• by Colin Kirkland , April 15, 2025

TikTok is expanding its functionality as a key player in search, now integrating reviews of brick-and-mortar establishments directly into the comments tab of a video and allowing users to explore the place without leaving the video-sharing platform. 

Users who have access to the test feature will see a “Reviews” tab on the right of a video after clicking to view the comments.

Any place a user tags in a video -- from Central Park to a Nike store or cafe -- can be rated by the video’s creator, including their reviews and uploaded photos.

Users can also select a reviewer’s username to visit their TikTok profile. 

Ultimately, the feature removes the need for users to open up Google and begin a separate search for a place seen in a TikTok video, potentially persuading users to spend more time in the app, which is currently used by over 1.5 billion people across the globe. 

This new feature builds on TikTok’s Apple Maps integration, which, launched last year, displays a map of businesses in specific areas that have been previously tagged in TikTok posts. Relevant videos emerge in addition to details related to the tagged place, like address, price level, and how many tags there have been on the platform. 

These features, along with “TikTok Search Ads Campaigns” – a keyword-based search feature designed to display brands’ ads in search results – place TikTok in direct competition with travel and review sites like Yelp, as well as search giants like Google.

In 2022, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in a conference that “competition comes from nowhere” to describe TikTok’s infringing impact on the search business. 

Two years later, a study conducted by Adobe suggested that one in 10 Gen Z consumers and business owners were more likely to rely on TikTok over Google as a search engine, with 49% of millennials and 29% of Gen X reporting that they also use TikTok as a search engine.