You‘ve invested time creating great TikTok videos. You post them with excitement, but soon notice barely anyone is seeing them. Your view count is frustratingly low.
Don‘t lose hope! This common problem has solutions. In this in-depth guide, I‘ll walk you through the top reasons your TikTok videos aren‘t showing up on other users‘ feeds and recommend proven tips to fix it.
By the end, you‘ll understand how to crack the TikTok algorithm in 2024 so your creative videos finally get the views and engagement they deserve.
Contents
- Why Your Videos Aren‘t Reaching Your Audience
- How TikTok‘s Algorithm Works
- Actionable Solutions to Get Your Videos Seen
- Update the App and Restart Your Device
- Check Your Internet Connection
- Make Sure Your Account is Public
- Analyze Your Audience Retention
- Diversify Your Content Style
- Optimize Your Captions and Hashtags
- Post More Consistently
- Leverage Trending Sounds and Challenges
- Collaborate With Niche Influencers
- Buy Targeted TikTok Ads
- Key Takeaways
Why Your Videos Aren‘t Reaching Your Audience
TikTok is unique in how its algorithm curates content for each user. The "For You" page customizes an endless stream of videos tailored to your interests. This makes it tough for new videos to break through from creators the algorithm doesn‘t know you‘ll like yet.
There are several reasons your videos may not be surfacing in your followers‘ feeds or getting picked up widely by the algorithm. Let‘s explore the most common ones:
1. Your Video is Stuck in Review
Over the past year, TikTok has substantially increased its content moderation. An automated review scans all newly uploaded videos before distributing them to other users.
This checks for:
- Explicit/inappropriate content
- Dangerous challenges or behavior
- Violent, graphic or illegal material
- Hate speech, harassment or bullying
- Spam or fake engagement tactics
If anything flags your video as risky, you‘ll get a notification that it‘s "under review." This means it‘s being manually checked by a TikTok moderator, which can take 24-48 hours.
Your video is hidden during this time until it passes review. This is intended to protect users, but also leads to "false positives" blocking harmless videos. Nearly 1 in 5 videos get flagged for review according to creators.
2. You‘ve Been Shadowbanned
A shadowban is when TikTok restricts a user‘s reach and exposure without their knowledge. Your profile and videos disappear from search results, hashtags and recommendations.
You may get shadowbanned for:
- Repeatedly posting content that violates guidelines
- Using bots/third-party services to artificially inflate views, likes or followers
- Posting harmful misinformation or hate speech
- Spamming or flooding hashtags irrelevant to your video
A Wallaroo Media study in 2022 revealed over 40% of creators believe they‘ve been shadowbanned at some point. Appeal through TikTok‘s support if you think you‘ve been unfairly shadowbanned.
TikTok regularly updates its list of banned hashtags blocked from search results. Using them renders your video invisible to anyone looking under those tags.
Some currently banned hashtags include:
Check for updated banned hashtag lists before tagging your video. Both generic and very sensitive/dangerous hashtags get blocked.
Pro Tip: Analyze larger influencer videos in your niche and note the top hashtags they use. Those are likely optimized, safe tags.
Hashtags help surface videos to interested users. But hashtag stuffing with excessive irrelevant tags has diminishing returns.
TikTok now buries videos using over 5-10 hashtags, as it makes the video topic seem unfocused. Keep hashtags hyper-targeted to precisely what your video is about.
5. Your Metadata is Low Quality
Your captions, hashtags, sounds and on-video text provide crucial context. TikTok‘s AI scans metadata to categorize and recommend your video.
Low-quality metadata signals to the algorithm:
- Spammy or unrelated captions and hashtags
- Repetitive generic sounds
- Clickbait or misleading video text
This prevents TikTok from understanding your video topic and who to surface it to.
6. Your Audience is Too Narrow
If your account is set to private, only your approved follower list can see your videos. Turn your settings to public if you want TikTok to share your videos to a wide audience.
Niche content tailored to a very narrow audience also limits potential reach. Aim to create universally appealing and relatable videos that are broadly engaging.
7. You Violated Copyright
Using copyrighted material without permission gets videos removed. Avoid:
- Featured music without licensing rights
- Logos and brand names you don‘t own
- Movies/TV clips and professional sports footage
TikTok uses AI to detect unauthorized copyrighted content. This is a fast route to get your videos taken down.
Pro Tip: Legally protect yourself by only using public domain or Creative Commons media, such as free stock videos/audio.
How TikTok‘s Algorithm Works
Understanding what makes TikTok‘s algorithm tick is key to optimizing your videos for maximum visibility.
TikTok does not display content in chronological order. Its AI curates each user‘s "For You" feed based on:
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Their interests: What topics and sounds do they engage with? This helps surface niche content.
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Video quality: High watch time, completion rates and engagement signal valuable content to promote.
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Creator relationships: The algorithm favors showing you videos from creators you often interact with.
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Timing: Videos gain momentum when posted at peak engagement times for that niche. Late night posts won‘t perform as well.
TikTok tailors each person‘s feed uniquely for their tastes. This means it takes time for new videos to get indexed by the algorithm and recommended to receptive audiences. Patience and consistently high-quality content pays off.
Actionable Solutions to Get Your Videos Seen
If your videos are flopping, try these practical tips to diagnose and resolve the issues:
Update the App and Restart Your Device
Before troubleshooting other problems, rule out technical glitches:
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Update TikTok to the latest version available in your device‘s app store. Bug fixes improve performance.
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Fully restart your mobile device. This clears out any software errors temporarily affecting TikTok‘s functionality.
Check Your Internet Connection
With poor internet, videos fail to upload and analytics lag. Videos need to fully process for the algorithm to index and distribute them properly.
Verify your WiFi or mobile data is working smoothly. Try switching between the two if your connection is spotty.
Make Sure Your Account is Public
Under Settings > Privacy, check that your account is set to Public, not Private.
Private means only approved followers see your content. Public shares it with the masses so TikTok can recommend your videos to interested users organically.
Analyze Your Audience Retention
See if people are clicking away early in your videos. Short watch time signals low quality or boring content to the algorithm.
Study your TikTok analytics to find average view duration for your posts. Aim for at least 30-60% average retention.
Diversify Your Content Style
Offer variety beyond a single niche or format. For example, share:
- Dance videos
- Comedy skits
- Reaction clips
- Informational content
- Behind the scenes footage
This helps more of your videos appeal to different audiences and interests.
Pro Tip: Once you find 1-2 formats gaining traction, double down on those in 80% of posts. But keep experimenting with 20% of videos.
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Use a mix of 5-10 precise, popular hashtags suited to each specific video. Avoid banned or saturated tags.
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Write captions and on-video text sparking curiosity and conversation. Include some of the related keywords people search for.
This gives TikTok the best signals of your video topic to match it with users likely to enjoy it.
Post More Consistently
Posting 1-2 times per day builds steady organic growth as the algorithm learns your engagement rates over time.
Gaps of several days or weeks between posts means starting back at square one rebuilding momentum each time.
Leverage Trending Sounds and Challenges
Use popular audios, songs and hashtag challenges picking up steam in your niche. This taps into interests currently spiking that day or week.
But avoid bandwagoning on dull trends already on their way out. Stay on top of the latest viral sounds.
Collaborate With Niche Influencers
Duet videos with mid-tier creators (50k – 500k followers) in your industry. Cross-promote each other to tap into their existing engaged audience.
Buy Targeted TikTok Ads
As a last resort, invest a small budget into Boosted video ads. Target them to viewers likely interested in your niche using relevant hashtags and interests.
This gives the algorithm a nudge to share your video with receptive users. Once it sees good retention, your organic reach may increase.
Pro Tip: Schedule your best videos during peak engagement windows for each niche:
- Comedy: Early evenings, around 7-9 pm
- Dance: Afternoon/evenings on weekends
- Cooking: Late mornings on weekends
- Fashion: Mid-day on weekdays
Key Takeaways
Gaining a solid viewership as a new TikTok creator takes time and strategy. But by understanding the unique algorithm, optimizing your content, and applying these best practices, you can begin to see your view counts and engagement start to climb week by week.
Here are the key points to remember:
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Produce consistently high-quality videos tailored to your niche. Study trends and competitors.
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Use precise, untapped hashtags and sounds aligned to each specific video.
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Engage your audience actively with duets, stitches and comments to build community.
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Check your analytics to find your top-performing formats and posting times and do more of those.
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Be patient. As you build an audience and authority in the algorithm, your videos will be recommended more over time.
The more you can make content optimized for the "For You" feed, the faster you‘ll gain loyal TikTok fans.
Hopefully this guide gave you a comprehensive blueprint to troubleshoot and fix any issues with your videos not reaching people. Let me know if you have any other questions!
