TikTok just recently, on August 22, 2023, has made quite an exciting announcement for the mobile advertising industry participants. The app has launched a new feature called Search Ads Toggle, which allows brands to show their ads in TikTok search results to those users who may be looking for more information about new products and brands.
The new feature, clearly delivered as part of TikTok’s larger strategy to boost the number of advertisers and marketing agencies using its platform, is a part of TikTok Ads Manager. It is basically serving users existing creatives from the advertiser’s In-Feed Ad.
The ads served as part of Search Ads Toggle are shown to users alongside organic search results. According to TikTok, for advertisers, this feature will deliver an ability to significantly expand the reach of their campaigns with motivated high-intent users who are actively searching for information about their businesses and are likely to engage with the ad creative.
What is Search Ads Toggle?
Search Ads Toggle works as an expansion for in-feed video campaigns providing an ad placement within the TikTok search engine results page (SERP). It is not a traditional keyword-based search ads offering.
This function, when activated, allows TikTok to automatically create ads based on creatives already existing in the advertiser’s TikTok Ads Manager. And deliver them among organic search results against relevant queries. Such ads will appear on different positions across the results page depending on their relevance and general information about user behavior. They are also labeled as Sponsored.
TikTok describes Search Ads Toggle as a new capability that enables brands to have a better reach specifically to those users who tend to actively engage in various searches related to their products and businesses.
Should you use Search Ads Toggle?
As you probably know, TikTok claims to have more than 1.6 BLN users worldwide. Many of them are searching in the app for new content, information and ideas. With Search Ads Toggle, advertisers have a new way to show users that are part of their target audience rich and relevant information.
According to the results of TikTok’s internal research, 70% of ad groups actively using Search Ads Toggle report higher conversion rates and reduced CPA in search ads, and better performance in general.
In its announcement, TikTok also showcased some of the early Search Ads Toggle adoption results by two brands: Clinique UK and DIBS Beauty. Clinique UK reported a 441% increase in conversion rates, a 51% higher click-through rates, and 7.4% increase in ad recall. DIBS Beauty had a 8% rise in conversions, more than six-fold increase in conversion rates compared to non-search ads, and a 22% decrease in CPA.
“It would be reasonable to expect that availability of search ads similar to those presented by other major social media apps and search engines will increase both the number of brands serving their ads to TikTok users and the average size of their marketing spending on the platform. The addition of content search ads is logical and something that was expected from TikTok for quite some time now. However, we should note that Search Ads Toggle is just an extension of advertiser’s existing video ad campaigns, not a completely new advertising offering, so I wouldn’t expect too much from it in terms of new advertising features,” said Andre Kempe, CEO of Admiral Media.
If you are looking to boost your TikTok Ads strategy, reach out to us, our experts can sure help out.
