Jungle Communications

For years, whenever we needed to find a restaurant, discover a product or learn how to do something, the answer was pretty automatic: search for it on Google.

Today, that behavior is changing.

According to an Adobe study reported by Social Media Today, almost half of U.S. consumers now use TikTok as a search engine. And its use as a search tool has grown by nearly 20% in just two years.

TikTok is still an entertainment platform, of course. But increasingly, it is also a place users turn to with a specific intention: to search, compare, discover and decide.

And for brands, this changes the rules of the game quite significantly.

1. From scrolling to actively searching

TikTok’s greatest strength has always been its ability to introduce us to things we weren’t looking for.

A new restaurant. A trend. A destination for our next holiday. A product that suddenly appears again and again in our feed.

But now the opposite process is happening too.

Users are opening TikTok and directly typing in what they want to find.

The study cited by Social Media Today points to short-form videos, personalized content and storytelling perceived as authentic as some of the factors behind this growth.

It makes sense.

When someone searches for a restaurant recommendation, for example, a video can show them in seconds what the space looks like, what dishes they serve, what the atmosphere is like and what kind of experience they can expect.

They don’t simply get a list of results.

They see the experience.

And in particularly visual industries, that difference matters.

2. Google still dominates, but search is becoming fragmented

This doesn’t mean Google is no longer relevant.

In fact, the data included in the study still places Google ahead of TikTok as a source of information, alongside platforms such as Reddit and ChatGPT.

The important shift lies elsewhere: searching for information no longer happens in just one place.

A consumer might discover a hotel on Instagram, search for videos of its rooms on TikTok, check reviews on Google and ultimately go directly to the website to make a booking.

In other words, the customer journey is becoming increasingly less linear.

For brands, thinking solely about “appearing on Google” is starting to fall short. Digital visibility depends on being present in the spaces where people actually research and make decisions.

And TikTok is increasingly becoming part of that equation.

3. What are users searching for on TikTok?

Not all searches work the same way across every platform.

According to the data analyzed by Adobe, some of the most common searches on TikTok are related to recipes, beauty tips and restaurant recommendations.

There is a fairly clear pattern: these are topics where seeing something can be much more useful than simply reading about it.

Think of searches such as:

“Restaurants for dinner in Seville.”

“What to do during a weekend in Barcelona.”

“How to use this product.”

“Hotels with great views.”

“Ideas for decorating a terrace.”

TikTok can answer these questions in a way that is fast, visual and very close to the real experience.

This creates clear opportunities for industries such as hospitality, tourism, restaurants, retail, beauty, wellness and lifestyle.

But appearing in those searches requires more than simply posting videos regularly.

4. SEO is also making its way into social media

If users are using TikTok as a search engine, brands need to start thinking about some of their content as answers.

It’s not about turning every post into an artificially optimized piece of content or filling captions with keywords.

It’s about understanding what questions your audience is asking and creating content that genuinely answers them.

1. Create content based on real searches

Before thinking about what to post this week, there is a more interesting question:

What is our customer searching for?

A hospitality brand can create content about what to do at the destination, when to travel or which experiences are worth booking.

A restaurant can respond to searches related to specific dishes, special occasions or areas of the city.

A store can show people how to use, combine or choose its products.

Content therefore stops being simply “something for social media” and starts serving a specific purpose within the decision-making process.

2. Give each video context

A good video needs creativity, but it also needs clarity.

If you’re talking about the best places to have breakfast in a city, say so clearly.

If you’re explaining how to choose a product, make it clear from the beginning what problem you’re solving.

On-screen text, captions and the language used in the video itself can help both the user and the platform quickly understand what the content is about.

3. Create for people, not for the algorithm

There is a common temptation whenever a new SEO opportunity appears: optimize everything.

But one of the reasons users turn to TikTok is precisely the type of content they find there: direct, visual and more human.

A perfectly optimized piece of content that nobody wants to watch is unlikely to help a brand.

The strategy needs to find the balance between being discoverable and being interesting.

5. From social media to a discovery strategy

This shift also raises a broader question about how we understand social media marketing.

For a long time, the main metrics have been followers, reach, likes and engagement.

They are still useful, but they don’t tell the whole story.

If social platforms are also becoming search tools, content can play a role at moments much closer to a purchasing decision.

Someone searching for “best Italian restaurants in Madrid” has a very different intention from someone who simply comes across a video while scrolling.

For brands, this means that content strategy should increasingly connect with SEO, paid media, web and conversion.

They are not separate departments within the consumer experience.

They are parts of the same journey.

6. Does your brand need to be on TikTok?

Not necessarily.

The fact that TikTok is growing as a search engine doesn’t mean every company needs to open an account tomorrow.

The right question remains the same:

Is our audience there, and does the platform make sense within their discovery process?

For a highly specialized B2B brand, the answer might be no.

For a hotel, restaurant, tourist destination, ecommerce business or lifestyle brand, the conversation may be very different.

Strategy isn’t about being everywhere.

It’s about understanding where your customer searches, discovers and decides, and building a strong presence across those touchpoints.

7. Search is changing. Strategy should too.

TikTok as a search engine is just one part of a broader transformation.

Today, we discover brands on social media, compare opinions in communities, ask artificial intelligence tools, search on Google and watch videos before making decisions.

The boundaries between social media, SEO, content and acquisition are becoming increasingly blurred.

And that forces brands to stop thinking about each channel in isolation.

The opportunity isn’t simply about “making TikToks.”

It’s about creating a marketing system where content helps the brand get discovered, builds trust and guides the user towards the next action.

At Jungle, this is precisely the perspective we work from: connecting strategy, content, campaigns and acquisition so that each channel serves a purpose within a broader business objective.

Do you want to review how your audience is discovering your brand and what role TikTok and the rest of your digital channels should play? Let’s talk.