TikTok Algorithm 2024 Explained: How It Works + Tips to Go Viral

How does the TikTok algorithm work in 2024?

Figuring out the answer to that question is a m-a-s-s-i-v-e win for social media managers.

Cracking the code helps you stay on TikTok’s good side so it serves your clients’ videos to thousands of users.

It also gives you the recipe for creating high-performing viral videos.

As a result, your client relationships become even “stickier” since you’re producing exceptional work.

TL;DR: Figuring out how the TikTok 2023 algo works is great for you and your clients.

What you’ll learn:

• What is the TikTok algorithm?
• How the TikTok algorithm works
• What the TikTok algorithm will not recommend
• 5 Tips to make the TikTok algorithm work for your clients
• Manage multiple TikTok accounts with ease
• People also ask
• Unlock the TikTok algorithm to help your clients go viral

What is the TikTok algorithm?

From a 30,000 ft. view, the TikTok algorithm is a recommendation system that determines which videos appear on a user’s For You Page.

It gives highly personalized and unique content specifically “handpicked” by the algorithm based on factors such as watching preferences and recently viewed videos.

How TikTok recommends videos for you is based on the algorithm that determines the stream of videos curated to users’ interests.

How the TikTok algorithm works

TikTok’s algorithm recommends For You Page content to users based on signals.

The factors or signals that influence how the TikTok algorithm provides the best-fitting content to the right users include the following:

1. Video information

Video information or subject matter signals are based on the content that TikTok users often look for using the Search bar or Discover feature.

TikTok categorizes content according to user interests and uncovers video information from:

• Hashtags
• Content via video transcripts
• Captions and their keywords
• Trending topics
• Effects 
• Sound

2.  User activity

The algorithm provides TikTok video recommendations based on the user interactions with the app’s content.

It gets clues about the content types the user likes through these actions and interactions:

• Comments the user posted
• The accounts the user follows
• The videos that users share or like on the TikTok app
• The videos the users added to their favorites
• The videos in the user’s watch history page or watch history on TikTok
• The videos, sounds, and creators that the users hid and reported as inappropriate
• The videos that users marked as Not Interested, including skipped videos and hidden users
• The content in the users’ accounts
• The user interactions with organic content (and ads in a TikTok business account), which expresses interest
• The video completion rate or the videos that users watch until the end

3. Account and device settings

The TikTok algorithm mainly uses video information, such as recently watched videos and user interaction signals.

However, the algorithm also includes device and account settings to tailor content recommendations to users, including the following:

• The mobile device type
• The language preference
• The categories of interest selected during the user onboarding 
• The country setting and posting location

Follower counts and whether your clients’ TikTok history included high-performing videos don’t influence the TikTok Algorithm and how it ranks their content. 

What the TikTok algorithm will not recommend

TikTok excludes some content in the FYP to avoid displaying the same videos or posts that users clearly said “No thanks” to, optimizing the user experience on the app.

Some of the videos that TikTok’s algorithm won’t recommend include the following:

• Spam, misleading, and inauthentic content
• Content users already watched
• Potentially upsetting or harmful content

TikTok’s algorithm will also not show videos that do not promote or protect user safety, such as:

• Minor safety violations
• Tobacco and alcoholic products
• Dangerous stunt and sports
• Low quality, QR code, and unoriginal content
• Overtly sexual content
• Graphic and violent content  

Ensure that the TikTok algorithm doesn’t flag your clients’ videos by steering clear of these content types and following the platform’s community guidelines.

Trust us; your clients are better off being sticklers for the rules than facing potential violations and TikTok bans.

If your clients’ accounts get banned, read this How to Get Unbanned from TikTok guide to walk you through the process. 

5 Tips to make the TikTok algorithm work for your clients

TikTok’s algorithm is constantly evolving as it continues learning from user behavior.

That said, your clients can “hack” the algorithm to boost content performance and ultimately get more views, audience engagement, and more with the time-tested tips below. 

1. Include TikTok trending audios in videos

The TikTok algorithm often favors videos that use trending music or sounds, so jump into the trend to get your clients’ content in front of more audiences.

Open TikTok and find popular audio by scrolling through posts and finding commonly used songs.

Tap on the audio title or icon displayed at each video’s bottom left or bottom right corner.

You’ll see the number of users that included the sound clip in their posts. 

Also, go to the TikTok Viral tab through the video editor and tap Sounds to look for the latest trending songs.

Using the most popular audio can increase the chances of the TikTok algorithm showing your clients’ videos to more users’ FYP. 

2. Capture audience interest within the first three seconds

Watching an entire video signals a strong interest, so TikTok’s algorithm tends to highlight all the videos that are:

• Easy to consume
• Get to the point quickly
• Include a seamless loop

A surefire way to get audiences to watch your clients’ TikTok content entirely is to capture their attention within the video’s first three seconds.

Ensure your clients’ videos have an intriguing hook to spark audience interest and entice viewers to watch until the end (and even rewatch the post).

TikTok videos that users watch in full and on repeat tell the algorithm that people enjoy the content, so more people should get to see it.

3. Make TikTok content accessible

Besides making your clients’ content interesting and entertaining, ensure their videos are accessible and inclusive to more users.

Accessible content features can make your clients’ videos valuable to more users, which are always good signals to the TikTok algorithm.

For instance, add on-screen captions and texts to your clients’ TikTok posts. 

The more accessible your clients’ TikTok videos are, the more people they can reach and engage. It gives all the videos more opportunities to go viral.  

4. Engage other users and creators

TikTok isn’t just for your clients to post content and rack up views.

It’s also a space for interacting and engaging other users, allowing your clients to better connect with content creators and build communities.

Higher TikTok video engagement indicates that your clients’ content is valuable, prompting the algorithm to spread it like wildfire to more audiences.

Must read: How to Get More Views on TikTok after posting. 

Engage users who like, share, and comment on your clients’ posts. 

For example, start conversations in your client’s comment section by asking people who posted comments simple yet engaging questions.

Remember to follow through with actions, such as sending the user a DM, to keep the engagement going and address the user’s needs.

To increase engagement, your clients can also learn how to repost on TikTok and share other creators’ videos (with proper attributions and permissions).

5. Optimize client content for search

Optimizing TikTok content is a fancy way of saying that your clients create content based on hashtags and keywords that target audiences look for on the app.

TL;DR: Creating content based on popular and relevant TikTok hashtags and keywords helps get your clients’ content in front of users looking for hashtags related to the specific content.

Including hashtags can also boost the searchability, visibility, and reach of your clients’ videos, prompting the algorithm to get the posts in front of users who want to see them.

Help your clients make the most of the 2,200-character count for captions by adding trending and relevant keywords to their posts.

Go to the TikTok Creative Center to uncover keyword insights.

You can get the right hashtags to help optimize your clients’ posts and ads.

The tool can also provide TikTok bio ideas and keywords that help make your clients’ profiles more visible to target audiences. It can get more clicks for your client’s profile icon.

Manage multiple TikTok accounts with ease

Handling multiple clients and their TikTok accounts can be chaotic without the right social media management tool.

Fortunately, the one-stop-shop social media management platform Vista Social has you covered.

It has the features to help plan, create, organize, publish, and manage your clients’ TikTok profiles efficiently (among other social media profiles).

Use Vista Social’s drag-and-drop Visual TikTok Planner to:

• Organize your clients’ videos for publishing
• Set and edit auto-publishing schedules 

• Create and customize videos and add TikTok quotes easily with the built-in Canva integration
• Add trending audio to your clients’ posts

Track, plan, and manage your clients’ TikTok posts with Vista Social’s collaborative content calendar.

For instance, you can create TikTok drafts and add them to the calendar before publishing. Your clients can quickly find, review, and approve the posts before they go live.

Use the filters in the top-right corner to quickly find TikTok posts and drafts.

The calendar helps you stay on top of your clients’ published and unpublished content and spot and find deleted TikTok videos.

Vista Social also offers a library of trending TikTok audio you can easily add to your clients’ videos.

Vista Social takes away the complexity and hassles of managing multiple social media client accounts while supercharging your clients’ marketing and promotion efforts.

People also ask

Can you reset a user’s TikTok algorithm?

No, but you can retrain the algorithm to change the content that appears on your client’s For You Page by:

• Clearing the app’s cache 
• Unfollowing specific user accounts
• Liking more of the content that your clients want to appear on their FYPs.  

Your clients can also view their recently viewed videos or tap watch history to review the content they want to stop or continue watching.

Can you beat TikTok’s algorithm?

You can make the TikTok algorithm work in your clients’ favor by understanding how it works and developing videos that align with the factors the algorithm uses to display content in FYPs.

Can user location affect the TikTok algorithm?

While not a main ranking factor, the TikTok algorithm considers users’ location when displaying content in FYPs.

Unlock the TikTok algorithm to help your clients go viral

Only TikTok has full control over its algorithm.

However, your clients can be strategic with their TikTok videos, captions, hashtags, posting times, and more to “hack” the algorithm and create viral content.

Help your clients achieve TikTok fame and raise brand awareness, audience engagement, and conversions with Vista Social.

Vista Social is packed with the features you need to help your clients manage and run their TikTok campaigns.

Try Vista Social for free to see the platform in action.