“Google loves to claim ‘competition is just a click away,’ but with a near-universal command of the search engine market because of predatory, exclusionary deals, nothing could be further from the truth,” said Kyle Morse, Deputy Executive Director of the Tech Oversight Project. “For Google, TikTok has never been its competitor. The Chinese social media platform is merely just another distribution channel that Google can gobble up and block out its competitors. The timing of this deal — as Google is on trial for alleged antitrust violations — is curious and signals that Google believes they are above the law.”
ICYMI: Insider: TikTok is testing a partnership with Google as it looks to beef up its search features
By Lara O’Reilly on 9/21/23
An option to search on Google.com now appears on some searches within the TikTok app.
Experts say the move could boost traffic and ad revenue for both companies.
TikTok is testing a search partnership with Google, a move that underscores the rapid pace at which the way people search online is evolving.
As spotted by app researcher Radu Oncescu, some searches inputted on the TikTok app are displaying an option to search the same request on Google.com. Clicking on the link takes the user to an in-app browser, which displays Google’s search results for the query. TikTok is also running a disclaimer that it “does not endorse or take responsibility for search results from Google,” per Oncescu’s screenshots.
#TikTokSearch now displaying external links to Google Search. @MattNavarra pic.twitter.com/cAxNufLA3p — Radu Oncescu (@oncescuradu) September 19, 2023
A TikTok spokesperson confirmed the company is experimenting with third-party integrations within the TikTok app, including a test with Google. The feature, which is being trialed globally across several different markets, is not an ad unit, the spokesperson said.
A Google spokesperson said the company had nothing further to share and declined to comment on whether there was a financial agreement between the two companies as part of the partnership.
Oncescu said a long-term partnership between Google and TikTok has the potential to substantially boost traffic and ad revenue for both companies.
“Brands want to quickly reach younger audiences and both platforms have the power to do this if they will learn to work together,” Oncescu added.
News of the TikTok tie-up comes as Google stands trial against the US Justice Department, which has alleged the tech giant maintains its monopoly on search through distribution deals with the likes of Apple and Samsung to make it the default search engine on most mobile devices. The DOJ has said Google spends $10 billion a year on such deals.
Google has said users have the choice to change their default search engine in their settings if they so wish. A Google advertising executive testified this week it was losing search advertising market share to the likes of TikTok and Amazon. Last year, a Google executive said its own studies had found almost 40% of young people would search for a lunch spot would do so on TikTok or Instagram first over Google Search or Maps.
For TikTok, the addition of a Google option is the latest enhancement it has made to its search function this year. It also recently began including snippets of information from Wikipedia and IMDb. Last month it made search ads available to all advertisers.
By using its own browser, TikTok can maximize the time users spend in the app and could potentially tap into a wealth of data about its users’ search and browsing habits, said social media consultant Matt Navarra.
“There’s a big win there for them in that respect,” especially as TikTok ramps up its e-commerce ambitions, Navarra added.
Google has also been experimenting with making search more visual, and it has been prioritizing TikTok videos its search results, said Nick Cicero, a digital and social media marketing consultant.
“This partnership is a great way for both companies to learn about new behaviors of search in a different journey than traditional Google search,” Cicero said.