It’s not every day we hear Sundar Pichai acknowledge a rival but Google’s head honcho wasn’t afraid to admit that TikTok was a rival that came out of nowhere.
So how does a short-form content-sharing platform become a rival to the world’s largest search engine?
Well, a recent study by Adobe sheds light on this phenomenon, revealing intriguing insights into why TikTok is gaining traction as a preferred search engine, what users are searching for, and who is turning to TikTok over Google.
The findings aren’t that surprising, to be honest. The report details that TikTok has become hub for the daily simple searches.
In a study that involved 808 consumers and 250 business owners of different ages, 1 in 10 expressed TikTok as a preference over Google for searching.
Since its exponential rise in the last few years, TikTok has gone beyond the dance and prank videos to provide more informative and educational content. (Though dance videos will probably live forever). The study also showed that TikTok resonated more with younger generations and search inquiries range from recipes, music, DIYs, to everyday life tips.
In detail, about 49% of millennials and 29% of Gen Xers have accepted TikTok as an alternative to Google but only a mere 14% of Baby Boomers understand and use the app.
So, what makes TikTok tick a preferred search engine?
The survey spills the tea — 44% rave about the ease of digesting short-form videos, 34% love a good story or are there for entertainment, and 31% crave that personalized, more humanized touch in communicating info. And unsurprisingly, tutorials take a big part of the cake with 62% of the group consuming them.
Caution should still be practiced, however, as TikTok provides user-generated content that works on a popularity algorithm, unlike Google which still values factors like page authority. While popular, TikTok obviously falls short in providing authoritative content, even though it excels in sharing expertise and experiences in the real world.
For business owners, TikTok serves as a strategic platform to meet search intent. Over half of them (54%) use TikTok to promote their businesses, with video tutorials outperforming traditional search engine results pages.
However, while TikTok influencers play a role in promotions, only 33% have successfully converted engagement into sales. Business owners allocate an average of 15% of their marketing budget to TikTok content creation.
So, is TikTok the next-gen search engine?
It’s definitely rewriting some of the rules but the fact remains that it’s effective with the new generation of content guzzlers. While it may not replace Google entirely, TikTok’s unique format and content diversity make it a compelling choice for those looking beyond traditional search engines.
