TikTok vs. Google: How TikTok became the go-to search engine in 2024

“Just Google it”. The phrase is a universal shorthand for “search for it online”. The fact it is so ubiquitous underlines Google’s dominant position at the top of the search engine pile.

That success was built on continuous improvements to its PageRank algorithm, its massive web index, its ease of usability, and ecosystem of other services – giving Google a search market share of over 90%.

So you might be forgiven for thinking that Google could safely laugh off the idea of losing market share to an indirect competitor like TikTok, but recent changes in the social video giant’s approach to search advertising have made this surprisingly likely.?

For an idea of just how dominant Google is in the realm of search, just ask Microsoft how happy it is with Bing’s anaemic 3.5% market share (Or better yet, Ask Jeeves). Google has had a 20 year run of demolishing the competition, but its recent tinkering and ruining of its search function has jeopardised its position. This is in part due to the Google-ads side of the business muscling in on the Google-search side of the business – pointed to by many as the reason for worsening search results. Users were seeing more paid-for and affiliate marketing results, rather than results that were the most useful.?

Eat out for lunch, or eat rocks?

This was compounded by Google’s recent implementation of AI at the top of its search results list, which encouraged users to add glue to their pizzas, and to eat rocks. Meanwhile TikTok has been quietly beefing up its search credentials among its core audience of Gen Z. A study by Adobe exploring how young people use TikTok search found that 41% of consumers have used TikTok as a Search Engine, rising to 64% among Gen Z respondents. However only 1 in 10 Gen Zers said they were more likely to rely on TikTok than Google as a Search Engine.

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