Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms, with over one billion monthly active users. While the platform is mostly used for sharing photos and videos, it can also be a great tool for businesses.
If you want to be successful on Instagram, you need to make sure your target audience sees your content. One of the best ways to do this is to post high-quality content regularly.
However, great content alone won’t cut it. To truly excel, you must take it a step further and actively engage your audience, foster meaningful conversations, and build lasting connections.
Additionally, you need to ensure your content is optimized for search so that users can find it more easily. This is where Instagram SEO comes in.
So, if you’re serious about making it big on Instagram, start by ensuring your content is search-friendly!
Of course, visibility is just one piece of the puzzle. Once people see your content, you need to make sure it’s engaging and interesting enough to make them
want to follow you.
But if you can get visibility on Instagram, you’re well on building a large and engaged following.
Read on to learn more about Instagram SEO, how it works, and what it can do for you.
Instagram SEO is optimizing your Instagram account and posts to make them more visible to users of the Instagram search engine. Like traditional SEO, Instagram SEO aims to improve your visibility and organic reach on the platform.
You want your Instagram content to appear as widely as possible, from suggested feeds to search results.
Your Instagram SEO depends on numerous factors, including your followers, the quality of your posts, the hashtags you use, alt text, and how active you are on
the platform.
Instagram designed its algorithm to surface the most relevant content to each user.
The algorithm looks at a variety of factors, including the time of day, the user’s activity, and the types of content the user typically engages with, to determine which posts to show first in the feed.
The algorithm is constantly evolving, and Instagram regularly changes how it works to improve the user experience.
Among other things, Instagram’s algorithm in 2023 displays content based on a
user’s interests. Instagram states that every part of the app uses its algorithm.
The algorithm takes into account user feedback when making decisions about
which content to surface.
At its core, Instagram’s algorithm displays content that is most relevant and
interesting to users to keep them engaged.
Even though the algorithm is automatic, you can still take some measures to
improve your post ranking, which we will explain later in this article.
Factors affecting Instagram SEO
As with any SEO strategy, Instagram SEO combines creativity and logic. There’s no surefire way to get your account to the top of the search rankings, but
Instagram is transparent about its criteria.
Here’s what they look for:
Search Text
Search text affects Instagram SEO in a few different ways. The most direct way is through the hashtags users include in their posts.
When users search for a certain hashtag, Instagram will show them the most popular posts with that hashtag. If you want your post to be seen by more people, you need to use popular hashtags.
Another way search text affects Instagram SEO is through the comments, and captions users include on their posts.
When users search for a certain word or phrase, Instagram will show them the posts that include that word or phrase in the comments or captions.
This means that if you want your post to have a higher reach, you need to use popular keywords in your comments and captions.
Finally, search text affects Instagram SEO through the posts that users share. When users share a post, Instagram will show it to their followers. This means that if you want your post to be seen by more people, you need to get it shared by popular users.
These factors contribute to why search text is a paramount aspect of Instagram SEO. If you want your content to reach a larger audience, you need to create high-quality content and include popular hashtags and keywords that will get your post shared by other users.
User Activity
User activity is a major factor in determining the success of an Instagram account. The more active a user is, the more likely they will see and engage with
content from that account. This, in turn, boosts the account’s SEO, making it more likely to show up in search results.
Increasing your user activity can significantly improve your account’s SEO and visibility.
If you’re a brand, this means you need to do your research. Understand which hashtags your target audience will likely use, and ensure you’re engaging with
them.
Your posts should encourage engagement, as people are likelier to see content from brands they’ve engaged with previously.
Virality Signals
Popular, viral content is more likely to rank high in search results on Instagram. Signals such as clicks, likes, shares, and follows determine the popularity of a hashtag, account, or place.
Brands can maximize content engagement by posting at the right time. The more engagement you get early on, the more likely it is that your content will
increase in search rankings while it is still relevant and fresh.
5 tips to improve your Instagram SEO
Now that you understand the basics of Instagram SEO and how it works, it’s time to get down to the good stuff.
Here are some of the best ways to use Instagram SEO to increase your account and content visibility.
1. Optimize your content with keywords and hashtags
As mentioned above, Instagram visibility depends heavily on keywords and hashtags. Your Instagram SEO strategy should focus on these two elements first
and foremost.
You can ensure that the people most interested in your content are more likely to see it by selecting the right keywords and hashtags. This, in turn, can lead to more followers and engagement on your posts.
Start by optimizing your profile with relevant keywords if you want to make your content more discoverable on Instagram.
Use your name and username as an opportunity to include a primary keyword. If you can’t change your username for brand reasons, see if there’s a way you can work the primary keyword into your profile name.
Use your name and username as an opportunity to include a primary keyword. If you can’t change your username for brand reasons, see if there’s a way you can work the primary keyword into your profile name.
Your Instagram bio is one of the best places to incorporate the primary keywords for your brand. This will help potential customers find you more quickly
when they search for those keywords.
Keep your bio concise and to the point, and update it regularly. In addition to your primary keywords, you can also use your bio to overview your brand briefly.
Optimizing your bio and using relevant keywords and hashtags in your content is key. This will help improve your chances of being one of the top results when someone searches for something related to your page.
Write descriptive and keyword-rich captions relevant to your photos and videos to increase your visibility.
- Hashtags:
When choosing hashtags, you must consider your audience and what keywords they are likely searching for. Using relevant hashtags will help your content to be discovered by those who are interested in what you have to say.
You can use up to 30 hashtags. It’s indifferent if you include them in your post’s caption or the first comment. Make sure you leverage your hashtag strategy, as it will give you plenty of exposure!
Hashtags are a great tool for promoting your content. With a bit of thought, you can ensure that your content is seen by the people who are most likely to be interested in it.
You can use up to 30 hashtags. It’s indifferent if you include them in your post’s caption or the first comment. Make sure you leverage your hashtag strategy, as it will give you plenty of exposure!
Hashtags are a great tool for promoting your content. With a bit of thought, you can ensure that your content is seen by the people who are most likely to be interested in it.
2. Tag locations whenever possible
When users search for something on Instagram, the app uses their current location to deliver relevant results. This is based on the assumption that the user is more likely to be interested in nearby content.
For example, if someone is searching for a new restaurant to try, they are more likely to be interested in results closer to them.
This proximity-based search is one of the many ways Instagram helps users discover new relevant content.
This proximity-based search is one of the many ways Instagram helps users discover new relevant content.
Using location tags on your Instagram posts can help them appear in search results for specific locations.
This is a great way to get more eyes on your content and connect with other users who are interested in that location. Plus, using location tags can also help you boost your Instagram SEO.
So if you want more views and engagement on your posts, make sure you’re using location tags.
3. Creating guides
Instagram guides are basically miniature blogs inside the app. It allows users to include posts or reels from their profile or others. The three types of guides
include:
Places: where you can recommend places in your city and beyond.
Products: where you can recommend your favorite products.
Posts: where you can recommend posts you’ve created or saved.
Products: where you can recommend your favorite products.
Posts: where you can recommend posts you’ve created or saved.
They are an excellent opportunity to leverage keywords in the app to help you get found organically. You can add an overall title and description for the complete guide. Also, you can add a specific title and description for each of the posts that you include in the guide. Yes, those are different than the captions.
Therefore, you have more chances to highlight your target keywords and optimize your Instagram profile for SEO.
Therefore, you have more chances to highlight your target keywords and optimize your Instagram profile for SEO.
This also ties back to adding a location to your posts. Why? Because that can make your content more discoverable to people searching for that location.
Tagging that location in your posts can help you get featured in a Place Guide if you have a business or brand associated with a particular location.
This is a great way to increase your reach and engagement on Instagram and have more opportunities to be shown to your target audience.
4. Find the right people for Instagram collabs
As more and more brands flock to Instagram, the competition for attention is only getting stronger. But there’s still a way to stand out from the crowd: by
collaborating with other brands on Instagram.
Not only will this help you reach a wider audience, but it will also give you a boost in terms of Instagram SEO. That’s because when you collaborate with
other brands, you’ll often end up with links back to your Instagram account – and the more links you have, the higher you’ll rank in Instagram’s search results.
To get the most out of Instagram collabs, it’s important to choose partners carefully and make sure that your content is high-quality and relevant to your
target audience. By taking the time to plan and execute your collaborations effectively, you can reap the rewards in terms of increased traffic and engagement.
Working with other popular content creators in your niche to create an Instagram Collab post can help amplify your content’s visibility and engagement. This is because the likes and comments from your followers and
the other creator’s followers will collect under the same post.
With Instagram considering popularity signals when ranking content in search results, this increased visibility and engagement will help boost your content’s ranking in relevant searches.
5. Timely posting
The flood of new content on Instagram daily makes it easy for your content to get lost in the crowd. To avoid this, be mindful of when you’re posting.
By posting during optimal times, you can ensure that as many people see your content as possible. Posting on Instagram is best between 2 PM and 3 PM on Thursdays, 11 AM on Wednesdays, and 10 AM on Fridays. However, remember that every audience is different. Therefore, you might need different timings.
You can see the most active times of your followers in the professional dashboard. However, sometimes it s better to make a test to see what works best for you.
Experiment with different days and times to see what gets the most engagement from your followers! The best time to post on Instagram depends on your audience and goals. If you want to reach as many people as possible, the best time to post is during peak hours. Peak hours vary depending on your time zone but generally fall between 8-9 am and 6-7 pm.
Hint: If peak hour is at 6:00 pm, try posting at 5:30 pm to stay ahead of everyone else!
If you’re trying to reach a specific audience, like working professionals, the best time to post is during the weekdays. Again, testing is essential to determine the best times for your audience.
The best way to do this is to post at different times and see when you get the most engagement. Once you’ve found the best time to post, stick to it. Consistency is key.
BONUS: Become an expert in your niche
If you want your content to appear high up in Instagram’s search results, you need to focus on popularity signals. That means your content should come from
reputable and popular accounts within a particular niche. A trusted account receives a lot of engagement and has established itself as trustworthy.
It is, therefore, important that Instagram understands your content and the reason for your account by building authority within your niche.
By doing so, you will be able to better connect with your target audience, and Instagram will be more likely to show your content to users who are interested in
that content. Additionally, building authority within your niche will help you stand
out from the crowd, and Instagram is more likely to feature accounts considered referents in their field.
Lastly, to ensure your Instagram SEO is a success
Instagram is one of the fastest-growing social media platforms online, and people are finding new ways to use it daily. While people mainly use it to share
personal photos or videos, many people also use it for business
SEO is vital in search engines like Google or Bing, but as technology evolves, it is
also becoming key for Instagram.
The sooner you apply these SEO techniques to your profile, the better. Remember, this is only the beginning of SEO on Instagram.
We hope this blog post was helpful for learning a little more about optimizing your Instagram profile to be found organically!
If you need assistance to optimize your Instagram SEO, we can help. Contact us by calling (781)591-0678 or clicking here.
