From Scroll to Search: How TikTok Search Is Taking Over and How Brands Can Stay Ahead of the Curve

By Mannat Mehta 

 

The phrase “Google it” is so ingrained in everyday language that we rarely stop to consider how dominant Google Search has become in our digital lives. Yet, in 2025, while Google still holds an 89.73% share of the global search market, a subtle shift is emerging, particularly among younger users who are turning to platforms like TikTok.

According to a 2024 Adobe study, two in five Americans now use TikTok as a search engine, with nearly one in ten Gen Z users who are more likely to rely on TikTok than Google for their search needs. This is a huge shift in comparison to the general trends of the search engines, further with 64% of Gen Z and 49% of Millennials reporting they have previously or currently use TikTok as a search engine.

 

Why is TikTok becoming such a powerful discovery tool?

TikTok’s appeal lies in its short-form, story-driven content and the algorithm’s ability to serve personalised, relevant videos. In fact, two in five Gen Z TikTok users said they’re drawn to content that feels uniquely tailored to them. Even baby boomers are getting on board—over one in four say they enjoy the platform’s narrative-style videos.

 

What is TikTok doing to take advantage of this changing trend?

Seeing this shift in search engine behaviour, TikTok made changes to its ad platform in September 2024 to capitalise on this trend with the launch of Search Ads Campaigns. 

The numbers speak for themselves: over half of users now turn to video and social platforms over traditional browsers when researching products. On TikTok, 57% of users actively use the search bar, and nearly a quarter are searching within 30 seconds of opening the app.

 

How can marketers utilise TikTok seeing this change in search behaviour? 

Activate a Search Ads Campaign on TikTok! The Search Ads Campaign is an option available for either the Sales advertising objective or the Traffic advertising objective.

The process is the same as creating any other TikTok campaign: adding your demographic, budget and run time and finally adding in your assets and copy. 

The area where this differs is the keywords portion of the ad group setup. There are three methods to do this:

• Suggested by keyword – where TikTok helps generate recommendations for keywords based on terms you provide.
• Manual keyword section – where you can manually insert keywords you want to target, even adding match types (broad, phrase, and exact).
• Bulk upload – where you can upload keywords using an excel sheet. This has a max keyword limit per ad group of 1,000 keywords and a max negative keyword limit per ad group of 10,000. Just make sure you hit the minimum of 20 keywords to unlock proper reach.

 

TikTok’s transformation into a hybrid platform, part entertainment and part search engine, presents a valuable opportunity for marketers to rethink discovery strategies. By meeting audiences where they’re searching and delivering content in the formats they engage with most, brands can drive higher results.