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When 19-year-old Nadja Marrero started posting on TikTok in August 2021, the optimization for search engines, commonly known as SEO, was not on their radar at all.
I knew what it was, but I didn't think about it in relation to the app or how I could make it easier for users to discover my beauty and skincare content.
That changed in September, when the New York Times reported that TikTok is the new search engine for Gen Z.
The report showed that more and more young people are using TikTok instead of Google to access information. This is mainly because the platform personalizes the videos shown to users based on their of their interests.
The publication quoted Google executive Prabhakar Raghavan. He stated that 401,000 to 300,000 young people turn to TikTok or Instagram instead of Google Maps. This is especially true when they're looking for a place to eat.
Generation Z also uses TikTok to find recommendations for vacation spots or activities in their area. They even learn about concepts like non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and artificial intelligence.
Joe Gagliese, CEO and co-founder of influencer marketing and technology company Viral Nation, has been urging creators and others in the industry for five years to pay attention to this trend.
"Creators need to focus on creating content that aligns with their niche search terms. They shouldn't just post what they like if they want to grow their business," he told Insider. "I think a lot of them aren't spending enough time planning their content. And that's what's going to make them stand out."
Mental health TikTok creators also told Insider they believed the app had started favoring more SEO-friendly videos. Other creators said they were struggling to maintain their engagement rates and get their videos in front of more users.
This shift, combined with news about Gen Z, has led many TikTokers to plan and post content more intentionally. Some of their tactics, like those used by Marrero, are already yielding great results.
"Over the past two months, I've had a huge increase in engagement; some of my older videos have gone super viral," he told Insider.
Here are three SEO strategies that five creators TikTok in the United States apply to improve the reach of their content:
Youssef Hasweh, a 20-year-old education TikToker, changed his content planning strategy after reading on LinkedIn about Gen Z's tendency to use TikTok for research. When he started making videos about college admissions and scholarships in April 2020, he filmed content on the fly without giving much thought to how it would impact his audience.
"I've never done that again," the creator says. "Now, I write a script for each of them." my videos"I think about the best hashtags and captions I can use to make it interesting to as many high school students as possible."
She uses the hashtags #highschoolsenior and #classof2023 to improve her videos' ranking when users search for those terms on TikTok's discovery page. She also tailors hashtags to each video's topic: if she's talking about a specific university, she creates a hashtag for it. She also always uses her username, @youssefuniversity, as a hashtag.
Hasweh says this has made it easier for his current followers to find older videos he's posted and engage with that content. Prioritizing SEO on TikTok also increased participation rates Hasweh's. It also helped him earn a spot as one of 10 creators in the BuzzFeed News and HuffPost Talent Residency Program.
Jorge Álvarez, a 23-year-old mental health creator, is also more careful with his hashtags since learning that Generation Z uses the platform as a search tool.
"Before, I would use any hashtag related to any term mentioned in the video or general terms like mental health," she explains. "Now, I use more specific keywords to frame the topic I'm addressing, like emotional distress or self-confidence."
She's still experimenting with the best hashtag strategy, but says her new focus on SEO could help more mental health organizations discover her work and get in touch to discuss paid brand deals or speaking engagements.
"The old videos I've put a lot of work into are still circulating, so it's definitely increasing the visibility of my work," he says.
Tosin Olaniyi, a 26-year-old skincare creator, says that when she first started researching SEO, she would go to TikTok's search engine, type in "skincare," and see the captions and keywords used by the influencers whose videos were listed first.
"I tried to put myself in the searcher's shoes and figure out what they were most likely to type into the search bar," explains the Toronto, Canada-based creator. "For the videos that appeared first, I noticed that influencers were turning on automatic captions, so I started doing that."
Olaniyi says this particular technique has helped her grow much faster on TikTok. She said she's reached out to twice as many brands for collaborations since she incorporated this technique and hashtags.
Solo travel creator Abigail Akinyemi used a similar technique to improve her SEO. Since most of her videos are about specific destinations her followers should travel to, the 27-year-old TikToker uses the app's discovery section to type in the name of the country she wants to make a video about, notes the keywords other creators use, and mentions them when talking about her videos. TikTok's automatic captioning feature picks up those keywords and highlights them on the screen.
"Even if the video doesn't perform well at first, I know it will eventually do so because the content is SEO-oriented and can be captured months later," he explains.
Marrero says her videos became much easier to find after changing her TikTok username to reflect her content's topic. Previously, her username was her first name, but updating it to @h8myfacelovemyskin a few months ago has helped brands looking for skincare influencers find her. She also updated her bio to include the keywords: skincare, makeup, hair, and beauty.
"Brands used to tell me they found my page randomly, but that's not the case anymore," she explains. "One of them told me they always write down the industry name when searching for influencers, so this could be really helpful."
Since changing her username and bio, including hashtags, and turning on automatic captions, Marrero says seven brands have reached out to her for paid deals since September, compared to before when a brand would reach out to her every two months.
"I'm making a lot more money now, and it's all thanks to SEO," he says.
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