TikTok increased its character limit for video descriptions giving users more flexibility with SEO.
The platform's video description limit, once set to 300 characters, got changed to 2,200 characters. This increase makes TikTok's description character limit exactly the same as Instagram's.
A fierce competition This limit increase aims to make content more searchable and help decide what gets pushed to each user's FYP.
Matt Navarra, a well-known social media analyst, gives us the details in his Tweet below.
Some say this change is because younger generations prefer using things like TikTok and Instagram over traditional search engines, such as Google when looking for information.
Google has even acknowledged this weird phenomenon with a statement by Vice President Prabhakar Raghavan ;
"In our studies, something like almost 40% of young people, when they're looking for a place for lunch, they don't go to Google Maps or Search," he continued. "They go to TikTok or Instagram."
What more characters could mean for influencers Social media platforms seem to become more powerful as more people rely on them over typical search engines.
How often have you and your friends been looking for a restaurant or new bar to try out and decided on an option you saw on Instagram or TikTok? We know we have, and this update will help cater to that shift.
More characters mean influencers, brands, and local businesses alike can increase their chances of being found on TikTok by using keywords related to their niche, audience, or city.
This shift also means creators can add more details of what's going on in their video content in their descriptions instead of doing so through in-video captioning.
It's also important to remember that Google includes TikTok videos in search results when the right keywords are included. So this increase in characters gives creators higher chances of being discovered on more traditional search engines, not just the TikTok app itself.
The direction creators will take with this new liberty is unknown since it's still relatively new. We are curious to see if people begin spamming their descriptions with keywords or if they will switch to heavy use of hashtags, like during the beginning phases of Instagram.
We are sure TikTokers will have to experiment with what works, but we know, without a doubt, it will change how descriptions are formatted.
As more information comes out on what strategies are needed for optimal SEO with this update, we will keep you posted, so stay tuned!
As times and trends change, social media platforms must adjust accordingly, so we are excited to see TikTok take a step in the right direction.
We want to hear your thoughts on this new shift on TikTok. Do you think more characters in video descriptions will improve the user experience? Or do you think it will take away from the actual content itself? Let us know!
