TikTok is testing displaying links to Google search results from its own internal search results page. Radu Oncescu spotted this and posted a screenshot of this on X, which we embedded below.
What it looks like. TikTok added to its search pages a small link with a Google logo to its search results page. TikTok is also running a disclaimer that it “does not endorse or take responsibility for search results from Google. Here is that screenshot from Radu Oncescu on X:
Confirmed. A TikTok spokesperson confirmed this information with Business Insider, who wrote, “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,” Business Insider added.
Why we care. With all the concern about Google seeing its market share escape to TikTok, maybe Google is testing a partnership with TikTok to drive some search traffic back from TikTok to Google.
In any event, it is unclear if this is just a test or the start of a rollout of a new TikTok feature paid for by Google.
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