What TikTok can read
Automatic transcription of what you say, optical recognition of text on screen, your caption, your hashtags and the engagement patterns of people who found the video through search.
The spoken word matters most and is the thing brands most often neglect, because they write the keyword in the caption and never say it.
How to optimise a post
Say the search phrase in the first three seconds. Put it on screen as text at the same time. Use it in the caption naturally. Then answer the question the phrase implies.
Search traffic behaves differently to feed traffic. It arrives later, converts better and keeps arriving for months, so a search-optimised post has a much longer tail.
Where it pays off most
Categories where people ask how to do something, what to buy, or which option is better. Product comparison and how-to content earns search views long after the feed has moved on.