Creator Search Insights: how to use it, and turn a search into a slideshow.
Where to find TikTok's search tool, what each part of the screen means, whether the hashtag does anything, and a converter that turns a search phrase into a six-slide plan.
Checked 26 October 2026
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What is TikTok Creator Search Insights? The short answer.
Creator Search Insights is a free TikTok tool that shows what people search for on TikTok, how popular each search is, and which searches have few good videos (the Content gap). To open it, tap search in the TikTok app, type Creator Search Insights and tap View on the card at the top. As of October 2026 it is rolling out by country to accounts 18 and over, so not everyone has it yet.
- Content gapSearched often, few videos. The best list for a new account.
- Search popularityHow much a topic is searched lately, and whether that is rising.
- The hashtagGets added when you post from the tool. It doesn't lift views (data below).
The Creator Search Insights screen, tap by tap.
Tap any outlined part of the phone to see what it does and how to use it for slideshow topics.
An illustrative mock based on TikTok's help pages and current guides. The topics and numbers are made up, and the layout differs between accounts and app versions.
Selected part of the screen
How to find Creator Search Insights, and who gets it.
Where it is, as of October 2026
- In the TikTok app
- Tap search, type "Creator Search Insights", tap View on the card at the top. This is the route TikTok's help page gives.
- In TikTok Studio
- On many accounts it also sits under Profile, then TikTok Studio, then Creator tools. Not every account shows it there yet.
- On a computer
- Recent guides report a desktop version at tiktok.com/csi while logged in. TikTok hasn't documented it, so if the page doesn't load for you, use the app.
Can't see it? Check these
- Age: the account has to belong to someone 18 or over.
- Country: it is only in supported regions and arrives gradually. A Notify me button instead of View means it hasn't reached you yet.
- App version: update TikTok, then search again.
- Personalization: with personalized content turned off in settings, the Suggested topics go away.
- Followers: the tool needs none, but the Searches by followers list needs more than 1,000.
Does #creatorsearchinsights do anything? Not for views.
Posting from a topic adds #creatorsearchinsights to the caption, guides report, which is why the tag is everywhere. In 1,303 viral TikTok slideshows in ClonBot's library, 25 posts from 25 accounts carried it.
3.1M
median views for the 25 tagged posts, against 3.6M for the 1,278 without the tag. No sign that the hashtag itself lifts a post.
80%
of the tagged posts were guides, tips, checklists, rankings or recipes, against 53% of the rest. Search topics turn into posts that answer a question.
4.5%
median save rate for the tagged posts, against 3.5% without. People keep answers, and saves are a strong sign a post was useful.
So keep the tag if TikTok adds it, or drop it for a topic hashtag; it doesn't matter. What these posts share is a searchable question on slide one and a list that answers it. That fits what we found on the TikTok hashtags page: the number of hashtags has almost no link with views. Here are four of the tagged slideshows (tap to see every slide):
From a content gap to a slideshow, one worked example.
Say you make a plant care app. Here is how one search becomes a finished six-slide post.
Pick a gap you can answer
In Content gap, filter to Home & Living and look for searches your app is genuinely good at. plants for bedroom works: people want a list, and watering reminders fit naturally.
Search it on TikTok itself
Old posts or vague answers at the top mean room for a clear photo list.
Borrow a format that already worked
ClonBot's library has a slideshow called "7 Plants To Keep In Your Bedroom": 8 slides, 8.0M views, 509,483 saves (6.4%). One plant per slide, name in caps, one line on why. That rhythm is the part worth keeping.
Put the search words on slide one
"6 plants to keep in your bedroom" carries the search phrase in the text TikTok reads. Slides 2 to 5 are one plant each; slide 6 is the secret, where the phone shows the app's reminder screen.
Write the caption around the keyword
Repeat the phrase, add a few topic hashtags, and check Analytics in the tool a few days later.
Slides made by ClonBot to show what it does. We're not affiliated with this app. The overlay text never names the app; the screen shows it, and viewers ask in the comments.
For app makers: find the questions your app answers.
Search the jobs your app does, not its name. Every content-gap question your app solves is a slideshow where the app turns up as the answer on the last slide.
| App | Search to look up | The slideshow, and where the app shows |
|---|---|---|
| Budgeting | how to save money on groceries | Tips list, one habit per slide; spending screen on the habit that worked |
| Screen time | how to stop doomscrolling at night | "Things that finally worked"; blocked-apps screen on the last tip |
| Calorie tracker | high protein breakfast ideas | One breakfast per slide with macros; logging screen on one plate |
| Language learning | how to learn spanish fast | Routine, what I did each week; streak screen in week 3 |
| Party games | sleepover games for teens | Ideas list for the night; the game on a phone in the circle |
Collect 20, keep 5. Note every gap topic in your category, then drop the ones your app can't honestly answer.
Check Searches by followers once you pass 1,000 followers. Those are questions your own audience already has.
Use the exact wording. "Plants for bedroom" beats "bedroom greenery". Searchers type plain words.
Match the format to the question. More on picking topics in TikTok content ideas and slideshow ideas.
Search term to slideshow plan: type a search, get the post.
Paste a phrase from Creator Search Insights. It picks the format that fits the question, writes a hook with your keyword, a six-slide outline and a caption. Format numbers come from 1,303 viral slideshows in ClonBot's library. It runs in your browser.
Caption
Getting found once it's posted, briefly.
TikTok also has to match your post to the search. The full guide is TikTok SEO; the short version:
Slide one
Put the search words in the first slide's text. TikTok reads text on photos, so a slideshow can be matched like a video.
Caption
Repeat the phrase in the first line, plus three to five topic hashtags. Captions are covered in the caption generator.
The post itself
Searchers who swipe to the end and save tell TikTok the answer was good.
A search topic a day, without writing each post.
ClonBot builds TikTok slideshows for app makers every night from 1,332 slideshows that already went viral, with your app's real screens in the story. You approve each post or fix a slide with a sentence. From $99 a month for 30 posts; see pricing.
Creator Search Insights, answered.
Does using Creator Search Insights actually work?
It works as a topic finder: it shows real searches with few good answers. It doesn't boost a post by itself, and neither does its hashtag; in our library the 25 tagged viral posts had a median of 3.1M views against 3.6M for the rest. The win comes from posting a clear answer to a question people already type.
How do I view Creator Search Insights on TikTok?
Tap search in the TikTok app, type "Creator Search Insights" and tap View on the card at the top. Some accounts also find it in TikTok Studio under Creator tools. If you see Notify me, it isn't available on your account yet.
How does Creator Search Insights work?
It groups TikTok searches into topics, shows how popular each is and whether it is rising, and flags topics with few videos as a content gap. Suggested is personalized; Trending shows fast-growing searches by category.
How do I view my insights on TikTok?
For your own posts' numbers, open TikTok Studio and tap Analytics. Inside Creator Search Insights, the Analytics section shows how your posts do in search. The TikTok analytics guide explains each number.
Does TikTok pay $1 for 1,000 views?
Not as a rule. The Creator Rewards Program pays for qualified views on original videos longer than a minute, at rates TikTok doesn't publish; third-party estimates in 2026 mostly land between $0.40 and $1 per 1,000 qualified views. TikTok has said a video's search value counts toward what it earns. Photo slideshows aren't part of it.
Keep reading
Turn searches into slideshows, every night.
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