What is SEO? (Explained Through TikTok)

For a few months leading into 2025, we were warned that the popular video-social media app TikTok would be banned in the U.S. Whether the decision to keep the app accessible is upheld or not, the app’s impact on how we consume and create content is undeniable – and still full of lessons. Even for something as complex (an un-TikTok-like) as SEO.

When Vine died in 2017, TikTok tik-took over within the year. Since then, there’s not only been countless trends, but countless trend styles. You may remember the “How often do you think about the Roman Empire?” trend or the still-relevant “Full House Opening” recreations that took over many office spaces and friend groups. The earliest TikTok trends I think of are dance trends, and movie lip-sync trends. Trend-types that still come up from time-to-time, but aren’t always at the forefront.

Just as a TikTok trend gains popularity or a meme gains traction on Instagram, so too can your ads! When businesses (especially smaller ones) become friendly with search engine optimization, or SEO, they can also gain popularity and traction in the customer bases they’re aiming for. If you want your website to show up when someone Googles something you offer, SEO is how you make it happen.

But for many small business owners and managers SEO is a completely foreign language to them. For many, TikTok and other social media platforms are better understood than the basic concepts of SEO. So let’s bridge that gap. What can professionals looking to enhance their site’s SEO learn from viral TikTok trends?

How It’s Made: TikTok Trends

In all aspects of marketing, timing is everything. The same is true for staying relevant on social media. Viral trends need to be simple. This really comes down to accessibility. For a challenge or lip-sync or dance or prank or whatever – to become viral, they need to be easy to participate in (not necessarily easy to do; sometimes failing is part of the fun) and easy to understand. And like all media, it needs to be engaging. Your most average and most unique user both need to be encouraged to interact and recreate the soon-to-be-trend.

If that content is relevant, easy to understand, easy to participate in, and lucky enough, it will start to gain traction with high engagement. This comes from views, likes, shares, and comments on TikTok. The same goes for SEO. If the criteria is all there (with a bit less luck here, and more strategy), then search engines and social media platforms will gravitate towards that content.

SEO Lessons from TikTok Trends

Let’s use the same principles TikTok creators use to get their videos on everyone’s FYP (For You Page).

1. Hook Your Audience
   

   Captions are important for SEO! Captions give search engines like Google additional text to index, which can improve a photo or video’s ranking in search results, especially when relevant keywords are included.

   • TikTok: Videos MUST grab the attention of the user in its first few seconds
   • SEO: Your web content MUST contain enticing meta titles, descriptions (yes, even in your images), and headers (H1s, H2s, H3s for you nerds).
2. Timing is Everything
   • TikTok: Videos should ride trends early to maximize exposure
   • SEO: The texts on your website should use trending keywords or seasonal topics
     • This means regularly re-writing the content on your website (include images/videos!), a service we’d be happy to help you with here at James Arthur Design Co.!
3. Encourage Engagement
   • TikTok: Users engage by recreating trends or commenting on existing content
   • SEO: Optimize pages for engagement metrics like interactive content or FAQs
4. Consistency Breeds Familiarity
   • TikTok: Consistent posting improves visibility and engagement
   • SEO: Publish and re-write regularly to maintain topical authority
5. Short & Snackable Content
   • TikTok: Short-form videos
   • SEO: Use easy-to-skim content like bullet points (like this!) and concise paragraphs

Examples Living in My Head, Rent-Free

I mentioned the “Roman Empire” trend earlier because I believe it was one that had a wide reach, involving people that weren’t even familiar with TikTok. The trend alleged that all men think about the Roman Empire too often, with many men answering they think about it multiple times per week. Common or not, it was an easy to re-create trend that asked a lot of dads, husbands, and grandpas a simple question and got their family member or friend to join in on the viral wave.

Your website can do the same, even if it feels like you’re reaching a niche audience. Just pay attention to trending keywords and figure out how to incorporate them into your content.

@ambarrail This trend is incredible. Some of the best ones #romanempire #romanempirecompilation ♬ original sound – Alexia B.

Sigma Methods You Should Make Habit

If you are tired of reading and are thinking “yeah, yeah. What specifically should I be doing on my website?” Here you go:

• Write compelling titles
• Monitor trends with tools like Google Analytics, Google Ads, SEMRush, etc.
• Encourage interaction and sharing
• Focus on consistency and relevance

At the time of publishing, TikTok was banned for a few hours on January 19, but was quickly made available to the U.S. again. TikTok can teach us a lot about trends and engagement—and those lessons are still alive and well, even when it comes to SEO.

And at the end of the day, one could easily make the argument that social media trends are just another tentacle on the Marketing Octopus. Maybe this wasn’t all new for you, but sometimes thinking about these abstract marketing concepts becomes a little easier when equated with a fun and relatable concept like TikTok.

Even so, if you’re still confused about SEO and how you can enhance it on your website, give us a call, shoot us an email, however you want to get a hold of us, and we can help. That’s what we’re here for.