Search no longer starts and ends with Google. For a growing number of Australians, the first place to look for a restaurant, a skincare routine or a weekend away is the search bar on TikTok or Instagram. That makes TikTok SEO and social search a core part of how brands get found.
The numbers back it up. WARC research found 86% of TikTok users aged 15 to 29 use the app to search every week, and DataReportal reports that around a third of Australian internet users turn to social networks to research brands and products. People aren’t just scrolling. They’re asking questions and expecting answers in video.
Our view: social is now a search engine, and brands should plan for it with the same rigour they bring to Google.
What social search looks like now
Social search is different from typing keywords into Google. People search for real experiences: what a product looks like in use, how a place feels, whether something is worth the money. They want to see a person, not a page.
It also blends discovery and validation. Someone might hear about a brand from a friend, search it on TikTok to see it in action, then check Google for price or location. Each platform plays a different role in the same decision.
Customers commonly use social search to:
- Discover ideas, from recipes and outfits to travel destinations
- Validate a purchase through real reviews and unboxings
- Learn how to do something through short tutorials
- Check out a local business before they visit
The line between social and search is blurring from the other direction too. Public posts from professional Instagram accounts can now appear in Google search results, so the same content can be found in both places.
Social search: Using the search function on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and YouTube to find information, products and recommendations, instead of or alongside a traditional search engine.
If your brand isn’t showing up in those results, a competitor’s content is answering the question instead.
How TikTok SEO and Instagram SEO actually work
Like Google, social platforms try to match a search with the most relevant, engaging content. The signals are different, though. On TikTok and Instagram, what you say in the video matters as much as what you write around it.
Platforms can draw on captions, on-screen text, spoken words and hashtags to understand what a video is about, then weigh how people respond to it. A clear, useful video that keeps people watching will often outperform a polished one that doesn’t answer the question.
Content that performs well in social search tends to:
- Use the words people search for, in the caption, on screen and out loud
- Answer the question in the first few seconds
- Show real people, real products and real results
- Earn saves, shares and comments, signs that it was genuinely useful
This is where social and search teams need to work together. The keyword research behind SEO can tell social teams exactly which questions to answer.
How brands should plan for social search
Brands that treat TikTok and Instagram purely as broadcast channels will keep missing customers who arrive with a question. The shift is from posting what the brand wants to say to answering what customers are already searching for.
That doesn’t mean giving up on creativity. The best social search content still entertains and still feels native. It’s simply built around a real query, so it keeps getting found long after the post date.
That creates a growing advantage for brands investing in:
- Keyword research that covers TikTok and Instagram, not just Google
- Content series built around common customer questions
- Creators and employees who can explain products credibly on camera
- Profiles, bios and highlights that make the brand easy to find
It also changes how success is measured. Alongside reach and engagement, brands should track:
- The search terms driving views, using TikTok and Instagram analytics
- Saves and shares, as signals of useful content
- Profile visits and website clicks from search
- Growth in branded Google searches after social activity
Customers have already decided that social is a search engine. The brands that win will be the ones with the answer ready when they ask.
Ready to get your brand found where your customers are searching?
Explore how Colony helps brands plan social content that gets discovered, watched and chosen.
