Introducing Automatic Search Placement

People go to TikTok to be entertained and discover new things. And it's not just the For You feed; TikTok also offers a powerful search experience, where users can find all kinds of information, from fashion tips and recipes to unboxing videos and product reviews.

The rise of TikTok as a destination for search represents a great opportunity for brands to reach and connect with new customers. According to a study, 58% of TikTok users discover new brands and products on the platform, 1.5x more than other platform users.¹

That's why we're excited to announce the launch of Automatic Search Placement (formerly Search Ads Toggle), a new feature on TikTok Ads Manager that allows brands to serve ads in TikTok search results. The Search Ads Toggle leverages advertisers' existing In-Feed Ad creative to serve ads alongside organic search results from relevant user queries.

With Automatic Search Placement, brands can extend the reach of their campaigns to high-intent users who are seeking information relevant to their business, driving incremental engagement and revenue potential.

What is Automatic Search Placement?

When Automatic Search Placement is engaged, ads are automatically created using the advertiser's existing ad content and served against relevant user queries alongside organic search results. The ads are labeled as "Sponsored" content and appear in varying positions on the results page based on relevancy, user intent (as understood from their search query) and broader learnings from other user behavior.

Why use Automatic Search Placement?

Automatic Search Placement provides a unique opportunity to offer rich, relevant information and experiences to our users. Users may search on TikTok to find new content, resurface older content, or look for the latest hot trending items or ideas. The Search Ads Toggle provides advertisers a new way to assist and enhance this user journey.

It also drives results. TikTok internal research shows that 70% of ad groups with Automatic Search Placement "on" see more efficient performance when compared to not, as a result of more efficient conversions coming from search ads.²

Where will the ads appear?

The typical search journey starts with a user clicking the search button at the top of the For You feed. From there, they type in a search query, which then yields a series of search results. The ads appear among these search results. Once a user clicks on a search ad, the ad mirrors the in-feed TikTok experience, with users able to continue scrolling through the search results in the order they appear on the page.

Turning Automatic Search Placement on and off

Automatic Search Placement is automatically set to the "on" position whenever you set up an In-Feed Ads campaign. By keeping the toggle set to "on," search results ads will be automatically created using the advertiser's existing In-Feed Ad content and targeting, and served against relevant user queries adjacent to organic video results.

Advertisers can activate Automatic Search Placement during campaign creation or mid-flight. Advertisers may choose to opt out by toggling "off" when creating a campaign. Note that activating Automatic Search Placement mid-flight will not reactivate a campaign's learning phase.

Automatic Search Placement in action

Clinique UK

Clinique UK's early adoption of Automatic Search Placement to promote its Even Better Clinical Serum Foundation allowed high-intent users to discover the brand's ad among other relevant videos on the search page. This activation proved to be valuable as Clinique reached and captured sales from users that were already interested in their product.

DIBS Beauty

During the 2022 Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping period, DIBS Beauty utilized Automatic Search Placement to extend the reach of its Spark Ads campaign, featuring an organic video from co-founder Courtney Shields. This additional ad placement expanded DIBS Beauty's reach, making the brand visible not just on the For You feed but also in active searches for the brand or related products.

TikTok's Automatic Search Placement further powers brand discovery

We are excited to continuously innovate the TikTok search experience and deliver more ways for brands to connect and engage with the TikTok community through search. With Automatic Search Placement, brands can now show up next to content relevant to their business, product or service while providing users with a more personalized ad experience.

Want to learn more? Check our our Business Help Center article here.

Ready to try out Automatic Search Placement? Sign up for TikTok Ads Manager today.

*Currently Automatic Search Placement is available in the US, and testing in other markets.

1. TikTok Marketing Science Global Retail Path to Purchase Study 2021 conducted by Material.

2. TikTok Internal Data [NA, US] [July, 2023]