TikTok is moving its search ads onto Smart+, the set of automation tools it already uses to run performance campaigns. Announced at Advertising Week New York 2026, Search Ads Campaign powered by Smart+ automates search ads across keywords and creative, with keyword targeting, bidding and search budget management handled inside the same buy.
The second change moves creative approval into Smart+ as well. A new feature, Smart+ Creative Selection, gathers an advertiser's own assets, AI-generated creative from TikTok's Symphony tools and creator content into a single approval workflow.
Together, the two changes narrow the advertiser's job in a TikTok performance campaign. The system proposes the keywords and the creative, and the advertiser approves, edits or switches them off. TikTok's announcement gives no rollout date for either feature.
How Smart+ Runs a Search Campaign
TikTok has sold keyword-targeted ads in its search results since 2024, through a dedicated Search Ads Campaign in TikTok Ads Manager. According to TikTok's Search Ads Campaign page, Smart+ now handles two jobs inside it.
Automated keywords take an advertiser's starting keyword list and add further searches the system judges relevant to the ad creative. Creative automation chooses and adjusts the assets that run, through features TikTok calls Recommended Creatives, Automatic Enhancements and Auto-Selection.
The campaign supports the Traffic, Sales, Lead Generation and App Promotion objectives, and accepts video and image carousel ads in the same ad group. Advertisers can still exclude negative keywords and switch individual keywords and creative on or off while a campaign runs. TikTok's help centre lists lead generation search campaigns as available in the US only.
The automated keywords help page shows how far the default reaches. The setting is on by default for small and medium-sized businesses, which have to switch it off, and off by default for TikTok's Key Accounts, which have to opt in. Advertisers are not notified when the system adds a new keyword.
Reporting groups every automated keyword into one line, with a dropdown showing the 10 highest-spending terms. Some matches are reported as "unknown", because the system matched the ad to a query on general relevance without any keyword triggering it.
TikTok says internal testing showed automated keywords driving 10% incremental conversions while meeting cost per acquisition (CPA) targets. It also says advertisers running Search Ads alongside In-Feed Ads see 20% more conversions on average, at a similar or better CPA. Both figures come from TikTok's own tests and have not been independently verified.
Creative Selection Puts Approval in One Queue
Smart+ Creative Selection brings three creative sources into one place: assets the advertiser uploaded, creative generated by Symphony, TikTok's generative AI suite, and creator content. TikTok says the system then surfaces recommended groups of creative for the business and the campaign objective, and the advertiser decides what goes live.
The feature continues a run of earlier steps. TikTok first added Auto-select to Smart+ campaigns to recommend creative from existing assets and eligible TikTok One creator content. In May, at its TikTok World summit, it brought Auto Selection to app campaigns. Creative Selection puts those recommendations and Symphony's AI-generated assets behind a single approval step.
David Kaufman, TikTok's Global Head of Monetization Product Partnerships, framed the whole announcement around creative scale.
AI is transforming how advertiser content is created and scaled.
What Changes for Search Advertisers
Other ad platforms have taken the same route. Google is replacing Dynamic Search Ads with AI Max for Search, and Meta has made Advantage+ the default in its ad campaigns. TikTok is applying the model to search, its newest source of intent, where many smaller advertisers will now start with automated keywords already switched on.
That moves the search term report to the centre of the job. Because new automated keywords arrive without notice, it is where advertisers see what the campaign is buying. TikTok's help centre suggests moving high-performing terms from it into the manual keyword list, and negative keywords remain the way to block the rest.
TikTok also updated GMV Max, its automated TikTok Shop ad product, in the same announcement. It will now factor affiliate commissions, coupons and referral fees into its optimisation, so sellers can optimise for return on investment after those costs. The Keyword covered a similar seller-cost change in May.
Recap
What has TikTok announced for search ads?
TikTok's Search Ads Campaign is now powered by Smart+, which automates search ads across keywords and creative, alongside keyword targeting, bidding and search budget management. TikTok also introduced Smart+ Creative Selection, which brings advertiser assets, Symphony AI-generated creative and creator content into one approval workflow.
How do automated keywords work in TikTok search campaigns?
The advertiser adds at least one keyword, and the system analyses the ad creative and that keyword list to generate further keywords. These match the ad to more search queries. Reporting shows them as one aggregated line, with the 10 highest-spending terms in a dropdown.
What changes for advertisers running TikTok search ads?
Automated keywords are on by default for small and medium-sized businesses and off for Key Accounts, and advertisers are not notified when a keyword is added. The search term report becomes the place to check what a campaign is buying, while Creative Selection leaves the final call on creative with the advertiser.