TikTok launched search ads to all advertisers on Tuesday, expanding a program it started testing last year, and it released new details about how brands including Clinique and DIBS Beauty are showing up in search results on the app.
TikTok’s nascent search ads program is automated, and marketers can opt into, or out of, appearing in search results by flipping a toggle within TikTok’s ad platform. TikTok said all campaigns would be set to include search ad inventory, and marketers have to turn the toggle off to opt out. TikTok said that marketers can apply “negative keywords” to avoid appearing in search queries that don’t align with the brand.
Related: TikTok connects brands to user-generated ads
“By keeping the toggle set to ‘on,’ search results ads will be automatically created using the advertiser’s existing In-Feed Ad content and targeting,” TikTok announced in a blog post on Tuesday, “and served against relevant user queries adjacent to organic video results.”
TikTok’s program represents a “search-industry evolution,” said Karolina Orgal, social and digital media manager at Clinique UK, in the announcement on Tuesday. Clinique planned to incorporate search ad inventory into all its TikTok campaigns, according to the announcement.
TikTok is not alone in trying to develop social search advertising, as Meta’s Instagram has also been testing similar ads. The apps are looking for ways to drive performance for advertisers, and search queries give contextual signals to target ads. TikTok is using search ads to drive shopping, too, as the app has become a destination for Gen Z to discover products, which can go viral on the app.
Also read: Meta offers ad credits to boost shopping campaigns
In its case studies, TikTok said search ads helped improve the conversion rates for Clinique UK and DIBS Beauty. Clinique UK, for instance, saw a 52% increase in click-through rates when it included search ads in its campaigns.
(Clinique partnered with lifestyle and beauty creators @cameronvalentina and @tatianacorreiamua for native ads, as seen below.)
In June, Ad Age spoke with Ray Cao, TikTok’s managing director, global head of product strategy and operations, in Cannes, and Cao discussed the social search phenomenon. “Search is more about a different kind of user behavior,” Cao said at the time. “So if you think about in-feed environments, the For You feed, it is curated content based on your behavior. Search is a totally different animal.”
DIBS Beauty incorporated search ads into its TikTok campaigns for Black Friday last year. The search ads had a conversion rate that was six times higher than non-search, according to TikTok’s case study.
“TikTok has become a search engine for many of our customers,” said Mindy Luong, VP of digital, DIBS Beauty, in the announcement on Tuesday. “We’ve discovered how to optimize our content and ad strategy around keywords most relevant to our target audience,” Luong said.
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