Tik Tok Passes Google in Traffic

Love it or hate it, you've probably seen a TikTok at some point this year. The video-sharing platform has become astonishingly popular across all ages groups and demographics. If you were to guess the top site in 2021 would you guess Google, Facebook, maybe YouTube? If so, you would be wrong. In 2021, TikTok climbed from the 7th most visited website in 2020 to beat the consistent traffic leader, Google, in 2021. 

What is TikTok?

You may remember the old short-form video-sharing app, Vine. Twitter announced the shutdown of Vine in 2016, coinciding at approximately the same time TikTok began to set foot into the world. You may also remember the social media platform, Musical.ly, which was used to create and share short lip-sync and dance videos. In 2017, the Chinese company ByteDance acquired and merged Musical.ly with TikTok. In 2018, Musical.ly users noticed the app had been rebranded as TikTok Inc. 

Who owns TikTok now? TikTok is still owned by the technology company ByteDance, headquartered in China. The app boasts over 1 billion monthly users, including a growing number of businesses. Many businesses across industries have taken to TikTok to either create their own videos, run sponsored ads, or both. The Washington Post, the NBA, NFL, Wendy's, Amazon, Target, and countless others have their own TikTok accounts posting a wide variety of videos. The platform can be a cash cow for regular users as well. Research suggests that a user with 100K+ followers can make between $200-$1,000 a month and users with 1M+ followers can make over $5,000 a month! Though those seem to be a daunting number of followers to acquire, videos going viral on the app are frequent, especially with it being the most popular social media platform this past year. 

YOY Most Popular Websites

From 2020 to 2021, changes in website rankings were slight, with the notable exception of TikTok. Cloudflare, a cloud-infrastructure company, determines rankings based on global traffic patterns including app usage and when a person visits a site on a web browser.

What This Means For Alphabet & Meta

Despite losing the number one spot in the total 2021 tally, Google is still a formidable opponent. Google spent many days in the number one spot throughout 2021. This in conjunction with both Google and YouTube being under the Alphabet umbrella makes them a traffic giant now and for the foreseeable future. The same goes for Meta. With both Instagram and Facebook belonging to meta, capturing traffic is not a difficult task. Though surprisingly, Instagram lost a spot in the top ten, Facebook held strong in the top three. Additionally, the newcomer to the top ten charts, WhatsApp is also owned by Meta so traffic loss isn't likely a major concern. 

What This Means For Your Business

An unprecedented climb in traffic to TikTok doesn't necessarily mean you should rush to the platform and make it a dominant part of your digital marketing strategy. Since no single site captures every potential target you want to reach, don't ignore other areas. Visibility is the name of the game so a comprehensive strategy that includes a variety of platforms in the digital web is vital. On the other hand, depending on your business, TikTok may be a great avenue to venture into. There are plenty of ways to dip your toes into the TikTok waters.

• Sponsored Ads

• Promotions With Influencers 

• Making Your Own Videos to Showcase Products or Discuss Services

As with any social media platform, there are plenty of dos and don'ts. Check out our blog How to Optimize Your Social Media to help guide your social media marketing strategy towards success!

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