Instagram SEO: What It Is, How to Do It, & Best Practices

What Is Instagram SEO?

Instagram SEO is the process of optimizing your Instagram illustration and contented to assistance much radical observe you passim Instagram. 

This means taking a assortment of actions to amended your Instagram beingness helps you amusement up successful places similar users’ feeds, Explore, Reels, and Instagram’s hunt results—without having to wage for ads. 

For example, if idiosyncratic types “interior design” successful the Instagram hunt bar, they whitethorn spot results for antithetic profiles, captions, and/or hashtags. 

Many of the actions you instrumentality to amended your visibility connected Instagram tin besides amended your visibility connected accepted hunt engines similar Google. 

To marque the astir of Instagram SEO, it’s important to recognize however it works and however Instagram decides what contented to amusement successful hunt results.

How Does SEO for Instagram Work?

SEO connected Instagram involves algorithms designed to link you with users who are funny successful businesses similar yours and/or the types of contented you create.

According to Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri, the level uses 3 main factors to determine what appears successful hunt results:

• Search text: The astir important origin is the keywords radical benignant successful the hunt bar. Instagram matches these keywords with usernames, bios, captions, hashtags, and locations.
• User activity: Instagram personalizes results based connected the accounts users follow, posts they’ve viewed, and their past interactions (likes, comments, and shares)
• Post popularity: Posts, accounts, oregon hashtags with a batch of likes, comments, shares, and follows are much apt to look higher successful hunt results

Explore, Reels, Stories, and feeds each person their ain ranking signals. They’re mostly influenced by the user, but your brand’s wide engagement levels and content-specific engagement tin besides impact whether you look successful these places. 

How to Increase Visibility connected Instagram and Google

Many Instagram SEO techniques are adjuvant for Google SEO arsenic well—like utilizing applicable keywords.

Let’s spell implicit immoderate Instagram SEO tips that tin assistance you scope your people audience.

1. Optimize Your Profile with Keywords

Instagram considers keywords utilized successful cardinal areas similar your handle, illustration name, and bio due to the fact that it helps the level recognize what your relationship is about.

For example, if idiosyncratic searches for “fitness manager london,” the apical profiles often see keywords similar “Coach,” “Fitness Coach,” and “London.”

Using keywords successful this mode tin besides amended your visibility successful Google hunt results. Particularly for branded searches.

Like this:

You should take keywords that bespeak your business, niche, and perchance your location. 

For example:

• Business type: If you’re a baker, see presumption similar “Bakery” oregon “Custom Cakes”
• Niche: Highlight your specialty, similar “Vegan Recipes” oregon “Yoga for Beginners”
• Location: Add your metropolis oregon country if you’re targeting a section audience. For example, “New York Photographer” oregon “Toronto Personal Trainer.”

By selecting circumstantial keywords that picture what you do, you’ll marque it easier for radical searching for applicable businesses to find your profile.

2. Add Keywords to Your Captions and Hashtags

Adding applicable keywords to your captions helps Instagram recognize your contented and increases your chances of appearing successful hunt results and perchance different areas successful the app—depending connected the user’s interests and your ain engagement signals.

Using keywords successful hashtags tin besides beryllium helpful, but mostly due to the fact that they assistance the level categorize your contented and link it with users searching for circumstantial topics.

You tin find the close keywords to usage by:

• Looking astatine your competitors: Check the captions of accounts successful your niche to spot what keywords they usage and which posts execute good successful presumption of engagement
• Using Instagram’s hunt bar: Type a taxable (e.g., “home workouts”) into the hunt barroom and look astatine the suggested terms, profiles, and hashtags to find fashionable keywords. Use the “Tags” tab for much elaborate accusation connected hashtags.

To streamline the process, usage Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool to place applicable keywords successful your niche.

For example, if you participate a effect keyword (a wide word related to your niche) into the tool, you’ll get a database of perchance applicable keywords. 

The “Volume” file shows the mean fig of searches the presumption get connected Google each month. And the “Trend” file shows however involvement changes implicit clip (e.g., if it’s a seasonal term).

While hunt volumes whitethorn disagree for these presumption connected Instagram, support successful caput that utilizing keywords thoughtfully successful your contented tin besides assistance you look successful Google results.

These presumption tin animate your hashtags arsenic well.

As for however to usage hashtags, Instagram's creator assemblage account recommends that you:

• Focus connected 3 to 5 applicable hashtags alternatively of overloading your posts
• Include a premix of wide hashtags (e.g., #Fitness) and niche-specific ones (e.g., #FitnessCoachLondon)
• Place hashtags successful the caption alternatively than the comments for amended designation by Instagram’s algorithm

3. Add Subtitles to Your Videos

Subtitles marque your Reels easier for users to ticker without sound, and they besides fto you see keywords that tin drawback users’ attraction arsenic they’re scrolling.

While subtitles don’t straight summation views, they tin summation likes, comments, and shares by making your videos much engaging and accessible. 

This other enactment tin assistance your contented scope much radical implicit time.

Here’s however to adhd subtitles connected Instagram:

• First, make a Reel and pat the sticker icon
• Then, prime “Captions,” and Instagram volition automatically make subtitles
• Review the subtitles and edit them for accuracy (by tapping connected the text) to marque definite it matches your content

Instagram's auto-generated subtitles are a bully starting point. But you tin usage apps similar CapCut oregon Veed.io if you privation much customization. 

These apps let you to take fonts, colors, and animations to marque your subtitles visually appealing and much aligned with your brand. 

4. Write Alt Text for Your Posts

Alternative substance (usually called alt text) is simply a abbreviated statement of an representation oregon video explaining what it’s showing, which is utile for making your contented accessible to visually impaired users and helping your contented look successful Google.

Here’s an illustration of however a station tin look successful Google’s representation results:

Writing keyword-rich alt substance is the champion mode to summation your visibility connected Google.

To adhd alt substance connected Instagram:

• Select a station you privation to edit, click the 3 dots successful the precocious corner, and prime “Edit”
• Then, prime “Edit Alt Text.” 
• Add your transcript and prevention it

When penning alt text, retrieve to beryllium concise (no much than 125 characters) and circumstantial (e.g., "Woman successful yoga apparel doing a downward canine airs connected a formation astatine sunset").

5. Maintain a Consistent Theme

Posting contented that focuses connected a circumstantial taxable tin assistance you turn marque consciousness and physique a pursuing that’s much apt to engage—which tin pb to amended visibility wrong Instagram.

For example, Etsy uses a reasonably neutral palette, tons of earthy light, and focuses connected creators’ work:

As users go acquainted with Etsy’s Instagram content, they’ll beryllium much apt to admit that it belongs to Etsy erstwhile they spot it passim the platform. And they mightiness beryllium much inclined to interact with that content.

As your posts get much engagement, Instagram whitethorn urge your contented to adjacent much people.

Further reading: How to Create a Social Media Content Strategy 

6. Post astatine the Right Times

While Instagram doesn’t show contented based solely connected erstwhile it was uploaded, posting erstwhile your followers are astir progressive could assistance you get much likes, comments, and shares. 

That engagement tells Instagram’s algorithm that your contented is valuable, making it much apt to look elsewhere.

According to probe from CoSchedule, the champion and worst times, hours, and days for businesses to station connected Instagram are:

• Best times: 9:01 a.m., 7:59 p.m., 9 a.m., 8 p.m., and 7:59 a.m.
• Best hours: 9 a.m., 8 a.m., 10 a.m., 12 p.m., and 3 p.m.
• Worst hours: 2 a.m., 3 a.m., 4 a.m., 11 p.m., and 5 a.m.
• Best days: Wednesdays, Fridays, and Tuesdays
• Worst days: Sundays, Saturdays, and Thursdays

Just cognize that the perfect posting clip depends connected your assemblage and niche, truthful it's cardinal to experimentation and analyse your engagement.

You tin commencement gaining accusation via your Instagram account. 

Go to your illustration and take “Professional dashboard.” 

Select “Total followers.”

Scroll to the conception called “Most progressive times” to spot erstwhile your followers are astir apt to engage. So you tin docket posts astatine the close times.

If you don’t person entree to Instagram’s Insights (which requires 100+ followers), usage the Social Analytics instrumentality wrong Semrush Social to analyse erstwhile your assemblage is astir active.

This instrumentality besides tells you much astir your followers’ demographics, truthful you tin cater your contented to them. 

Plus, the app lets you usage Social Poster to make and docket your content. And Social Tracker to benchmark your show against competitors. 

7. Avoid Watermarks connected Your Reels

Instagram says that Reels with disposable watermarks from different platforms are little apt to look successful recommendations oregon connected the Explore leafage (they similar to prioritize contented that feels native), truthful it’s champion to omit them.

This is casual to bash if you make contented wrong Instagram oregon usage a paid editing instrumentality that doesn’t necessitate a watermark.

If you’re repurposing your ain contented from platforms similar TikTok, usage tools specified arsenic CapCut to region watermarks earlier uploading to Instagram.

Keep successful caput that Mosseri notes utilizing third-party tools to make contented won’t negatively impact your scope arsenic agelong arsenic the last mentation uploaded to Instagram is watermark-free.

8. Prioritize Engagement with Your Audience

Doing what you tin to amended engagement tin boost your content’s visibility and show connected Instagram.

After all, however often radical spot your posts depends successful portion connected however overmuch they and others person interacted with you and your content. 

Here are immoderate tips from Instagram connected ways to summation engagement:

• Create relatable and authentic content: Grab users’ attraction successful the archetypal 3 seconds
• Use high-quality visuals: Post videos with the champion solution imaginable to marque your contented look professional
• Tag strategically: Add determination tags and usage fashionable formats similar Reels to assistance much radical find your content
• Focus connected your niche: Use trending audio and hashtags that lucifer your audience’s interests
• Encourage interaction: Ask questions, make polls, and respond to comments to punctual engagement

Further reading: 15+ Ways to Get More Followers connected Instagram

Start Posting Optimized Instagram Content

Remember, Instagram SEO is simply a semipermanent play. And by implementing the supra tips, you tin steadily summation your scope and engagement implicit time.

To simplify the process, usage Semrush Social to negociate your content, way your results, and support an oculus connected your competitors. 

Try it today.