The rise of using social media as a search tool has been more prominent than ever throughout 2025 and is not expected to slow down any time soon. This is why it is crucial for brands to take this opportunity to reach their audiences where they are most engaged. 

Most recently, TikTok has become the go-to platform for Gen Z’s search habits. Whether it’s to look for holiday inspiration, food recipes or specific product recommendations, there is guaranteed to be at least one video to help you make that choice. Short videos and bulleted infographics are a quick way to find digestible and relevant information, so it is no surprise that young people are adapting to this style of search, rather than going through Google and reading through lengthier blog posts that discuss the same topics. 

TikTok is not just an entertainment app anymore; it is a library which is only going to grow wider as the creator economy continues to reshape modern marketing. Goldman Sachs predicts it could nearly double from $250 to $480 billion by 2027, according to their 2023 Creator Economy report. Consumers are increasingly trusting online creators, especially Gen Z, with Gen Alpha following this trend – redefining the future of brand loyalty. 

While the Google library is predominantly preferred for facts, TikTok is used to easily get access to different perspectives. The data supports this, with 74% of Gen Z using TikTok for search, and over 50% preferring it over Google, compared to just 35% of millennials and 20% of Gen X. So, how can you adapt your marketing strategies for success in this changing landscape? This blog explores some of the key strategies to incorporate into your 2026 media planning. 

Emotional search 

Before the era of TikTok Search, people would often turn to other social media platforms such as Pinterest and Reddit to look for inspiration or an answer to their questions, no matter how big or small – oftentimes, Redditors would have an answer that even Google doesn’t. Social search is not a sudden disruption, but the culmination of a decade-long shift in consumer behaviour. From Pinterest boards to Reddit threads, consumers have long sought human answers; TikTok has simply refined this into a high-speed, visual-first engine.

The principle that underlies the shift from Google to social media search is known as emotional search. It recognises that search queries are often driven by underlying emotions, needs, and desired outcomes, rather than just functional needs. Consumer behaviour is heavily based on emotions, with logic used to justify a choice only after it has been made. 

When Gen Z searches for a “skincare routine for acne” on TikTok, they are not just looking for the list of ingredients (logic). They are looking for the emotional relief visible on a creator’s face, the aesthetic satisfaction of the packaging, and the sensory experience of the product texture. Google provides the “what”; TikTok provides the “feeling of what it is like to own it.”

There is also an added element of trust when it comes to a TikTok search specifically. When a user searches on the platform, they are effectively asking a “friend” for a recommendation. According to a study by Adobe, nearly 64% of Gen Z have used TikTok as a search engine because they value the personalised experience of creators over the polished results found on Google.

Social SEO

Social SEO is the practice of optimising your social content to help people find you when they search on social media platforms.

• Treat social as SEO: This trend calls for an updated approach to social and its evolution into SEO. Consistent, credible, and SEO-optimised social profiles not only improve your search results on social platforms but also rank highly in traditional search engines like Google, too. When you create your organic profiles with SEO in mind, you boost your content visibility in two ways. First, to people who search on social platforms but also to people who search elsewhere.
• Optimise everything: To ‘trick’ the algorithm into featuring your content in relevant search results, make sure you optimise every element of your piece of content possible: from your captions, on-screen text, to the spoken words in your audio, everything must be created to answer a buyer’s question. TikTok’s technology reads the text you place on screen. By using search-friendly captions, you are providing more data points for the search engine to categorise your content.
• Be the answer: To win in search, your hook must explicitly state the problem you are solving. A user searching for “the best pet food for sensitive dogs” should find your 60-second educational video in their top results; if your video starts with an overlay saying exactly that, the algorithm recognises the relevance immediately. A tip to achieve this would be to shift the focus from promotion to education; use phrases such as “How to…” or “Three common mistakes…”

TikTok search ads toggle & campaign

While there are ways to improve your Social SEO strategy organically, it is key for marketers to take their TikTok presence further than their organic account. Paid social ads should become part of your digital strategy, and they will complement your Social SEO efforts.

With 57% of TikTok users utilising the search functionality and 25% searching for something within 30 seconds of opening the app, TikTok recognised the opportunity and launched two distinct Search products: Search Ads Toggle (also known as Automatic Search Placement) and Search Ads Campaign. These products work much like Google Ads but with a video-first visual twist which works better when it comes to users conducting the abovementioned emotional search. To find out how to set up TikTok Search Ads, you can read Embryo’s blog that dives into more detail. 

The innovative new TikTok Search Ads Campaign type is about connecting with users in the moments that matter most. Unlike the TikTok Search Ads Toggle, which is merely a placement feature, the Campaign is a separate, full-fledged ad campaign option within the TikTok Ads Manager. 

• Convert customers when they are most curious: Advertisers can tap into TikTok’s multifaceted search behaviours, where users discover content both intentionally and serendipitously. With Search Ads Campaign, you can effectively align your content with the varied search behaviour of users, maximising your ad’s impact. 
• Capture diverse user intent across search queries: Search Ads Campaign offers unparalleled control through keyword targeting, enhanced bidding capabilities, creative flexibility, and comprehensive search budget management, enabling advertisers to target high-intent users with precision.
• Unlock incremental value: Advertisers that run Search Ads Campaign in addition to In-Feed Ads see a 20% increase in conversions on average, at a similar or better cost per acquisition (CPA). And 18% of users who see an In-Feed Ad but don’t convert ultimately complete the conversion after seeing the corresponding Search Ad.

TikTok search ads campaign functionalities

The TikTok Search Ads Campaign is a keyword-based ad format where advertisers can specifically target TikTok’s Search Results Page (SRP). Its key features include: 

• A dedicated campaign flow: Unlike the Search Ads Toggle, which is an extension of In-Feed video ads, the Search Ads Campaign has its own creation process.
• Keyword targeting: Advertisers can select specific keywords, ensuring their content appears in relevant searches. 
• Customisable creative: Brands can upload tailored creatives for the Search Ads campaign, enhancing message flexibility. 

This approach enables effective ad spend optimisation while capturing user’s attention during key decision-making moments. 

Supporting both Traffic and Web Conversion objectives, TikTok’s Search Ads Campaign helps brands reach high-intent audiences precisely when they are searching for products or information.

Main differences between TikTok search ads campaign and search ads toggle

TikTok search ads campaign case studies 

Glossier

By leveraging keywords to target users looking for their products, skincare-first beauty brand Glossier not only increased conversion rate efficiency by 188% but also unlocked a new level of engagement with potential customers. The brand generated over 8,500 additional clicks to the Glossier website from TikTok search and unlocked 1,000 conversions specifically attributed to the Search Ads Campaign.

American Eagle 

By integrating Search Ads Campaign into their always-on strategy, American Eagle doubled their ROAS and reduced CPA by 46%. With over 2,000 purchases driven, this approach elevated performance and deepened the brand’s engagement during critical shopping moments.

Eventbrite

Eventbrite’s Search Ads campaign was aimed at consumers planning what to do on vacation. By targeting relevant keywords, such as “travel,” “food & drink,” and “attractions”, tailored to specific cities, Eventbrite effectively paired user searches with relevant events and experiences from its events inventory. By adopting TikTok Search Ads, Eventbrite saw click-through rates increase by +66%, and overall CPAs decreased by -33% on complete payment transactions for their in-feed ad campaigns.

When to use TikTok vs. Google

While TikTok Search is here to stay, we cannot just forget about Google. In 2026, marketers should work towards a dual approach and categorise their content based on the search intent.

For highly factual searches, Google remains the gold standard. For example, financial advice and B2B software specifications, which are both “logic-first” searches and authority matters more than aesthetics here. But for lifestyle, fashion, travel and “how-to” visual tasks, TikTok wins as these are emotionally-charged searches. 

The bottom line is that Google should be used to capture the final decision (the bottom of the funnel) and TikTok to capture the emotional inspiration (which sits at the top and middle). If your brand is not appearing in both, then you are leaving a gap for your competitors to fill. 

The rise of AI and Gen Alpha 

As we move through 2026, the search landscape will continue to evolve with the integration of AI-powered conversational search within social platforms. TikTok is already testing AI-generated search highlights that summarise video content for users. 

Furthermore, we must keep Gen Alpha in mind as they will dictate the future of search and follow in the steps of Gen Z. This generation is commonly referred to as “iPad kids,” and they are even more visually driven. They often completely bypass text-based interfaces in favour of voice and visual search. For brands, this means the move to Social Search isn’t just a 2025 trend, but it is a lot more complex than this; it is a fundamental shift in how the human brain seeks out information. If your brand still does not have a “visual voice,” it will effectively become invisible to the younger generations of consumers. 

The future of search

To conclude, the shift from Google to Tiktok is not just a change in platform, it is a change in how we as humans and consumers build our relationship with information. To win in 2026, brands must start viewing social media as a place to give as many answers as possible rather than just posting to stay active and be on trend. Every piece of content should be a solution to a question, an answer to a doubt, or a bridge to an inspiration. 

By combining the technical precision of Social SEO with the high-intent power of TikTok Search Ads, brands can meet Gen Z and Gen Alpha exactly where they are: in the comments, in the search bar, and in the “For You” feed. The brands that will thrive are those that understand the search bar represents a gateway to a more visual, emotional and human experience.

The question for your 2026 strategy should no longer be “How do we rank?” but rather “How do we become the most trusted answer?”