While all digital marketers should be aware of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and know best practices for improving their website rankings on search engines, a lesser-known area of SEO takes place on social media platforms. 

Your social network pages can also be found through search engines, and your profiles can be discovered using the search features within social apps. 

However, if you don’t have your accounts optimized, you could miss out on traffic, followers, and revenue through social selling. 

There’s one platform in particular that takes a little more effort to optimize than other social media sites, and that’s Instagram. 

We’ll talk about what makes Instagram SEO function differently than other social platforms and give you 7 tips to improve your SEO and gain more followers today.

Factors that Make Instagram SEO Different from Other Social Platforms

Just as Instagram is different from other social sites, Instagram SEO needs to function differently than your other social media platforms. 

The biggest difference between Instagram and other social sites when it comes to SEO is the search function. 

For as long as social search has been an option, hashtags have been the primary source of searching and sharing. 

Hashtags worked similarly to links: clicking on a hashtag would take you to similar content that was also using that tag — like a keyword — to identify the created content. 

While Instagram also functioned with a hashtag system for most of its lifespan, at the end of 2020, Instagram unrolled its newest function: search by interest. 

This completely changed the game, as users no longer needed to search for a specific hashtag key phrase to find what they were looking for. 

As people began to transform the way they searched, companies needed to adapt their Instagram SEO to be found not just for specific keywords, but for interests and industries as well. 

While it may seem like a lot, there are plenty of benefits to this new feature if you can adapt your SEO correctly: 

• More audiences are able to find your content without needing to know the specific hashtags your company uses.
• The products and services you promote can be found quicker.
• Your posts can be found by more than just your followers.
• You can spend more time on the content you create and less time researching the perfect hashtags to promote your content.
• Your competitive research can be much more extensive.
• You can start to build a community around your industry and brand name.

7 Instagram SEO Tactics

Now that you understand the value of investing in your Instagram SEO strategy, let’s dive into the tactics that are going to help you be found and become successful.

1. Optimize Your Profile

Your profile is like your directory listing in the Instagram database. 

Making sure that you’ve optimized your profile will help your business be found by the right users. 

Here are a few areas of your profile to improve: 

Name and Username

Your name and username will help identify your brand to searchers. You can incorporate relevant keywords into your name and username to appear when searching.

Bio

Your bio is a short description of your company, and a great place to put secondary keywords. You can also put hashtags and trackable links in your bio.

Profile Picture

People definitely judge books by their covers. As a visual social media site, your profile image on Instagram can either help you stand out or drag you down.

2. Use Keywords in Your Captions

As part of an SEO strategy, each piece of content you create should have relevant keywords attached. 

And, as Instagram’s search feature will look at the copy for topics and interests, it becomes even more relevant to use primary and secondary keywords in your posts to be found for both hashtags and general searches.

While you don’t want to sound robotic or forced, sneaking in a few natural keywords here and there can work. It’s a bit of a balancing act—if your captions read like a checklist of buzzwords, people can spot it from a mile away. Honestly, it’s better to sound like a real person, even if you aren’t winning every search combo out there.

Also, you might want to think visually about your captions. Words that describe the vibe or emotion in your images (not just the technical subject) can connect more with folks scrolling. That sort of authenticity tends to stick, and—bonus—it’s what Instagram search is picking up on more in 2025.

3. Use Instagram Alt-Text

Alt-text is an important step of web page SEO to ensure images are indexed correctly and visually-impaired visitors can still get a description of the images to enjoy the content. 

This feature has been added to Instagram and is just as important to fill in. 

If you don’t fill it in yourself, Instagram will auto-fill your Alt-text, so you want to ensure that you’re filling out the right description with keywords, phrases, or interests that match the photo. 

Now you can rank higher and be found on voice searches as well.

4. Use Geotags

Just like Google search, Instagram will pull search results from the nearest geographical location. 

For example, if you search on Instagram for “hair stylists”, the results will load both accounts you or your friends follow and nearby hair stylists. 

In order to be found for searches like this, make sure that your posts are using geotags to narrow down your location. 

The more specific you can be, the better.

5. Use Video

Instagram isn’t just static image content — a huge portion of the social site is dedicated to video content. 

Video formats like Instagram Stories, Reels, or IGTV are easily scrollable, meaning they can get more hits and views than static posts.

Videos, especially short videos, also have a higher chance of being shared and gaining you more followers. Instagram is really investing in them.

6. Account Linking

Linking all your active social accounts is a great way to promote the authority and authenticity of your page. 

Not only does this increase the chances of followers adding you to all their social platforms, but you can promote your account and increase your click-through rate.

7. Avoid Techniques that Will Drag Your SEO Down

Just as there are techniques to improve your Instagram SEO performance, there are tactics that can damage your SEO rankings and negatively impact your account. 

Here are a few things to avoid at all costs: 

• Stolen Content
• Keyword Stuffing
• Complex Usernames
• Incorrect Location Tags
• Following Too Many Accounts at a Time
• Buying Followers

Wrap Up: Boosting Your Visibility with Instagram SEO 

Instagram is a unique social platform that requires a little bit more time and effort than other social media sites to optimize for SEO. 

There are, however, many ways in which you can start your optimization efforts. 

Improving your Instagram SEO will help you be found by searchers and allow you to take your social profiles to the next level. 

Once your social profiles are optimized, you can start to feel the benefits of a well-rounded and complete SEO strategy.

If you’re interested in finding out where your current SEO strategy stands, check out our interactive SEO Maturity Assessment and find ways to take your company’s SEO approach to the next level.

 

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