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User Search Behavior in SEA & Brazil

My Role

UX Researcher

Time

2 Weeks

Method

Tools

Survey

TikTok On-site Survey Tool
Miro
Lark
 

Research Background

As part of a research project to understand why search feature is used less frequently in Southeast Asia (SEA), the TikTok research and search teams collaborated to examine crucial motives, issues, and preferences experienced by users in Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Brazil.

Research Questions

  • What percentage of users actively search on TikTok?

  • What are the primary motivations driving users to search on TikTok?

  • What factors do users prioritize when evaluating TikTok search results?

  • What issues and pain points do users currently encounter with TikTok search?

Method

We conducted an online survey with over 8,000 TikTok users across the four target countries. The survey was translated into each country's language and distributed to a random sample of users with varying activity levels on the app. We weighted the responses by age and gender to match the user distribution in each country.

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High Level Findings

  1. Search feature is underused: Only 29% of participants used the search feature in the past week, while the remaining 71% did not engage with it.

  2. Content-driven searches: When users do search, it’s often driven by curiosity about a trend, song, or influencer (52%) and content they’ve watched in their feed (44%).

  3. Preference for recommendations: Many users prefer relying on TikTok's recommendation algorithms rather than actively searching (37%), and over a third are unsure about what to search for (32%).

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Detailed Insights

1. Search Behavior & Motivation

Only 20% of respondents reported consciously searching on TikTok in the past week. Younger users and females were more likely to search. The primary motivations for searching were:

  • Curiosity about trending content (52%)

  • Inspiration from previously watched videos (44%)

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2. Content Preferences

Entertainment-oriented content like lifestyle, beauty and performance videos were the most searched categories, especially by females. Males searched more for games, sports and technology.

When searching, the factors users cared about most were:

  1. Diversity of results (28%)

  2. Relevance to query (18%)

  3. Usefulness of information (15%)

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3. Issues Encountered

41% of users reported issues with search results, citing problems with relevance, freshness and diversity. Another 38% struggled with knowing what to search in the first place.

Specific pain points included:

  • Irrelevant results that don't match keywords

  • Outdated or untimely content

  • Homogenous results lacking diversity

  • Unclear cover images and captions

  • Difficulty refinding previously watched videos

  • Vulgar and childish content (Brazil)

Users also expressed desires for:

  • More personalized results

  • Automatic translation of results

  • Algorithm-powered filters

  • More obvious filters on creator profiles

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Design Recommendations

Based on the research insights, here are some opportunities to improve the TikTok search experience:

  • Offer keyword suggestions to help users articulate their search intent and discover new content

  • Improve relevance algorithms to better match results to query keywords

  • Increase diversity of results, potentially by incorporating location, language and category

  • Update ranking to prioritize newer, trending content

  • Clarify cover images and add concise captions to make results more glanceable

  • Enable searching for previously watched videos and more personalized results

  • Expand filtering options and make filters more prominent on result pages and creator profiles

  • Consider adding translation features to make global content more accessible

  • Explore ways to separate or filter mature content, especially in Brazil

Conclusion

While TikTok is known for its engaging recommendation feeds, search still plays an important role for users looking to explore trends, find specific content, and rediscover videos they've seen. Improving the search experience with more relevant, diverse, and easier-to-browse results can help increase search engagement and satisfaction.

The insights from this research provide a roadmap for enhancing TikTok search in Southeast Asia, Brazil, and beyond. By adapting the experience to user motivations and regional preferences, TikTok can make search a more valuable tool for content discovery on the platform.

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