiving to new users than platforms like Instagram. Well, this is our experience.
But as forgiving as its algorithm is, it’s worth taking the time to consider and implement the above tips.
This will make your videos more likely to go viral and convert to a page for you.
Remember, it all depends on the quality of your content.
The better your content, the better your videos will perform.
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