Instagram SEO Tips: 3 Ways to Increase Your Reach

Introduction

Let's talk SEO... Instagram SEO, that is! We talk all about Reels, Stories and other growth strategies on our YouTube, but low-key Instagram SEO is right up there with the rest of them. In 2022, people use Instagram's Discover page as a search tool, just like they would Google. It's really important to make sure that your Instagram content is discoverable, which is exactly what we're getting into in this video. To be specific, we're sharing three easy ways that you can start boosting your Instagram SEO ranking.

Tip #1: Write Descriptive Captions with Keywords

The first way to do this is to write descriptive captions with keywords. Until recently, users could only search in Instagram Explorer using hashtags, location tags, usernames, and profiles. Now, users can search using keywords. Is Instagram the new Google? Maybe! Just like Google, when a user searches for a keyword, thousands and thousands of Instagram posts appear. And obviously, you want your content to show up in that search and close to the top.

To give your content a better chance of showing up in search, sprinkle in relevant keywords in your caption that you think your audience may search for. For example, I'm going to search: best time to post. As you can see, a relevant post from us shows up pretty close to the top, which means that our Instagram SEO is working. For this post, we made sure that even though the graphic had best time to post written on it. We also made sure to include those keywords in the caption itself.

Tip #2: Add Keywords to your Instagram Profile Name

The second tactic is to add keywords to your Instagram profile name. Your Instagram profile is filled with keyword opportunities. If you're hoping to rank for a specific keyword, incorporate that keyword into your name or username. Since both are searchable on Instagram. Think about easy, short searchable ways that you can describe your business, like Vancouver photographer or wedding cake designer. We'll use Later's Instagram for a quick example. Again, you can see that instead of only writing Later as our name, we give it a bit more context. We have Later: Social Media Marketing. 

Tip #3: Include Relevant Hashtags

Our final tip to boost discoverability is by including relevant hashtags, up to 30 to be exact. Using relevant targeted hashtags and posts is still one of the best ways to get discovered by new audiences on Instagram. If you have a public Instagram account and add a hashtag to a post, that post will be visible on the corresponding hashtags results page. People search hashtags with the intent to discover new content, so using the right hashtags can put you right in front of your target audience, even if you haven't connected with them before. Hello, it's such an easy win! 

If you're new to the world of hashtags, I've linked a few helpful hashtag resources for you below:

• Instagram Hashtags: Everything You Need To Know

• The Number of Hashtags You Should Use on Instagram

• Instagram Hashtag Suggestion Tool

Those are the top three tips for increasing your discoverability on Instagram. If you're looking for more SEO tips, see our related resources below, which goes into even more detail. Hope you've enjoyed this video. Don't forget to like and subscribe so you never miss a video. Thanks, and we'll see you later!