Realise the potential of social search SEO

Mathilde says: “Start prioritising social search, and especially TikTok SEO.

We are seeing massive numbers of users fleeing Google, especially comparing Generation X to Generation Z.

Between those two generations, there is a 25% decline in users who search on Google compared to social platforms, and TikTok in particular. We need to begin catering to that audience as well, and there are multiple touchpoints in their search journey.”

Why do you think users are fleeing Google?

“They are not being served on Google because they don’t trust the results that they are getting.

When you search for something on Google and you get the search engine result page, you get a lot of links, and a lot of meta descriptions and meta titles, and you know it’s websites that are trying to sell you something. Whereas, when you’re searching on TikTok or on Reddit, it’s user-generated content. It’s basically your neighbour saying, ‘This lawnmower is really good. I recommend it, so you should buy it!’

With the AI overviews, Google made it into a big thing, saying that it’s going to be more trustworthy, and a more tailored experience, and every market would get it, and so on. Now, though, we are seeing that Google was not quite ready to launch it, and they haven’t made it into as big of a thing as it was supposed to be.

We’re mostly seeing it on long tail searches and it’s not coming up as often because users don’t trust it the same way they would trust a tool like ChatGPT.”

An AI overview for a search about Generation Z says that it’s not defined by age, but rather by mindset and online behaviours. Would you agree with that?

“It’s a bit funny with AI overviews because it’s taking a lot of different information and compiling it into what the user wants to read about. When we do work related to generations, with a marketing mindset, we need to understand the personas more specifically. The AI answer that you’re getting is very fluffy.

I would define Generation Z as a specific age range because you can’t just tell a Baby Boomer that they are Gen Z. If a Baby Boomer is using TikTok, they’re a Baby Boomer who is very proactive on social media platforms and at the forefront of their generation, but they’re not Gen Z.”

How do you incorporate TikTok into your search strategy?

“You have to start optimizing for it. When you’re doing TikTok videos, you have to optimize your videos, but you also have to keep search in mind. You need to optimize for TikTok search and know what users are doing with it and how they’re using it.

There are 3 different ways that users are searching on TikTok. We have the inspirational search, the deep learning search, and the tactical search. In inspirational search, users want to know a little bit more about a subject or product, but they haven’t really decided if it’s what they want. They’re thinking about it, so they want some inspiration on it. They might be thinking, ‘If I were to clean my oven, what options might I have?’ It’s a very top-level search.

Then, we have the deep learning search, which is more like how-tos on YouTube. It’s a longer video format. Users want to deep dive into learning something: ‘How do I knit a sweater?’, ‘If I want to clean my oven, how would I do it?’, ‘Which products do I need to use?’ It’s very deep learning. They are also watching multiple videos to get more knowledge on how it could be done in different ways. They go into this rabbit hole of knowing how to knit a sweater or how to clean an oven.

Then, finally, we have the tactical search, which is more like a near-me search on Google. If you know you’re going to a city or a country, where should you stay in that country? Where should you eat in that city? If you know you want Italian food in London, then you are searching for the best Italian restaurants in London and getting all of the user-generated results on TikTok. That’s how people use the platform for search.”

Where do these searches fit into the user journey and will certain searches result in an immediate purchase or call to action?

“Sometimes they will result in a conversion, but you have to look at TikTok search (and social search in general) as a part of a very complex ecosystem for the search journey and buying journey.

Users will be exposed to a TV commercial or a banner on a website, and they will see your products or get inspiration. Then, they might go onto your website and read more about it. However, if they’re not ready to convert yet, they will cross-check your presence on social media platforms, or they might get exposed to your ads on social media platforms.

If they find them interesting, they will begin getting organic content within that. Then they might go back to your website, when they’ve seen your organic content or searched for it on social platforms, and convert there – or they can convert directly in TikTok Shop if you have that integration.

It’s a very complex search journey. Users won’t just go on TikTok, search for stuff, then convert on your website.”

Do you need to understand your standard user journey and map your content to that journey in order to serve their needs at different stages?

“Exactly.

You should also keep in mind that you don’t want to make them convert immediately. If you’re doing a sales pitch on a TikTok video, they’re not going to want to convert because they’re looking for user-generated content that feels like TikTok content. They’re not looking for an ad.

The main goal of TikTok is to create awareness around your products, not to sell them. It’s about community building, showing your presence to your audience, and showing that you want to engage with them and have them engage with you. It’s not about having a certain number of conversions on your website, or a certain number of views, likes, comments, etc. on your videos.

It’s about the whole trinity of awareness, community building, and engagement. You want them to see your brand, recognise it, and know that you want to engage with them, which makes a more trustworthy search experience when they go onto your website and convert.”

How do you identify that you are serving the right need at the right time on TikTok?

“Of course, you can look at the engagement you’re getting on videos. If you’re not getting much engagement – you’re not getting any views, likes, or comments – you are doing something wrong.

At the same time, if you are doing a video and a user comments that they want to see more, then you can make a stitch of that video, showing the comment that you’re answering and providing more of that type of content.

It’s difficult to say exactly what needs your users have and what to serve them. This type of content is more about showcasing the content that is already popular on your website and making that popular on TikTok as well, but serving it in different formats and in different rabbit holes.

When that specific user, with a very tailored For You Page and algorithm, gets that content, it’s because it’s meant to hit them at that certain point in their scrolling journey.”

How do you make it more likely that your video is going to appear on TikTok?

“You want to make sure you’re targeting the correct keywords and tapping into the rabbit holes that users are within.

If they want to learn more about financing, make sure that you hashtag ‘financing’, but also incorporate the keywords in your video description, the captions you’re using, and the subtitles. If you’re speaking, make sure that you say the word ‘financing’, for example.

Also, utilise your videos on-site. If you are selling coloured contact lenses for Halloween, but you also want to promote eye health, when you make a TikTok video showing how to put in contact lenses safely, put that guide on your website and embed your TikTok video there – and publish that content on YouTube as well.

That way, you really get that entity of your brand on social platforms and the two biggest search engines in the world at the same time. You are sending users the correct signal about who you are and who you want to be.”

Do you publish the same videos on YouTube?

“You can post content on YouTube Shorts that is basically just a copy of what you have posted on TikTok.

It’s a good idea to do that because Google will almost always promote their own channels instead of other channels. They’re more likely to promote YouTube videos and YouTube Shorts than TikTok videos.

However, if it is a deep learning video, it will rank much better if you do it in the normal YouTube format – in widescreen, on a playlist, with sections that users can scroll through, etc. You want a really well-optimized YouTube video for deep learning searches.”

Should brands be using AI to create videos?

“If they don’t have the resources to do it without AI, then yes, but it’s always a good idea to tag that you’re using AI, so users don’t feel like they’re being misled.

If you are a skincare brand promoting a foundation, and you don’t have a model so you create a video using AI, you have to label it. Users looking for makeup tips want that real experience and they want to see how that makeup performs on real people – not AI people who will make it look much better than it might actually be.

You can use AI, but be mindful about it.”

If an SEO is struggling for time, what should they stop doing right now so they can spend more time doing what you suggest in 2025?

“Stop having a quantity over quality mentality, especially in content creation.

It’s really important to create valuable content on your website that you can promote on your social platforms. You need to work on your topic clusters and, if you are using AI because you don’t have the time to create content, then you need to be quality-checking yourself.

You also need to make sure that your content lives up to the EEAT criteria instead of just pushing huge amounts of content onto your website. That won’t help you.”

Mathilde Høj is SEO Team Lead at TRANSACT Denmark, and you can find her over OMCTRANSACT.dk.