TikTok Keyword Discovery — Videos, Photos, Hashtags & Creators

Search TikTok by keyword and get structured video and photo posts, or look up a hashtag's own metadata. Each row carries the caption, engagement counts, creator snapshot, sound details, hashtags and mentions, and the post's stable URL. Optional discovery expansion runs related searches, top hashtags and the most-reused sound from a keyword's own results to surface more posts. No login, cookies or proxy setup required.

What this actor does

• Three search types: videos by keyword, photos/slideshows by keyword, and hashtags with metadata plus the tag's top posts
• Deep pagination: keeps loading until TikTok's own result pool ends or your per-query limit is reached (TikTok typically serves about 150–220 posts per query)
• Video and photo rows: captions, creation time, plays, likes, comments, shares, saves, reposts, creator profile snapshot, sound metadata, video technical details and slideshow images
• Discovery expansion: related searches, top hashtags and sound pages, deduplicated against the seed results
• Client-side controls: sort by relevance/likes/views/newest, date window, duration, ads, minimum likes/views, one post per creator and max posts per creator
• Honest empty fields: fields TikTok does not provide for a post are omitted, never null

Output per post

• rowType — video for all post rows (including slideshows; postType says which) or hashtag for hashtag metadata rows
• postId, postUrl, postType — post identity; postType is video or slideshow
• caption, textLanguage, createTime, createdAt
• query — the search phrase that returned this post; rank — zero-based position in that search; queryVariant — casing/spacing variant when a query pass found it
• searchType — general, photo, hashtag or sound
• expansionSource, expansionTerm — only on expansion-discovered posts
• playCount, likeCount, commentCount, shareCount, collectCount, repostCount
• author.id, author.secUid, author.username, author.displayName, author.bio, author.verified, author.privateAccount, author.avatarUrl, author.followerCount, author.followingCount, author.heartCount, author.videoCount, author.roomId, author.isVirtualAccount
• music.id, music.title, music.authorName, music.original, music.duration, music.album, music.playUrl, music.coverUrl, and licensing flags
• video.width, video.height, video.duration, video.ratio, video.definition, video.bitrate, video.codecType, video.format, video.size, video.videoQuality,
• video.playUrl, video.downloadAddr — signed CDN URLs, reference-only: TikTok's CDN can reject direct downloads (HTTP 403) even while the post plays on TikTok
• video.cover, video.originCover, video.dynamicCover, video.subtitles, video.qualityScore, video.qualityTags, video.coverVariants, video.bitrateInfo, video.volumeInfo
• images[] — real image URLs for slideshow/photo posts
• hashtags[], mentions[], poi — caption tags, @mentions and a location tag when present
• isAd, isECVideo, adLabelVersion, privateItem, forFriend, isAigc, AIGCDescription, originalItem, categoryType, item_control, contents, effectStickers, stickersOnItem
• mediaUrlExpiresAt — when the signed media URLs expire, when it can be read

Output per hashtag

Hashtag searches emit one metadata row (rowType: "hashtag") before the tag's post rows:

• query — the hashtag, e.g. #coffee
• hashtagMetadata.hashtagId, name, desc, isCommerce, videoCount, viewCount, profileUrl, shareTitle, shareDesc

Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
searchType	string	videos	videos, photos or hashtags
queries	string[]	—	Keywords for video/photo search
hashtags	string[]	—	Hashtags for searchType=hashtags; # optional
maxResultsPerQuery	integer	30	Posts per query/tag before filters (1–500)
sortBy	string	relevance	relevance, mostLiked, mostViewed, newest
publishedWithin	string	all	all, day, week, month, 3months, 6months; narrow windows scan up to 5× the requested count
minDurationSeconds	integer	—	Drop shorter videos
maxDurationSeconds	integer	—	Drop longer videos
excludeAds	boolean	false	Drop posts flagged as ads
minLikeCount	integer	—	Drop posts with fewer likes
minViewCount	integer	—	Drop posts with fewer plays
uniqueAuthors	boolean	false	Keep at most one post per creator
maxPostsPerAuthor	integer	—	Cap posts per creator (ignored when uniqueAuthors is on)
enableExpansion	boolean	false	Run related searches, hashtags and sounds
expansionSources	string[]	["suggestions", "hashtags", "sounds"]	suggestions, hashtags, sounds
maxExpansionQueriesPerSeed	integer	3	Extra searches per keyword (0–10)
includeHashtagMetadata	boolean	true	Emit hashtag metadata rows/expansion metadata

Examples

Keyword video search

{
  "searchType": "videos",
  "queries": ["cottagecore aesthetic", "dark academia"],
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 100,
  "sortBy": "mostLiked",
  "publishedWithin": "month"
}

Photo / slideshow search

{
  "searchType": "photos",
  "queries": ["coffee"],
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 50
}

Hashtag discovery

{
  "searchType": "hashtags",
  "hashtags": ["coffee", "#fitness"],
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 30,
  "includeHashtagMetadata": true
}

Creator shortlist with expansion

{
  "searchType": "videos",
  "queries": ["skincare routine"],
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 200,
  "uniqueAuthors": true,
  "enableExpansion": true,
  "expansionSources": ["suggestions", "hashtags"],
  "maxExpansionQueriesPerSeed": 3
}

Use cases

• Content research — see which videos and slideshows rank for a topic, newest or most liked
• Creator discovery — collapse results to one post per creator, then review follower counts
• Brand and campaign monitoring — track keyword mentions, hashtags and sounds across markets
• Trend exploration — expand a seed keyword through TikTok's own related searches and tags
• Dataset building — export structured post, engagement and creator fields for analysis

FAQ

Do I need a TikTok account or cookies?

No. The actor reads the search results TikTok shows to signed-out visitors. There is no cookie, token or proxy field to fill in.

How many results can I get per query?

TikTok's own search pool usually ends around 150–220 posts per query, even when a larger limit is requested. The actor follows TikTok's cursor until the pool ends, then optionally runs casing and spacing query passes. To collect more, add more queries or turn on discovery expansion.

Why is my result count lower than maxResultsPerQuery?

Two reasons: TikTok may exhaust its result pool before your limit, and the date, duration, ads, likes, views and creator filters run after collection. The final dataset is always the post-filter set.

Are the sort and filters applied by TikTok or by the actor?

By the actor. The actor collects posts in TikTok's default relevance order and then applies your sort and filters locally. For a narrow date window it scans up to 5× the requested count (capped at 500) before applying the window; because that scan is bounded, a week or day window can legitimately yield fewer posts than requested.

What is the difference between the video and photo search types?

Both return posts for a keyword. Video search uses TikTok's main search ranking; photo search uses its photo/slideshow vertical. Photo rows always include images[]; video playback fields are omitted because slideshows do not carry a direct video stream.

Why are some fields missing on some posts?

TikTok includes fields such as subtitles, location, mentions, AR effects or quality badges only when they apply. Empty fields are omitted rather than filled with placeholders.

Do the media URLs work forever?

TikTok's media URLs are signed and expire; mediaUrlExpiresAt shows when the actor can read the expiry. Use postUrl as the stable reference. Cover images, avatars and sound preview URLs are generally directly accessible, but TikTok's video CDN may reject direct downloads even while the video plays on TikTok itself.

Can I search a specific country or language?

Queries can be in any language and return results in that language. TikTok's web search does not expose a working country filter: its region parameter is cosmetic and results still follow the request's network location, so no region input is offered.

Can I search for creators directly?

This actor focuses on posts and hashtags. To find creators, use uniqueAuthors on a keyword search (one post per creator), or turn on expansion to reach more creators through related searches, hashtags and sounds. A dedicated user-search mode is not included because TikTok serves it inconsistently to signed-out sessions.

Is this affiliated with TikTok?

No. It is an independent tool that reads TikTok's public search results and is not run or endorsed by TikTok.