Search has seen an enormous upheaval recently. This includes changes in tools, intent, and expected experience. Social platforms like TikTok are forging new consumer routines.

“Search has fundamentally transformed. It has moved from this old model of ‘I have a question, I need an answer.’ Now, it is really a place for stories. “It gives perspective,” Rema Vasan said. She is TikTok’s head of North America business marketing. She spoke at a panel during Advertising Week New York. “This isn’t just a change in behavior, this is a fundamental shift.”

According to TikTok’s data, Vasan said the top three reasons people search on the platform are to explore personal interests. They also search to educate themselves and entertain themselves. And for younger audiences, the shift is even more pronounced.

Here’s how experts are viewing changing consumer habits when it comes to search and product discovery.

From answers to inspiration

Cypress Villaflores, vice president of social at Publicis, described what she sees as driving the change during the panel.

“People are really going to a platform like TikTok because we want inspiration,” she said. “We want information. TikTok search provides all of that. It adds an extra layer of in-the-moment engagement.”

For US shoppers TikTok is the most useful social platform (28.4%) for researching and evaluating new brands/products, according to June 2025 data.

“You’re not only getting an influencer’s perspective, but you’re also really getting ordinary people,” said Villaflores. “And sometimes that’s what you need to finish your search journey.”

Vasan noted that 86% of Gen Zers now search on TikTok instead of traditional search engines.

“Consumers’ intentions have changed,” she said. “They’re not just looking for quick answers. They’re looking to explore, compare, and really shape their perspectives.”

The middle-funnel battleground

In partnership with WARC, TikTok mapped four stages of search: Understanding, exploring, evaluating, and buying.

“TikTok plays a very strong role in the exploring and evaluating phases,” Vasan said. “Eighty-four percent of searches on TikTok happen in that exploration phase, which is 1.2 times higher than on traditional search platforms.”

Villaflores said that journey often leads directly to purchase.

“It really helps you make the purchase and create things that are more meaningful,” she said. “By the time I hit that buy button, I’m very confident in the thing that I’m purchasing.”

Keywords, but smarter

While culture drives discovery, precision still matters if TikTok is to remain vital to business’ strategies. In June 2025, Sprout Social conducted a survey. It reports that 64% of worldwide B2B and B2C marketing leaders believe TikTok drives more business impact. It surpasses other social media platforms in influence.

“Keyword strategy is so important to any search campaign,” Vasan said. TikTok’s new Keyword Planner, now in open beta, helps advertisers identify high-value terms and track search trends before committing spend.

Villaflores noted that traditional tactics still apply. “You can do branded versus non-branded, exact versus broad match, and a lot of those strategies are transferable to TikTok.”

For marketers still viewing TikTok as “just social,” Villaflores offered a challenge.

“Search has changed overall as a behavior. It’s not anything anyone can truly ignore,” she said. “Be open to testing and integrating it as part of your larger strategies, because human behavior is always continuously evolving.”