Good news for advertisers on TikTok. The platform now allows you to display your ads within search results with a simple switch. This means your ads become directly visible with relevant searches in the app.
With the Search Ads Toggle, TikTok enables advertisers to expand their existing In-Feed Ads to moments when users are actively searching for inspiration or products. These ads appear among organic search results, marked as “sponsored,” and are positioned based on relevance and user intent.
For brands, this marks a breakthrough. They can now show up at the exact moment when interest turns into action. While traditional awareness campaigns focus on reach, Search Ads open the door to true demand capture within social media itself. TikTok’s internal testing shows that campaigns using Search Ads perform more efficiently than standard In-Feed campaigns, driving higher engagement and conversion rates.
This functionality was already available for select advertisers, but is now being rolled out across all In-Feed campaigns. It offers new opportunities to reach audiences more precisely at the very moment they’re actively searching.
With this update, marketers can directly tap into TikTok users’ search intent a strategic move that helps maximize campaign performance and relevance.
From awareness to demand capture – TikTok’s new full-funnel potential
TikTok’s strength has always been creativity and brand storytelling. With the introduction of search ads, a new layer is added to the funnel. Users with active intent now see content that directly matches their needs, resulting in higher relevance and faster decisions.
For marketing leaders, this represents an opportunity to integrate full-funnel strategies even further. Instead of viewing social platforms purely as awareness channels, they can now serve as spaces where brand building and conversion reinforce each other bridging the gap between discovery and purchase intent, where many brands still leave value on the table
