TikTok SEO for local businesses: getting your videos found in search

Lots of people, and under-35s in particular, now use TikTok to look things up rather than just to scroll. They search it for restaurants, reviews, beauty routines and how-to videos before they even think about Google. That includes questions a local trade can answer, like how to bleed a radiator or what a new fuse board involves.

For a local business, that changes how you plan video. Rather than only chasing whatever is trending, you can make videos that answer the questions your customers are searching for, and those videos keep being found for months. Here’s how to go about it.

How TikTok decides what to show in search

When someone runs a search, TikTok tries to put forward the videos most likely to give them what they wanted. It reads a video using several clues: the words spoken in the audio, any text on screen, the caption, the hashtags and how people react to the video after searching. It also picks up on what each account normally posts about.

Work out what your customers type

You can start without paying for any tools:

1. Try the search bar. Type the first part of a topic, such as “boiler pressure”, and write down the autocomplete suggestions. They reflect what people commonly search.
2. Look at “Others searched for”. TikTok shows related searches on lots of videos and results pages. They’re full of follow-up questions you can answer.
3. Read the comments. Questions left under your videos, and under competitors’ videos, are video ideas handed to you.
4. Check against Google. If a phrase gets searched a lot on Google as well as TikTok, it’s ideal for content that can work on your website and your social channels.

Say your main phrase early

TikTok turns your speech into automatic captions, and those captions help it work out the topic. Work your main phrase into the first few seconds in a natural way, something like “Here’s why your boiler keeps losing pressure, and how to check it”. It also tells viewers straight away that they’ve landed on the right video.

Show the phrase as on-screen text

Pop a short text overlay containing the phrase on screen in the first few seconds. Plenty of people watch with the sound off, so on-screen text helps them follow along and gives TikTok one more clear clue.

Write a caption that describes the video

Treat the caption as a short description rather than a string of hashtags. Include your main phrase plus a related phrase or two in plain sentences, then finish with somewhere between three and five hashtags that fit. Broad tags like #fyp won’t help anyone find you through search.

Give searchers what they came for

TikTok pays attention to what people do once they’ve searched. If viewers stick around to the end, save the video or share it, that’s a strong sign you answered their question. Get to the point fast, deliver what your opening promised, and stop once the job is done rather than padding it out.

Keep your account focused

Accounts that post regularly about a clear group of topics are easier for TikTok to suggest for related searches. Plan your videos in themes, say three or four core topics for a heating engineer such as boiler problems, servicing, radiators and energy saving, rather than posting about anything and everything.

Can TikTok videos show up on Google?

Yes. TikTok videos do turn up in some Google results, most often for how-to and product searches, which gives you one more reason to write captions that explain the video clearly. Embedding your strongest videos on related pages of your own website, with a short written summary alongside, can give those pages a lift too.

Tracking whether it is working

TikTok’s analytics show where each video’s views come from. A rising share of views from search tells you the optimisation is paying off. Keep an eye on saves and shares too, followers gained from search-led videos and, where you can, visits to your website from the link in your profile.

Frequently asked questions

Are hashtags still worth using on TikTok?

They help a bit with sorting your video into the right category, but for search, what you say, the text on screen and a descriptive caption count for more. Use a handful of specific hashtags rather than lots of generic ones.

What length works best for search?

Whatever it takes to answer the question properly. Lots of search-led how-to videos do well at 30 to 90 seconds. Trim anything that doesn’t help answer the search.

Is it the same as optimising for YouTube?

The idea is similar: match what people search for and then deliver it. YouTube leans more on titles, descriptions and thumbnails, whereas TikTok depends more on the words and visuals inside the clip.

How long before TikTok SEO pays off?

Videos can begin showing in search within days. The bigger payoff builds over months, because videos made for search carry on picking up views long after the day you post them.

Sources and further reading

• Google Search Central: best practice for video SEO

Want help with this? We plan and produce short-form video for trades and local firms that people actually find in search. Take a look at our social media service. Get in touch.