Social Media

Why Google is Threatened by Instagram and TikTok

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Are Instagram and TikTok replacing Google services like Maps and Search? Click to learn more.

Being found on Google is as important as ever for any business that wants to build an audience, create engagement, and attract customers. Google is the world’s most popular search engine by far. Google draws from a vast database of billions of facts about people, places, and things (known as the Google Knowledge Graph) to provide answers to people searching for information. Businesses deploy a variety of tactics – such as creating content is optimized for search, creating Google Business Profile listings, using Schema markup on their websites, and much more – to increase the chances that their content will rank well when Google’s algorithms scan the Google Knowledge Graph in order to provide answers to the billions of search queries that are made each day on Google. 

This is all well and good. But Google has some competition – especially when people search for things to purchase. Recently, we blogged about the fact that Amazon has overtaken Google as the Number One destination for product searches. And now, Google is feeling some heat from Instagram and TikTok. 

Core Google services, including Search and Maps, are being affected by a growing preference for social media and videos among Gen Z, according to Google. Speaking at an industry event, Prabhakar Raghavan, who runs Google’s Knowledge & Information organization, said, “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. They go to TikTok or Instagram.” 

And this is a problem for Google. The company needs people to keep using Search, Google Business Profiles, Maps, and other important elements of the Google Knowledge Graph. Google needs eyeballs to stay on Google to grow an advertising business for companies that want their paid media to appear alongside search results. When more people spend time on apps such as Instagram and TikTok, advertisers follow them. And as you can see from the following graphic (source: Chartr), TikTok’s ad revenues are through the roof: 

The ascendance of Instagram and TikTok as product search engines for commerce is not terribly surprising. Both apps have fortified themselves with shopping tools, such as Instagram Shopping and TikTokShop. Both apps have become popular for influencers who recommend products and services to users, and influencers are especially popular with Gen Z.  

But Google is not taking this news lightly. The company is: 

  • Making its apps more visually appealing, including a more immersive experience on Google Maps. Prabhakar Raghavan mentioned that younger generations did not grow up with paper maps, and yet Google Maps emulates the experience of looking at a map. Making apps more immersive means more use of photos, 3D, and augmented reality. And Google has deep resources to make these changes happen relatively quickly. 
  • Adding features to encourage more people to shop on Google, as we discussed earlier on our blog here and here.  
  • Working with Instagram TikTok to index their content in the Knowledge Graph. For instance, if you search for a keyword followed by the word “TikTok,” Google will return rows of results of TikTok videos before you’ll see any standard web pages. 

Google has a lot of work to do in order to appeal to Gen Z search. And so does every business. One of the lessons every content creator can learn from Google, Instagram, and TikTok is to incorporate more visual sparkle into your content. And, if you rely on digital to attract customers, make it easier for them to buy from you by capitalizing on the tools being developed by Google, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, and many others.  

Get in touch

At Investis Digital, we recommend taking a Connected Content approach – building trust with your audiences through content that resonates on all touchpoints, ranging from your website to TikTok. This all depends on how critical these apps are to your customer’s journey. We can help you strategize an approach and implement the strategy. Contact us to learn how or click here to learn more about our social media solutions.