Are Tiktok Saves Becoming A Ranking Factor?

I’ve been noticing more talk about “saves” on TikTok lately. It keeps coming up in creator spaces, but it’s not always clear what a save really means. For a while, the save button didn’t seem all that important; most of the attention was on likes, comments, and shares.

Now, though, it seems like people are starting to think that saves might carry more weight with the algorithm than they used to. Saving a video feels different than just liking it – it’s usually because you want to come back to it or it stood out in some way. It’s not as quick or casual. If TikTok is putting more emphasis on saves, then creators might start asking people to save their videos, not just like or share them, which is a small but noticeable change.

If you’re trying to build an audience, things like this start to stand out, and you realize how shifts in the algorithm end up shaping what you make and how you connect with people. I came across a trusted platform for TikTok growth that talked about these changes too, which made me think about how fast this stuff can shift.

A lot of people, even teams that know what they’re doing, tend to miss this part. We get caught up in tracking likes or shares, since those are easy to notice and everyone talks about them. But TikTok saves are a bit different and don’t get much attention unless someone’s really in the weeds on the platform.

I think of it this way: when someone saves a video, it’s not just a quick thumbs-up. It takes a little more intention; they’re saying, “I want to come back to this,” or, “This is worth remembering.” That feels more significant than a like, which people often tap in passing. And if TikTok’s algorithm is adjusting – which a lot of people think it is – those saves might have a bigger impact on what ends up getting shown to more people. That’s why the folks who dig into analytics for a living, whether creators or agency teams, pay close attention to saves, sometimes as much as they do to views. There’s a growing sense that saves are a way TikTok can tell which videos actually matter to viewers, not just which ones go viral for a day.

In fact, it comes up surprisingly often in conversations about how people build a stronger TikTok following over time. If you’re hoping to build something that lasts, or avoid the usual cycle of chasing numbers without real results, it helps to understand how this works. It’s not about gaming the system – it’s more about noticing what the platform quietly rewards, even if TikTok doesn’t spell it out anywhere. If you watch for these signals and adjust what you do a little sooner than everyone else, you might see the difference before it’s obvious.

It seems like the more useful a video feels, the more likely people are to save it, even if no one’s really talking about that out loud. Likes and shares happen fast and are easy to give, but saves mean someone actually wants to come back or use the information later – a recipe they plan to try, a list they want to remember, steps for something they need to fix. Sometimes those TikTok likes from active users come in quickly, but saves are a different story; they’re about wanting to revisit something.

So it probably helps to lean into that, to make videos that offer something worth keeping. A walkthrough with clear instructions, or a tip that solves a problem, or even a simple resource – those are things people save. It’s less about gamifying the system and more about making something that actually helps someone. Saves are hard to fake, and that’s probably why they matter, even if TikTok hasn’t officially put out a statement about it. If you want to keep growing, or even start making money from your videos, paying attention to saves seems like a steady approach, especially when other numbers start to stall. And with how often TikTok changes what works and what doesn’t, thinking about saves might be a way to keep your videos from getting lost the next time the platform shifts. So while everyone else is busy chasing whatever’s trending, those saved videos keep showing up in people’s collections, waiting for when they need them again.

When nothing seems to work, it’s easy to wonder if focusing on saves is even worth it. You spend time making your videos more practical, tightening edits, adding tips people can actually use, and yet the numbers don’t move. The algorithm still feels out of reach.

It’s tempting to blame the save metric, or to think maybe it doesn’t matter as much as people say. But saves are really only one piece of a bigger picture. TikTok looks at all kinds of signals – how long people watch, if they replay, whether they save, or even how long they hover before scrolling. Saves might be gaining weight, but they’re not a guarantee.

Someone can save your video without really connecting to it, and that doesn’t always lead to more reach. There was a time when everyone seemed to talk about ways to push views on your TikTok videos, as if that alone could unlock the algorithm, but the reality is rarely that simple. When creators focus too much on a single number, they often stall out. It seems like TikTok is watching a mix of things, not just the obvious ones, and chasing one stat won’t move the needle for long. There’s a lot of advice out there about how to “hack” the algorithm, but real growth usually comes from building honest engagement in different ways, not shortcuts. Paying attention to saves is useful, but the people who seem to do well tend to look at the whole picture and don’t get too caught up in any one metric.

A lot of people tend to skip straight to the end, but since you’re still reading, that actually says something about the changes happening on TikTok right now. They’ve introduced a new save metric, which is starting to draw out a different type of user – the sort who slows down, maybe bookmarks a video for later, or gets something useful out of what they watch instead of quickly tapping like and moving on. If TikTok is starting to make saves more important in their rankings, it’s a sign they’re after a deeper kind of engagement, something that’s always been tough for algorithms to pick up.

The focus is shifting away from grabbing attention right off the bat or chasing quick reactions. Now it matters if a video is genuinely practical, sticks with someone, or gives them a reason to come back. For creators, it’s a good time to reconsider what makes a TikTok actually matter. It isn’t just about going viral for a few hours; it’s about putting together something people want to save – a step-by-step demo, an organizing idea, a bit of advice, or even a recording that just feels worth revisiting. There’s a similar logic at play with shares that drive attention, since both saves and shares hint at content people think is worth holding onto or passing along.

That way, you don’t get stuck in the cycle of chasing the latest trend for a fast spike in numbers. Instead, you build something steadier, more long-term. If you’ve made it this far, you’re probably already tuned in to these quieter signals of what sticks around. This change with saves – paired with tools like INSTABOOST and others – shows that TikTok is moving past whatever’s trending for the moment, and starting to notice what people actually want to return to, even weeks or months later.

If TikTok is starting to give saves more weight in how videos are ranked, it’s probably not helpful to focus only on getting people to hit that button. What matters more is figuring out why someone would want to save your video in the first place. A save isn’t just a muted “like” – it usually means someone found what you made useful, or they want to come back to it later because it solves a problem or sparks an idea.

So before trying to follow every tip about “boosting saves,” it’s worth taking a step back and thinking about what actually makes a video worth keeping. It’s less about asking people to save or using little tricks, and more about making something practical – like a recipe walkthrough, a simple checklist, or a tool they can use again. Those are the things people want to hang onto. TikTok seems to be moving toward valuing this kind of deeper interaction, and saves are probably one of the harder signals to fake. There’s a lot of advice out there, from content strategy breakdowns to things like affordable TikTok packs, but the folks who end up doing well as the algorithm shifts will likely be the ones who pay attention to what their viewers actually need, not just to what the numbers look like. So if you’re hoping for steady growth and want to avoid the usual burnout and shortcuts, focusing on real value in your videos is probably what will hold up over time.