Starting later this week on July 10th, search engines including Google and Bing will be able to show content from public professional instagram accounts in Google searches. This change brings Instagram in line with Tiktok and YouTube shorts, which are already included in search results. It’s also great news for small businesses as it’s a huge (free!) boost for potential views and exposure if your Instagram profile is on point!
In the last few months, I’ve been offering free Instagram profile audits and had been planning to make a blog post around how to optimise your Instagram profile anyway, but hadn’t gotten around to writing it. But with the imminent change, today’s the day!
Here are my tips for optimising your Instagram profile both in general, and for maximum SEO:
Use keywords in your display name.
This already works for the Instagram search algorithm, and I’m willing to bet it will work for Google too. It’s one of the best ways to help customers find you, as your account will be more likely to show up if they search for any of those keywords. Including keywords in your display name is also a great way for people to instantly know what you offer!
If you aren’t sure what kind of keywords to use, think about your service, product, industry, or who you help and what words your ideal customer would use if they were looking for someone who does what you do. Or take some inspiration from other accounts in your niche.
Keep using those keywords EVERYWHERE.
These days, keywords are the new hashtag (don’t ditch hashtags though! More on that later.). Use them in your bio, your post captions, your images, closed captions, the list goes on. The algorithm will (eventually) start pushing your content out to users who have searched for or interacted with posts that contain those keywords.
Have a strong Bio
But try to keep it short and sweet. Focus on what you do, why, who it’s for, and sprinkle in a little bit of your brand personality or values. If you’re a location based business, don’t forget to include your address or approximate service area. Don’t forget to include a call-to-action to guide visitors who are interested in buying towards their next step!
Share important information on your stories and create highlights.
Highlights are a great way to make sure important information is easily accessible to your customers and they don’t have to scroll endlessly to find it (if it’s not a pinned post). Include a FAQ highlight, a reviews highlight, and any other highlight category that you think is important.
Pin some posts!
Pinned posts are a great way to make it easy for new followers to get to know you and your brand. For small business owners I recommend:
- ‘Self introduction’ post where you introduce yourself and talk about why you started your business.
- ‘Brand introduction’ post, an introduction to your business and what specific products and services you offer.
- ‘How to order/work with me’ post to give more in depth information than the call-to-action in your bio, and can include specific information to let customers know what to expect. Like is there a wait list for your services? If your product is hand made, how long should they expect that to take?
You can pin 3 posts (static, carousels, or reels) on your ‘main’ profile tab, and pin another 3 (reels only) in the ‘reels’ tab.
Use hashtags (sparingly).
Gone are the days of using 20 or 30 random hashtags on a post to boost the reach. But hashtags aren’t dead dead, they’re just not in fashion anymore since keywords have taken over, and they can still help your reach a little bit. It’s best to try to keep any hashtags relevant to the post or topic, even using your keywords as hashtags.
Keep things consistent.
This goes for both your posting frequency, and your branding and post design.
The Instagram algorithm prioritises pushing content from accounts that are posting frequently and consistently. And keeping your branding and post design consistent makes your content recognisable to your followers!
By making a few small changes to your Instagram profile and posts, your small business can really make the most out of the platform and the upcoming inclusion of content in search engine results to gain followers and loyal customers!