For years, the path to finding a business was fairly predictable. Someone opened Google, typed in what they wanted, compared a few results and decided where to click. That still happens, and Google remains hugely important. But it is no longer the only place people search.
Increasingly, customers are searching inside the platforms they already use every day. They are looking for restaurants on TikTok, discovering skincare products on Instagram, watching tutorials on YouTube, checking recommendations on Reddit and using social platforms to decide which businesses are worth visiting or buying from. This behavior is known as social search, and it is becoming an important part of how people discover brands.
For small and medium-sized businesses, the implication is straightforward: being visible in Google is still important, but it should not be the entire discovery strategy.
What is social search?
Social search is the practice of using social media platforms to find information, products, businesses, recommendations and answers instead of relying solely on traditional search engines.
The distinction matters because social platforms are not simply places where people consume content anymore. Their search functions have become part of the customer journey.
Someone looking for a new restaurant might search “best Italian restaurant in Manchester” on Google. Another person might open TikTok and search the same idea, then watch videos showing the food, atmosphere, prices and customer experience. Someone looking for a facialist may search Instagram for “facialist in Singapore” and judge businesses based on their videos, before-and-after results and customer posts.
The search itself has not disappeared, the place where the search happens has changed. And that change is particularly noticeable among younger consumers.
Why social search is becoming harder for businesses to ignore
Google itself highlighted the shift back in 2022. According to TechCrunch, Google executive Prabhakar Raghavan said the company’s internal research found that nearly 40% of young people searching for a place to eat were turning to TikTok or Instagram instead of Google Search or Google Maps. Google later confirmed that the research involved U.S. users aged 18 to 24. It was a narrow finding about local discovery, not evidence that 40% of all searches had moved to social media, but it was an early indication that younger users were developing different search habits.
More recent research suggests the behavior has continued.
Sprout Social’s Q2 2025 Pulse Survey found that 41% of Gen Z respondents in the U.S., UK and Australia turn to social media first when searching for information, compared with 32% who turn to traditional search engines first. The research also found that 37% of consumers across age groups prefer social media as the first place to search for product reviews and recommendations, while 35% prefer it for finding local restaurants and activities.
Adobe’s 2026 research provides another useful data point: 49% of surveyed consumers said they had used TikTok as a search engine, up from 41% in Adobe’s 2024 survey. Among Gen Z, the figure reached 65%. At the same time, Google remained the most helpful source overall in the survey, showing why it is more accurate to describe this as a change in search behaviour rather than the death of Google.
That distinction is important for business owners.
You do not need to choose between Google and social media. You need to understand what each platform is good at and make sure your business can be discovered across the places your customers actually use.
Why people search on social media
Part of social search’s appeal is the type of answer it provides.
A traditional search result might tell someone that a restaurant has four-star reviews. A TikTok video can show the restaurant’s food, atmosphere and portion sizes in less than a minute.
That difference becomes even more valuable for products and services where seeing the experience helps someone make a decision.
People can watch a makeup tutorial before buying the product. They can see how a hotel room actually looks before booking. They can watch a personal trainer demonstrate an exercise. They can see a hairdresser’s results or a café’s most popular drinks.
There is also a human element.
From my own experience, I’ve noticed that I increasingly turn to social platforms when I’m looking for recommendations, particularly for restaurants, products and places to visit. Instead of starting with a traditional Google search, I’ll often search directly on TikTok or Instagram because I want to see what real people are saying, showing and recommending. A search result can tell me that a place is highly rated, but a short video can give me a much better sense of what the experience actually looks like.
Social platforms make it easier to see experiences from customers and creators rather than relying entirely on polished brand messaging. Sprout Social found that 76% of consumers surveyed had been influenced to make a purchase by content they saw on social media in the previous six months, with the figure rising to 90% among Gen Z respondents.
TikTok has reported similar behavior around its own platform. Its business research states that 92% of users take some kind of action after watching a video, while 37% said they had purchased something they discovered on TikTok. These are platform-reported figures, so they should be treated as such, but they illustrate the connection between discovery and action that makes social search commercially interesting.
How small businesses can optimize for social search
The good news is that social search optimization does not require a completely separate marketing strategy. Many of the principles behind good SEO still apply. The difference is that your content needs to make sense to both the platform’s search system and the person watching it.
- Make your profile immediately understandable
Your social profile should tell people what you do and where you operate.
If you are a café, including your location and business category is more useful than filling your profile with clever branding language that tells potential customers very little.
Instead of simply using a name such as “Luna,” for example, a business could use something closer to “Luna | Melbourne Coffee Shop,” where appropriate.
Your bio should naturally include relevant information such as your service, location and specialty. Select the most accurate business category available and keep your contact and location information consistent.
Think of your profile as the equivalent of a homepage for social search.
- Create content around the questions customers actually ask
One of the easiest mistakes is creating social content based entirely on what the business wants to say.
Social search works better when you start with what customers want to know.
For a dental clinic, that could mean:
“Does teeth whitening hurt?”
“How long does Invisalign take?”
“What should I expect during my first dental appointment?”
For a restaurant:
“What is the best brunch in [city]?”
“What does a meal at [restaurant] actually cost?”
“Is this restaurant good for families?”
These are much closer to real search behaviour than captions filled with generic promotional language.
- Use keywords naturally in captions and video content
Social SEO does not mean stuffing every caption with keywords.
Instead, use the language your customers would naturally type into a search box.
If you are a wedding photographer in London, “London wedding photographer” is useful context. So are phrases such as “wedding photography in London,” “London wedding venues” or “what to expect from a wedding photographer.”
Use relevant phrases in the caption, spoken content and on-screen text where they genuinely fit the video.
The goal is clarity, not repetition.
- Say what the video is about
Video gives businesses another opportunity to make their subject clear.
If your video is about “how to choose a facial treatment,” say that early in the video. Put the topic on screen as well. This helps the viewer immediately understand what they are watching and gives the platform clearer contextual information about the content.
Do not turn this into a rigid formula where every video begins with an awkward keyword statement. It should still sound like a real person talking to another person.
- Be specific with locations
Local businesses have an especially strong opportunity here.
If you serve a particular city, suburb, neighborhood or region, make that information part of your content when it is relevant.
A restaurant could create content around “best date-night restaurants in [city].” A beauty salon could discuss “what to know before booking a facial in [neighborhood].” A home service company could create useful content around common problems faced by homeowners in the areas it serves.
This is much more useful than adding a city name to every post regardless of the subject.
- Treat hashtags as supporting signals, not the strategy
Hashtags can help provide context, but they should not carry the entire burden of discoverability.
A handful of relevant hashtags is generally more useful than a long list of loosely related ones. Consider combining a broader category with more specific terms that describe your niche or location.
For example, a local skincare business might use a combination such as #SkincareTips, #Facialist and a relevant city or neighborhood tag.
More importantly, make sure the actual content clearly communicates what the post is about.
Social search does not replace SEO. It expands it.
This is probably the most important point for small business owners.
You should not abandon your website, Google Business Profile or traditional SEO because customers are searching on TikTok and Instagram. The evidence does not support the idea that Google has simply been replaced.
In fact, Google’s own products are evolving alongside this behavior. In July 2026, Google introduced platform properties in Search Console globally, allowing creators and publishers to see how Instagram, TikTok, X and YouTube content performs in Google Search and Discover, including which search terms lead people to that content.
The direction is clear: search is becoming more interconnected.
Your website may capture someone searching for a service. Your Google Business Profile may help them evaluate your location. Your Instagram account may show them what your business looks like. A TikTok video may answer the question that convinces them to contact you. A customer review may provide the final reassurance.
These are not necessarily competing channels. They can reinforce one another.
For small businesses, that means the goal should not simply be to rank #1 on Google. The goal is to become easy to find, understand and trust wherever your customers begin their search.
At WOWebsites, we see this as part of a broader change in online visibility. In working on digital content and search strategies for years, I’ve personally noticed that the customer journey is becoming less linear. Someone might discover a business through a social post, search for it on Google to check reviews and location, visit its website for more information, and then return to social media before making a decision. AI-powered search, traditional SEO and social discovery are increasingly connected, which is why we help businesses think beyond a single search results page. Our AI Search Optimization and GEO services focus on helping businesses build a stronger digital presence across the places where people and AI systems look for information. We have also explored how businesses can maintain online visibility as search evolves and why brand voice matters in AI Search Optimization.
The next step for your business
Social search is not a reason to panic about Google. It is a reason to stop thinking of search as one website.
Your customers may discover you through Google, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Reddit, an AI search tool or a recommendation from another person. The businesses that adapt will be the ones that make their information useful and consistent across those different environments.
Start by searching for your own business the way a customer would. Look for your service, your location and the questions people might ask before buying from you. Check what appears on Google, TikTok and Instagram. If you are difficult to find, or the results do not accurately communicate what you offer, you have already found your first optimization opportunity.
Need help building a stronger search strategy? WOWebsites can help you improve your visibility across traditional search, AI-powered discovery and the social platforms your customers use to find businesses. Get in touch with us to see where your business is currently being found and where there are opportunities to improve.
