✌️ The TikTok algorithm has entered the chat

Metricooler, there are two ways to use TikTok.

The first is posting whenever you feel like it, using whatever sound is blowing up that week, and praying the algorithm is in a good mood. (Spoiler: the algorithm doesn't have good days or bad days. It has rules)

The second is knowing those rules. Understanding your data and what you need to change so your next video reaches further. Today, we're sharing 5 findings from our 2026 TikTok Study and how to put them to work:

'7 out of 10 views come from the For You feed'

Think of the For You page as the hottest club on the internet. The algorithm is the bouncer, and if you show up in flip-flops and a bucket hat, you're not getting in. If you want your video to make it past the door, you need to play by its rules. And no, it doesn't care that you spent three hours editing.

So, how does TikTok decide who to recommend your video to? Mainly through these signals:

The first few seconds: if people don't stick around, the video doesn't travel.

Watch-through rate: how much of the video users complete. A video watched all the way through tells the algorithm it's worth showing to more people.

Saves and shares: the strongest signal that content deserves a wider audience.

The useful exercise here is to check your analytics (TikTok's native ones or whatever tool you use) and see what percentage of your views come from the For You page. If it's high, the algorithm is working for you. If it's low, the problem is usually your hook or your watch-through rate.

Metricool shows you all of this directly in your content analysis, no hunting for it video by video in the app.

'TikTok posts with at least one hashtag get 10% more interactions'

Do hashtags even do anything?

A question almost as old as social media itself.

Spoiler: yes, but not just any hashtag, used any which way. The data confirms that including at least one generates nearly 10% more interactions.

The reason: hashtags are clues that help the algorithm understand what your content is about and who to show it to. And in 2026, that categorization work is more valuable than ever; views driven by hashtags have grown 114% compared to last year.

Our advice (and the data agrees): pick 1 or 2. Less is more. And most importantly, make sure they actually match your content. No #fyp or #viral.

To find the right ones, snoop around the hashtags that accounts in your niche are already using — the ones that are working.

From Metricool, you can do that search directly when creating your post: type a keyword and get suggested tags that people are already using, without leaving your planner.

'8pm is the peak activity time on TikTok'

The golden hour of TikTok, the moment of highest activity on the platform, that’s what data from 2.3M posts says.

Timing matters because scheduling your content when more users are online gives you more chances to appear in their feed at exactly the right moment. More chances = more views (and more engagement).

That said, this is a global average. Your audience might behave differently, so it's worth digging a little deeper:

From TikTok: Creator Tools → Analytics → Followers. There you'll find the breakdown of when your audience is most active.

From Metricool: activate "Best times on TikTok" in the Planner, and your calendar fills with color-coded slots based on your account's performance. The darker the shade, the better the time to post.

Metricool users post with music 72% more than last year.

Sound is another signal for the TikTok algorithm,  it adds context that helps decide who sees your content.

How to find trending sounds that can give you a little boost:

On TikTok: Creative Center → Trending sounds

On our blog: every week, we update a post with the most popular tracks

Easiest route: from Metricool, add the sound directly in the planner

'Video gets 5x more views and 6x more interactions than carousel images'

This one's relatively easy to find out... but most insights aren't.

Does your engagement drop when you post more than three times a week?

Do shorter videos improve retention on your account?

What was your best month this year — and what made it different?

These answers live in your data. But finding them takes time, patience, and knowing exactly where to look. And more often than not, decisions get made without the full picture.

That's why we built Metricool Studio. Write what you need to know, like you're asking a colleague, and get the analysis instantly, with clear visuals and zero spreadsheets.

No other social media tool does this, try it from the Reporting section in Metricool.