How to do better searches on TikTok

I have to admit I just figured out how to search on TikTok, just in time for Impending TikTok Blackout #2!

Is this the sad reality of being an elder Millennial? Probably. But I figure that if I’m just uncovering these things, some of you may need to hear this, too.

I’ll confess: I’m not an avid TikTok user. I prefer my doomscrolling to take place on Instagram, and if I were to consider myself an expert on any platform, Instagram wins by a landslide.

But TikTok is definitely leading the social media pack on innovation and features, as much as I hate to admit that—and when I’m doing trend research or trying to find creative ways to pull off new concepts, TikTok is where I head.

But here’s the thing.

Straight out of the box TikTok searching kind of sucks.

You can get lucky, but if you’re searching with a purpose, you’re likely to get lost or frustrated.

So many people are trying to hack the TikTok algorithm these days and it makes it WAY too easy to find nothing but irrelevant nonsense when you search.

Or maybe you’re looking for a certain trend or something you may have liked, but you can’t find it or quite recall exact details.

You need a way to narrow it all down. And guess what? You can do that!

TikTok search tips for people who don’t do TikTok

Someone once told me that if you’re going to write a process about ‘how to make a sandwich,’ the first step needs to be, ‘open the bread bag.’

So, my friends, we’re opening the bread bag and pointing out where to start a TikTok search.

All you have to do is click on that little magnifying glass at the top right hand side.

Find the TikTok search filters

After you type in your query (that’s what we call questions in the search world), look for the three dots in the upper right.

Choose the “filters” option

Self-explanatory? You bet. Simply tap the filters option.

Choose your search filters

You’ve officially opened up the TikTok search panel. There are plenty of options to choose and combine.

If you sort by Date Posted, it will show the most recent posts first, and then go backwards.

To be honest, I’m still trying to figure out the ‘sort by relevance’ option, because when that’s ticked, thing seem very much irrelevant. If you have a different experience or insight, I’d love to hear about it.

Can you use advanced search operators on TikTok?

If you’re a nerd like me, you may search with advanced operators. I tried to see if those worked in TikTok to help with better searches, but the interwebs tell me no.

However! When I tested a search with “best brand content AND taco bell,” I did get hyper-relevant results only showing people talking about Taco Bell. So, while the full suite of search operators may not work, super basic ones may help.

Get lucky with TikTok’s experimental search highlights

Like all things these days, TikTok is playing around with AI. Specifically, they’re providing AI search summaries very much the same way Google does: by scraping content and cherrypicking information to display as a search highlight.

What’s interesting to me is that I’ve struggled to repeat the search I’ve screenshotted here: highlights have never popped up for me on this query ever since the first search.

I’ve done other searches and had new info, but I’m not sure how the platform determines when to show highlights or not.

Like all things AI, don’t believe all the answers at face value: you may want to do a little digging or use some critical thinking to vet.

All that being said, as a marketer, creative, or business owner, I loved seeing this extra info because it gave me so many rabbit holes to dive into. I mean, Burberry is quickly jumping on TikTok trends? Not something I thought a high-end brand would do. You can bet I went and checked out their profile immediately.

But also…how transcendent. It blows my mind that TikTok is opening up creative boundaries and giving marketing teams permission to do something different and, dare I say, a little against the brand. And yet, it’s okay.

It’s a reminder that there’s room for us to ALL step out of our comfort zones and do things we didn’t think we could or should do.

All of that from a TikTok search tutorial?!

Now that you’ve found a way to search for inspo…

Start creating some content! And come back after you’ve put out a few videos and I’ll show you the magic of TikTok analytics.

And, unlike Instagram, you don’t have to have a business account to partake.

I wasn’t lying when I said TikTok’s features were above and beyond…sigh.