by Joe Adsett, Managing Director, Refluenced
Nearly half of consumers (49%) now use TikTok to search for products, with 86% of Gen Z searching on TikTok weekly, almost on par with traditional search engines. This is a fundamental behaviour shift that’s changing how people discover brands. But 40% of major brands who are active on TikTok are simply not showing up in search.
Refluenced tracked 1,068 consumer brands across seven industries and the UK, Germany, Austria and Switzerland to get under the lid of what’s happening. We analysed 52,649 keywords and 159,451 videos to score how visible each brand is on TikTok search.
What surprised us in the data was how invisible most brands are. Four in ten brands register zero visibility across every TikTok search keyword we track. And this invisibility is not happening at the margins. Of all the keywords tracked by Refluenced, 99.9% are directly linked to purchase intent, spanning the full decision-making journey. Not only that but they come from independent creators, not brand accounts.
While much of the attention has been on AI apps and summaries, what’s going on inside social platforms is arguably just as interesting for the future of search and brand success.
Social platforms are now a primary entry point for discovery, with 53% of shoppers finding products through social channels.
While this change is being led by technology, it’s being underpinned by a behavioural shift: from searching for information to seeking validation. Unlike traditional and AI search, social search is far more experience-led, brought to life by video, creators, and real-world demonstrations. Social search doesn’t just answer questions, it actively influences decisions.
What’s the problem on TikTok?
So with this important shift to social search, how come so many brands are getting it so wrong on TikTok? The reason is actually very simple. Most brands are crowding into the 20% of keywords that are already highly contested on TikTok search, resulting in high levels of invisibility. In contrast, a massive 88.5% of tracked keywords have at most one major brand present in search results.
The bigger opportunity for brands on TikTok lies in what surrounds the highly contested head terms – the ecosystem of related searches that form a keyword cluster. These are often significantly less competitive, while still carrying high intent and volume.
Brands that shift from a keyword mindset to a cluster mindset move from occasional visibility to consistent discoverability. Winning TikTok search is not about owning one keyword, it’s about owning the conversation around it.
Users on TikTok move between related topics, discovering content across multiple entry points rather than a single search term. This means the visibility is built over a cluster of keywords, but more than that, this visibility is also cumulative. Creator content continues to index, rank, and resurface in search over time.
Owning a keyword cluster requires a fundamental shift in how content is planned and produced. Instead of aligning videos with moments, brands need to create video content mapped to clusters of related queries. This builds persistent visibility across the full spectrum of search intent, and over time it creates topical authority.
This authority is driven by nano and micro creators. Across 1,068 brands tracked, only 135 brand-owned TikTok accounts appear anywhere in category search results—in total, across 159,451 videos analysed, 99.67% of content ranking in search comes from creators, not brands. Users are not looking for polished brand content, but for authentic, experience-led perspectives from relatable and credible people.
And what’s clear for Refluenced’s research is that engagement rates for smaller creators are significantly higher, often around three times those of larger accounts. These creators are often closer to culture, producing content that reflects how people actually talk, search, and make decisions. And this is what wins visibility, not the creator follower size.
Cluster strategy
A winning cluster strategy requires content across multiple keywords, formats, and perspectives, which in turn requires multiple creators. Activating dozens or hundreds of nano and micro creators allows brands to seed content across an entire keyword cluster simultaneously.
Each creator contributes a different entry point into search, increasing the likelihood of visibility across the ecosystem. And it’s about changing how creator briefs are written. So, for example, instead of asking creators to make engaging skincare videos, brands must brief against many specific search queries such as ‘morning skincare routine’ or ‘skincare for oily skin’, as well the lead keyword in the cluster. Each piece of content becomes an answer to a specific search, creating multiple interpretations of the same topic, and so strengthening the overall keyword cluster.
Working with so many creators can create significant operational challenges for brands. So, rather than relying on manual outreach, as you would when working with just a handful of creators, brands are advised to partner with an influencer marketing platform that operates as a marketplace, connecting brands with a large pool of nano and micro creators.
Search is undergoing radical change. It’s fragmenting, shifting from traditional search engines to social platforms and generative engines, all the while feeding the AI systems that are reshaping how people find and evaluate information. Gaining visibility now requires brands to understand how people are actually searching on social platforms and shifting their strategy accordingly. On TikTok this means a total rethink of the way most brands work with creators in order to dominate across keyword clusters and drive topical authority.
