Precision User Discovery: How to Use the TikTok API to Search for Users by Keyword
In today’s social media landscape, “finding the right people” is often more valuable than simply reaching a large audience. Especially on TikTok, a platform centered around creative short videos, identifying representative or influential users is often the starting point for branding campaigns, influencer collaborations, content research, or trend analysis.
This article explores how to use the TikTok API provided by LuckData to search for users based on keywords — helping you build your data pipeline, identify creators, and unlock meaningful insights from the TikTok ecosystem.
1. Why Use the “Search User” API?
While TikTok’s value lies in its viral content, it’s the creator accounts that drive lasting impact. Here are a few scenarios where searching for users by keyword is especially useful:
Find Influencers for Brand Collaborations
Input keywords like product names or niche terms (e.g., “skincare,” “fitness”) to retrieve a targeted list of creators for outreach.Build a Topic-Based Account Database
Use keywords like “AI,” “fashion,” or “gaming” to compile users related to specific content verticals.Create a Personalized Recommendation System
Use interests as input to fetch creators aligned with a user’s preferences.Monitor Campaign Participation
Search users related to your campaign or event using branded hashtags or names to track participants.
2. Introduction to LuckData’s TikTok User Search API
LuckData provides a powerful and flexible endpoint called search user
, which allows you to input a keyword and retrieve structured data for TikTok accounts that match.
Python Example
import requestsheaders = {
'X-Luckdata-Api-Key': 'your_luckdata_key'
}
response = requests.get(
'https://luckdata.io/api/tiktok-api/99jd6YK55W8Q?count=10&cursor=0&keywords=tiktok',
headers=headers,
)
print(response.json())
Parameter Explanation
keywords
: The keyword to search, such as "travel", "fashion", "food"count
: The number of users to return (recommended: 10–50)cursor
: Pagination index, starting from 0headers
: Your API key (required)
3. Response Structure & Data Applications
A typical API response includes structured information for each user:
{"user_id": "1234567890",
"unique_id": "@cooluser",
"nickname": "Cool User",
"signature": "Digital creator. Sharing tips on design & branding.",
"follower_count": 58300,
"following_count": 128,
"aweme_count": 132,
"total_likes": 728000,
"avatar": "https://cdn.tiktok.com/avatar.jpg"
}
These fields can be used to:
Filter users by influence using metrics like
follower_count
,aweme_count
, andtotal_likes
Evaluate thematic relevance from
nickname
andsignature
Build user profile cards using
avatar
,unique_id
, and key stats
4. Advanced Use Cases & Workflow Suggestions
The search user
API is not just for lookup — it can be integrated into your larger data strategy.
a. Pair with Post Video API for Content Audits
Once you find a user, use get user post videos
to extract their content, enabling engagement rate analysis, hashtag trends, or content classification.
b. Build a Creator-Keyword Mapping Database
Use multiple keywords in batch mode to generate a user-topic map for recommendation engines or influencer categorization.
c. Analyze Follower Structures
Use get user follower list
to understand the reach and follower patterns of discovered users — useful for community mapping and lookalike modeling.
d. Build a Collaboration Scoring System
Combine metrics like follower count, content frequency, and engagement rate to assign a “partnership score” to each user, streamlining influencer marketing efforts.
5. Related APIs and How to Combine Them
API Name | Description | Usage with |
---|---|---|
| Get list of user’s published videos | Analyze content style, consistency, and topics |
| Get detailed profile data | Enrich keyword search with more user metadata |
| Get list of user followers | Analyze audience structure or lookalikes |
| Get user’s saved playlists | Understand interests and platform behavior |
6. Implementation Ideas
Build a multi-keyword batch search system for large-scale user discovery
Create a visual user explorer UI with avatar, name, and follower stats
Develop a smart user recommender using keyword intent and profile matching
Use NLP to analyze the
signature
field for topic tagging or sentiment scoring
7. Conclusion: Discovering Creators Starts with a Search
The search user
API is a powerful entry point in your TikTok data workflow. When you don’t know the exact user ID but know what kind of person you're looking for — a travel vlogger, a beauty creator, or someone making viral AI content — this is your best tool.
Pair it with other APIs like content fetching, audience analysis, or playlist exploration, and you’ll have a complete user discovery and evaluation toolkit.
Start with a keyword, and let the insights unfold.
Articles related to APIs :
Free Ways to Access TikTok Data: From Official APIs to Third-Party Tools
A Deep Dive into LuckData TikTok API: Making Social Data Scraping Easy
Understanding User Behavior Through Their Videos: How to Use the TikTok API to Get User Post Videos
From Video Data to Real Trends: How to Scrape Detailed TikTok Video Information