Welcome to Rankster 👊
The weekly TikTok Shop newsletter with the intel to make you the ‘James Bond of ecommerce’……
Reading Time: 4 min
Readability: Grade 2 (Goldfinger can’t keep up….)
ICYMI
What Caught My Eye This Week
🚀 Seller News….. News you need to know
DEEP DIVE
The Truth About TikTok Shop's Growth
As a platform…. want to know how mature TikTok Shop really is?
Just look at how ‘amateur’ the sellers are.
I've got a little trick I use to judge any platform's maturity level. Ready?
I look at the product titles.
Sounds weird, but hear me out...
Here's the thing about platforms:
When sellers first show up, their titles suck. They're simple, clean, and completely unoptimised.
But as platforms mature? Those titles become monsters. Keyword-stuffed nightmares that look like someone threw up the entire dictionary.
Take Amazon.
In the early days, product titles were like 20-50 characters. Simple stuff like "Nike Running Shoes" or "Stainless Steel Water Bottle."
Now? Look at this:
Searched “water bottle”
These titles are keyword vomit. But it WORKS on Amazon because everyone's doing it.
So I got curious about TikTok Shop.
I searched "water bottles" to see what we're dealing with.
Plot twist: The titles are still garbage.
Of the Top 10 Sellers for “Water Bottle”, only 1 title is optimised
Most sellers are using basic titles like "Water Bottle" or "Cute Pink Bottle." No optimization. No keyword strategy. Just... basic stuff.
The smallest sellers? Their titles are the WORST. Like they just uploaded a product and called it "Bottle - Blue."
Meanwhile, I pulled the actual TikTok Shop keyword data (the stuff straight from their system using our TikTok Shop Keyword tool), and there are TONS of high-volume search terms these sellers aren't even touching.
Translation: We're still in the "early Amazon days" of TikTok Shop.
Most sellers have no clue what they're doing. They're not optimizing titles, not using keyword data, not following TikTok's guidelines.
Which means if you actually know what you're doing? You're competing against a bunch of amateurs.
This is like being the only person who knows how to use Google Ads in 2003.
Here's what a proper TikTok Shop water bottle title should look like (using their actual keyword data):
【BRAND NAME】32oz Motivational Water Bottle with Time Marker – Portable Leak-Proof BPA-Free Sports Bottle with No-Sweat Sleeve & Fruit Infuser for Gym, School & Travel
📊 Data-Backed
Water Bottle: 104,670 searches, CTR 30%, CTOR 4.4% → Core keyword must be early in title.
School: 92,100 searches, CTR 30.2%, CTOR 4.42% → Untapped by most top-sellers.
Portable / Leak-Proof: Appears in top-performing titles like HydroJug Sport (highest revenue).
Time Marker / Motivational: Not in top TikTok titles → whitespace to dominate.
BPA-Free: Strong CTR driver on Amazon, health-conscious buyers click more.
See the difference? That's not just a title - that's a keyword-optimized money machine.
Bottom line:
Yes, TikTok Shop is growing like crazy. But no, you're not too late.
You're actually way smarter than 90% of sellers on there right now.
Q4 is literally weeks away. Black Friday. Cyber Monday. Holiday shopping madness.
Everyone's going to be on TikTok Shop buying stuff.
The question is: Are you going to be the amateur seller with the crappy "Water Bottle" title?
Or are you going to be the smart one who actually knows how to play the game?
Your call.
- Paul 👊
PS…. Interested in Q4 on TikTok Shop….We are launching our Q4 TikTok Shop coaching cohort and preparing our client campaigns. Message me if interested