More About Automatic Search Placement

Last updated: December 2024

Automatic Search Placement (formerly Search Ads Toggle). helps you reach users who are searching for specific terms related to your product or service. After you set up the Automatic Search Placement, you may want to:

  • Learn how your ad is matched to the user search query

  • Change the status of your ad groups

  • Learn why you don't see any search ads delivery


How is my ad matched to the user search query?

Keywords are automatically created, matched, and connected with ads to respond to user queries. There is no keyword-specific control available at this time. The automatic system will look at the App name, custom identity, video content (including text and non-text elements), URL (content from the web landing page), and video title as its main source of learning to understand which keywords are relevant.


What are the definitions of TikTok’s exact match, phrase match, and broad match?

Match types for negative keywords are aligned with industry standards for other search engines including Google, Microsoft, and other engines. Learn more about negative keyword match types.


Why do I not see any search ads delivery even though I left the Automatic Search Placement on during the campaign setup?

It is not guaranteed that enabling Automatic Search Placement will directly translate into your ads being delivered under search placement. Enabling this setting simply allows your ad to be considered for search placement. At the end of the day, our delivery system also takes into account of other factors such as ad relevancy to the search query, metadata, budgets, competition, etc. to decide which ad to serve for a specific search query.


Can I change the Automatic Search Placement status of my ad groups after activating?

Yes, once the campaign has been saved, the setting can only be moved from the "off" to the "on" position, but not from the "on" to the "off" position. Please note that the ability to adjust the setting from "on" to "off" is available exclusively within the campaign creation flow for all new campaigns.

Learn more about using Automatic Search Placement via TikTok API for Business with API documentation.