TikTok Announces Agentic Leads and Smart+ Automation for Search Ads

How Agentic Leads Works

As TikTok describes it, Agentic Leads uses AI-driven conversation to help businesses find, qualify, and convert high-intent prospects. The agent, called Lead Agent, will work in two places: in TikTok direct messages and in lead forms on advertisers' own websites.

In this way, TikTok's AI agent moves beyond the platform and holds a conversation with a visitor on a page the advertiser controls.

The publication The Keyword, citing TikTok for Business materials, describes the mechanics in more detail. The advertiser creates a knowledge base with brand-approved information and selects the questions the agent uses to qualify a prospect.

During the conversation, the agent answers questions, collects qualification data, and, with the user's consent, obtains contact details. As a result, the lead arrives together with the context of the conversation, not just a name and phone number as with a standard form.

According to the publication, access is being provided as part of testing for selected advertisers through a TikTok manager.

How Agentic Leads Differs from Message Assistant

TikTok already has an AI chatbot for direct messages. In November 2025, the company introduced TikTok Lead Genie, which is now called Message Assistant.

It replies to customer messages around the clock based on the company's knowledge base, collects contacts for the sales team, and works together with Direct Messaging Ads and the Lead optimization goal. If a customer asks to speak with a person, the bot pauses, and employees can join the conversation at any time.

Message Assistant is being tested with a limited number of Verified Business Accounts in 12 countries, including the United States, Canada, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, while automatic lead collection is available only in six Southeast Asian countries.

Judging by the announcement, Agentic Leads develops this approach in two directions: the agent not only collects contacts but also qualifies the lead, and it also works on the advertiser's website. TikTok did not specify how the new product will be connected to Message Assistant.

Many Agentic Leads parameters have not yet been disclosed. The markets, cost, and account requirements are unknown.

TikTok did not explain how the agent is installed on a website, how much control the advertiser has over the qualification questions and rules, at what point an employee joins, or how leads with conversation history are passed to a CRM.

Search Ads Campaign on Smart+

A separate campaign type for advertising in search results appeared on TikTok in September 2024 in the United States. Ads are shown on the search results page next to organic content and are matched by keywords with broad, phrase, and exact match types.

Now the campaign runs on Smart+, and automation covers keyword targeting, bids, search budget allocation, and creative selection. Search Ads Campaign supports the Traffic, Sales, Lead Generation, and App Promotion objectives, and videos and image carousels can be combined in a single ad group.

Keyword expansion is based on the Automated Keywords feature. For it to work, the ad group needs at least one manually added keyword. The system analyzes creatives, text, product information, and the specified keywords and selects additional search queries.

For creatives, Smart+ uses the Recommended Creatives, Automatic Enhancements, and Auto-Selection features and picks the most suitable asset for a specific query.

TikTok's help center lists details that matter for campaign management:

* Automated Keywords are on by default for small and medium-sized business accounts and off for Key Accounts;

* the system does not notify advertisers when new automated keywords are added, so TikTok recommends regularly reviewing the search terms report;

* results for automated keywords are shown in a single row with a drop-down list of the 10 queries with the highest spend, and some matches are displayed as unknown.

The advertiser keeps manual control at the ad group level: they can add negative keywords and enable, disable, and edit keywords and creatives before launch and while the campaign is running.

TikTok recommends using at least 20 thematically grouped keywords per ad group and a budget-to-bid ratio of 20:1, and stresses that the campaign requires regular optimization.

Availability and Reported Results

On the product page, TikTok states that Search Ads Campaign is available in the United States and is being tested in other markets.

According to the availability help article updated in April 2026, the Traffic and Web Conversion objectives are supported in a number of countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Spain, while the Lead Generation objective is available only in the United States.

The company did not give a separate rollout date specifically for the Smart+ version.

TikTok cites results from its own internal tests. According to the company, Automated Keywords deliver 10% additional conversions while meeting the target CPA, and advertisers who run Search Ads together with In-Feed Ads get, on average, 20% more conversions at a comparable or lower CPA.

There is no independent verification of these figures.

Implications for Advertisers

TikTok advertisers get a more automated search channel in which Smart+ expands keyword coverage and selects creatives on its own, while manual keywords and negative keywords remain control tools.

For e-commerce and performance marketing agencies, this makes it easier to launch search alongside In-Feed campaigns, but it requires regular review of search terms, especially in SMB accounts, where Automated Keywords are on by default.

For now, Agentic Leads remains an announcement without timelines or terms.

For B2B and service companies, it could move initial lead qualification into a conversation with an AI agent, but until there is information on passing leads to a CRM, configuring qualification rules, and available markets, it is premature to plan budget for it.