TikTok is positioning its Search Ads Campaign, which launched last September, as the next big shift in search marketing, turning intent-driven queries into conversions and long-term engagement.

By the numbers. TikTok reported a meta-analysis across the U.S. and Canada showing search campaigns on TikTok drive significantly higher impact than non-search efforts:

  • 2x higher purchase lift overall when search ads were included.
  • 2.2x purchase lift for enterprise advertisers.
  • 1.9x purchase lift for enterprise retail, with stronger ROAS than non-search campaigns.

Why we care. Search on TikTok is exploding – searches are up 40% year over year, and 86% of Gen Z users search on the platform weekly, according to the platform. Unlike passive discovery in the feed, the ads let brands capture consumers exactly when they’re looking for products, ideas, or solutions – much like Google Search, but with TikTok’s unique advantage of community-driven content, social proof, and cultural influence.

How TikTok Search Ads work. Keyword-based ads appear in TikTok search results:

  • Advertisers get familiar tools like keyword targeting, match types, negative keywords, and search term reports.
  • Creative stays TikTok-native – engaging, visual, and community-driven.

The bigger picture. TikTok search is less about static answers and more about perspectives. According to TikTok’s Sissi Xu:

  • “Every query on TikTok is not only ‘What’s the answer?’ but also ‘Whose take can I trust?’”

That dynamic helps explain why, according to the company, 61% of TikTok search users say the platform inspires more action than other search tools, and why three in four shoppers view it as a go-to place to discover new brands and products.

Bottom line. TikTok wants to redefine search as a discovery-driven, multi-intent journey. For advertisers, Search Ads Campaign is a way to capture that intent in real time – blending performance marketing with the cultural influence of TikTok.

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Anu AdegbolaAnu Adegbola

Anu Adegbola has been Paid Media Editor of Search Engine Land since 2024. She covers paid search, paid social, retail media, video and more. In 2008, Anu’s career started with delivering digital marketing campaigns (mostly but not exclusively Paid Search) by building strategies, maximising ROI, automating repetitive processes and bringing efficiency from every part of marketing departments through inspiring leadership both on agency, client and marketing tech side. Outside editing Search Engine Land article she is the founder of PPC networking event – PPC Live and host of weekly podcast PPC Live The Podcast.
She is also an international speaker with some of the stages she has presented on being SMX (US, UK, Munich, Berlin), Friends of Search (Amsterdam, NL), brightonSEO, The Marketing Meetup, HeroConf (PPC Hero), SearchLove, BiddableWorld, SESLondon, PPC Chat Live, AdWorld Experience (Bologna, IT) and more.