How To Use TikTok Search Ads To Gain New Customers

For decades, search has been synonymous with Google. But younger generations are increasingly turning to social media to look for everything from recipes to products, with around 64% of Gen Z using TikTok as a search engine.

Learn more about TikTok search ads and how they can benefit your business—especially if you want to appeal to younger customers.

What are TikTok search ads? 

TikTok search ads are targeted sponsored posts that appear for users actively searching for specific topics or keywords. This type of TikTok ad—which can be a video or image carousel—appears in search results alongside organic content. To differentiate from organic content, TikTok search ads display the word “Sponsored” in the bottom left corner. 

As an advertiser, you select which searches will prompt TikTok to display your ads. Here’s an example of a video ad that shows up as the first result in a search for Blundstone:

Another ad type you might see in TikTok search is a product shopping ad, featuring a product image from TikTok Shop and a link to its product detail page (PDP). For example, if a user types “perfume,” they may see ads from the fragrance brand BellaVita Luxury. 

TikTok search vs. Google search ads

Brands can target specific keywords for TikTok and Google search ads, but the two platforms differ in several ways: 

• Format. TikTok search ads are primarily video- and image-based, making them interactive and suitable for creative content. Google search ads, on the other hand, are text-based and serve high-intent users.
• Location. TikTok search ads appear in the TikTok search results page alongside organic content. Google search ads appear above and below organic search results. Both ad types are labeled “Sponsored.”
• Popularity. Google remains the most popular search engine worldwide, with 89% market share. But TikTok is becoming popular among Gen Z. In 2025, 77% of Gen Z made it their top platform for product discovery, news, and events, according to reporting from Sprout Social.

Why should brands use TikTok search ads?

TikTok boasts one of the most engaged user bases among social media platforms, with an average engagement rate of 4.86%, according to Buffer. While there are several TikTok marketing strategies—like producing organic content and partnering with influencers— that can help you break through on TikTok, here are a few reasons your brand should also consider TikTok search ads:

• Tap into engaged users. According to the social media giant, 57% of users use the app’s search function, with 23% conducting a query within 30 seconds of opening the app.
• Capitalize on product discoverability. A 2025 Report from Grin found that 23.2% of Gen Z users discover new products on TikTok. 
• Get users to your products. TikTok has also become a social commerce hub with its in-app TikTok shop. Through product shopping ads, you can direct users to your TikTok shop via search, meaning they don’t have to leave the platform to buy your products.
• Specific audience targeting. TikTok search ads let you set your target audience, enabling you to reach specific demographics based on age, location, and income.

How TikTok search ads work

Here are TikTok search ads’ core components: 

Keywords

TikTok’s search advertising functions with keyword targeting. A brand representative selects specific keywords, topics, or phrases that relate to its product or company. When a user searches these keywords or phrases, the company’s ads can appear in their search results. 

You can add, remove, or edit keywords while the ads are running to strengthen your campaigns. You can also manually enter or bulk upload keywords, or use keyword suggestions.

TikTok organizes its keyword suggestions by monthly search volume. For example, some of TikTok’s suggested keywords for “card game” are “card games” (9,000), “card games for 2” (2,000), and “card games for couples” (1,000).

Jewelry brand Mejuri used TikTok search ads, a previously untapped market for the company, to capture audiences who were already interested in purchasing jewelry. Merjuri achieved this by using both branded and non-branded keywords. 

Bids

Brands participate in keyword bidding, setting budgets for keywords and ad groups (collections of ads that share common goals) to compete for ad placement. The platform ranks ads based on the amount a brand bids and the relevance of each ad to a user. Higher bids can help you reach more people. TikTok offers two bidding strategies: 

• Cost cap. This is a goal-based approach in which TikTok optimizes delivery based on a cost-per-action defined by the brand. It can include page views, conversions, reach, traffic, and video views. 
• Maximum delivery. This is a spend-based approach focused on delivering the maximum number of conversions based on a brand’s budget.

For best results, TikTok recommends a budget-to-bid ratio of 20:1, which refers to the ratio of the money you allocate to your campaign to the bid set for each ad impression.

Algorithm

TikTok designed its algorithm to deliver personalized content to each user, so even though you select your keywords and topics, the algorithm still determines where they appear. TikTok ranks content by performance metrics, user engagement, captions and hashtags, content diversity, and device and account settings. 

How to get started with TikTok search ads

1. Select an objective
2. Set ad parameters
3. Add creative and details
4. Track progress and revise as needed

If this is your first time creating a TikTok ad, set up a TikTok Ads Manager account and add your payment information. Then, follow these steps to create a TikTok search ad:

1. Select an objective

When you open TikTok Ads Manager for the first time, you may see a streamlined version of the campaign creation interface. If so, click the “Switch to full version” button. 

From there, you can create a campaign at any time by navigating to “Create campaign” (under “Getting started” on the left side menu bar) or by navigating to “Campaigns” in the top menu bar and selecting “+ Campaign” on the top left.

Now it’s time to select an objective from one of three main categories, and to refine your goals. You can hover over each objective to learn more.

The two objectives that support search ads are traffic (under “Consideration”) and lead generation (under “Conversion”). 

• Awareness. With this objective, you can further your reach so audiences know more about your product, service, or company. 
• Consideration. At the consideration stage, customers have heard of your brand and may want to learn more. Refine this objective by choosing whether to prioritize traffic, video views, or community interaction.
• Conversion. Choose this goal when you want to convert users into customers. Specify if you’re pushing for app promotion, lead generation, or sales (to drive sales to your website or TikTok shop). 

Select the objective that best aligns with your goals, then select “Search campaign.” Select “Continue.”

2. Set ad parameters

In this step, you’ll set parameters for your campaign. 

Ad group name

Create a unique name for your campaigns. The “Template” button lets you create naming conventions for future campaigns and includes fields for ad location, timing, audience, and bid strategy. 

Optimization

Choose your optimization location to decide whether to send traffic to your website or your TikTok Shop. Under “Optimization goal,” you can choose to deliver ads to the people most likely to click on them or to the people most likely to land on your website.

Bidding

Select your bidding system. In this example, it’s set to cost-per-click. You can also set a cost cap here.

Keywords

Each keyword can include up to 80 characters, and you can upload or manually enter them, or use the “Discover keywords” feature. If you choose discovery, you’ll type in a product, service, or brand and then receive a list of keywords and their approximate monthly search volumes. You can automate keywords so that the system generates more based on the ones in your ad. 

TikTok recommends using at least 20 keywords in each ad group to ensure that they are “bundled thematically to fit with the ad creative” that users will see in their search results.

Placements

Placements indicate where your ads will appear. For search ads, you want your placements to include TikTok search results. Open the “Advanced settings” menu to control whether users can comment on, download, or share your ad.

Targeting

You can get specific about your target audience. Pick demographics (location, age, gender, languages, spending power, and household income), audience to include or exclude, and device (operating system, OS version, device model, connection type, carriers, and internet service provider). 

Budget and schedule

Choose a daily or lifetime budget for your campaign. You can also set when your campaign will start and which days and times it should run. 

3. Add creative and details

In this step, you’ll add the following information:

• Ad name. Pick a name for your ad. By default, it might include the date and time. 
• Ad details. Here, you’ll provide images or video, text, music, a call to action, and other interactive add-ons, such as a display card providing viewers with more information. 
• Destination. Choose whether your ad directs your audience to your website or to a TikTok Instant Page, an in-app page that loads 11 times faster than a regular web page. You can use a template and add video, pictures, carousels, and calls to action. 
• Tracking. Add an impression-tracking URL or a click-tracking URL to measure how your ad performs. 

Optimize performance and search by including keywords in video titles and captions. You can also use a mix of video and image carousel assets in ad groups.

Once you’ve set your creative, publish your ad group, and TikTok will algorithmically share your posts with the best-matched users based on your target keywords. 

4. Track progress and revise as needed 

Once your TikTok search ad campaign is live, use TikTok Ads Manager to track its performance by analyzing impressions, clicks, and traffic. Are you seeing increases in site traffic or higher sales? These are indications that your TikTok search ads are working.

On the flipside, low ad performance can indicate it’s time to deactivate a particular keyword or creative asset or experiment with a new keyword.