Instagram is crucial for businesses to humanize their presence and reach their desired audience. Just like other social media platforms, it also uses Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to bring the most relevant results to the users. But from 2020 onward, Instagram’s SEO strategy has taken a slightly altered shape, in this blog, we will discuss Instagram SEO Tips and ‘How do you rank higher on Instagram?
Why is Instagram important?
Let’s first jump into how important Instagram is as a social activity platform. As per data, it currently has over 1 billion active users. These users are not only active but they regularly engage in various activities on the platform. According to Hubspot, nearly 59% of the users actively access Instagram daily and spend 7 hours per week on average. These users are not only active, but they engage with other users through various activities. There are almost 500 million stories updated every day.
How will Instagram SEO Strategy help your brand?
You can just take a look at the aforementioned data to gauge how active and engaging Instagram is. Because not everybody is putting out content on their Instagram page, some are purely there to consume the content present. Businesses are taking advantage of this and establishing a strong Instagram presence to widen their reach to the target audience.
Let’s take a look at some recent data and facts that prove Instagram is a very strong channel to help businesses take their brands to new people. According to Hubspot, nearly 130 million Instagram users actively engage with promotional content every month. The interaction between business and their consumers are more humanized, amiable, and encouraging. That is why businesses are taking to Instagram to take their brand presence up a notch.
83% of Instagram users have discovered a new product or service through the platform. If you leverage SEO on Instagram correctly, you may be one of the new brands, your potential audience discovers.
Let’s look at five tips below that will help you increase your reach:
Understand Insta Algorithm
Instagram has altered its search algorithm significantly. Previously, it used to track relevant accounts, locations, and hashtags to bring the most relevant results. But now, Instagram takes users’ interaction and engagement in the platform into much greater consideration while retrieving search results. Keywords play a much greater role too. Keywords or search terms can decide the results in case the user has no activity or interaction under that topic or subject. But that does not mean relevant accounts, locations, and hashtags get ignored. They are taken into account as well, but they are of secondary importance whereas user engagement is the primary element.
SEO on Instagram has taken the shape of SEO on other platforms. Here, optimization of content or activities around search terms or keywords can result in greater visibility too. In the case of a business, if they are visible to pretty high in rank, there is a chance that prospective consumers will either interact or do business with them. Yes! Just like any other search ranking, Instagram search ranking matters too. Make sure to optimize your page around Instagram SEO algorithms for better search ranking.
Rebuild your Profile to suit the Insta algorithm
Now, we have an understanding of the Instagram search algorithm’s working and the perimeters of their working. We may proceed on how to use and optimize each element to get the best possible results. It is evident that keywords take precedence in the hierarchy of importance. So, building a comprehensive SEO-friendly Insta profile is necessary.
The question is How to optimize an Instagram profile for search? The profile will contain SEO-friendly elements like Keywords, locations, hashtags, etc. These will help you appear on search results.
It is important to use related specific keywords in your username for best results. If it is not possible, in case there is a fixed brand name, then the next option is putting keywords in the bio. SEO-friendly bio for Instagram is one of the crucial steps to increase brand reach. The Instagram algorithm decides the account relevance through the description in the bio. If the bio is optimized it might catch the attention of Instagram’s search engine.
Additionally, do be mindful about elements like hashtags and location in your profile; if you want to score well on your social media lead generation target.
Hashtags work like keywords. They determine the relevance of content pertaining to a specific topic and also the search intent. These are two important parameters of search engine results on Instagram. It is extremely important to use specific and niche keywords to describe the brand.
Hashtags decide your visibility but using generic or broad hashtags might confuse the search algorithm to its actual relevance and it may not rank for the specific purpose you desired. It might get lost in the sea of results.
Another most important thing is when using hashtags, be extremely cautious as to what is the right amount to be used. In the case of Instagram, there is an option to use hashtags up to 30. But, that does not mean you should use that much. Hashtags density should be limited to 3-5 at most. It might sound too little. Here, little does more to precisely define your relevance to the Insta search algorithm. However, the performance and traffic each hashtag has brought must be tracked for relevance and future reference. One of the most important Instagram SEO tips is don’t do hashtags blindly. That might not bode well for your business. So in case you commit any social media mistakes, do consult with experts before tweaking your Instagram strategy.
Leverage Alt Text to Image
There is a popular saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words”. But for Insta SEO strategy that saying might not prove much fruitful. Instagram has an alternative text option for pictures basically to help visually impaired people. Insta will auto-fill a text alternative to every picture. But, that mechanic description may be vague or not suit the desired individual purpose. So, if one optimizes the Alt text with relevant content or search terms they may have a better chance for search engine visibility.
Customize your Insta Captions for More Visibility
On Instagram, users can find any content through specific keywords, hashtags, or locations. It is advisable to customize any image or post captions with relevant keywords or hashtags or locations. That way the image or post will get better visibility to people with similar interests or queries even if they are not yet acquainted with the service or product.
These are some of the SEO tips for Instagram but to get the best SEO for Instagram, you need to consult with experts here. They will sketch out the right Instagram SEO formula for your business. Looking for a digital marketing company in Delhi to take your brand from local to global, Banyanbrain, a top internet marketing agency will help you with that. We are a team of experts with a global customer base helping our clients to build a strong and profitable digital presence. Come and consult with us! If you are looking for effective SEO key points that are beneficial for your business or any digital marketing service.
