Did you know that 40% of young people, when searching for information, no longer turn to Google Maps or Search? At a recent conference, the Senior Vice President of Google Knowledge and Information, Prabhakar Raghavan, revealed that they are now going to Instagram and TikTok. 🤯 Read on to discover how to rank in Instagram search results in six easy steps.

HANDLE, PROFILE NAME, + BIO

Start simple by optimizing the bare bones of your Instagram account’s:

Handle/username
Profile name
Bio

Search engine optimization aims to include relevant keywords that users are actually searching for throughout your profile and content to increase the likelihood of your account popping up in search results.

So, if we were looking for a new hairstylist in Arizona, take a look at what pops up when we search “az hairstylist” on Instagram:

Notice how all of the results have two things in common:

The accounts have the keyword “hair” in their Instagram handle
The accounts have the keyword phrase “AZ Hairstylist” as part of their profile name

Including keywords relevant to your biz in both your handle and profile name is crucial for IG SEO. At Homemade Social, our Instagram name is saved as “Homemade Social | Digital Marketing Agency” for increased visibility.

To further optimize your account for search, incorporate those keywords (and a few more!) into your Instagram bio. Check out our How to Write an Instagram Bio + Instagram Bio Examples blog post for our top tips!

LOCATION TAGS

If your business is tied to a particular location, increase visibility by:

Mentioning your location in your handle, profile name, and bio
Adding your city or business address to your profile
Including location tags on all content

In case you missed it, Instagram recently revamped the look of its location search results to make it even easier for businesses to be discovered! When a user searches a location on Instagram, a map view now populates to allow users to easily discover posts and stories shared at each location. Traditional “Recent” and “Top” post tabs still appear in location search results as well.

HASHTAGS + KEYWORDS IN CAPTIONS

The last two fields Instagram considers for search are: hashtags and keywords used in captions.

In case you missed it, we recently shared an entire blog post diving into why we reduced our use of hashtags on Instagram, but in summary, to increase discoverability on Instagram:

1. Include 3-5 hashtags in each post’s caption

Why so little? Because the Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, took to his Instagram Stories to share that adding the full 30 Instagram hashtags to your post “doesn’t actually help you reach more people.” Instead, the platform recommends keeping the hashtag count between three and five.

For tips on how to build the perfect hashtag strategy, check out our How to Conduct Hashtag Research blog post.

2. Bake relevant keywords into caption copy

To identify which keywords to target on Instagram, leverage the search bar’s predictive text! Start by typing in your base keyword and then see what other keywords Instagram suggests in the drop-down list. This list is based on data that users are most commonly searching for at the time of your research.

For example, if you were a makeup brand, you might start by searching the keyword “makeup.” From there, the drop-down list may suggest search queries like “makeup tutorials” or “avant garde makeup.” To show up as one of the top results for these search queries, you’ll want to start incorporating these keywords into your content.

We hope you found this blog post helpful in learning how to rank in Instagram’s search results! For more tips, be sure to follow us on Instagram and subscribe to our social media newsletter. Chat soon!

xx,

The Homies