If you’re using Instagram to market your business, the best way to guarantee success is by boosting your following first. The more people you manage to reach, the higher your chances of driving sales. So, Instagram optimization is a must.
In order to boost your following, you need to get found on the platform. This guide shows you some of the best ways to optimize for Instagram search and why you should care about Instagram optimization in the first place. Let’s jump right in.
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WHY OPTIMISE FOR INSTAGRAM?
But why do you need Instagram optimization in the first place? Why is Instagram so important that you should dedicate your time to getting found on the platform? Here are some stats to answer your questions:
Instagram has about 1 billion active users – 1 billion users you could potentially reach with the right Instagram SEO tactics.
People spend approximately 53 minutes per day on Instagram. This accounts for a significant portion of their day, which increases your chances of engaging prospects on the platform.
83% of people are using Instagram to discover new products or services. This means your brand content on Instagram could effectively help you attract prospective customers.
Here are some of the best Instagram SEO ideas to improve your discoverability and reach on the platform:
1. Optimise Your Profile for Search
The Instagram search function delivers the most relevant profiles based on your search term. According to Instagram, the search results depend on several factors including the accounts you follow and are connected to.
Also, the posts you like on Instagram have a major influence to determine relevance. In addition to this, keywords also play a critical role. So it helps if you can optimize your Instagram profile with keywords to show up in relevant searches. Here’s how:
Name and Username – Incorporating a primary keyword in your name and username is a good way to improve your chances of showing in relevant searches. For instance, see on the image below how a search for the keyword “interiors” brings up profiles that have the keyword in their name, username, or both
For usernames, this may not always be possible as you typically have to stick with your official brand name. But you might be able to find a way to play around with the profile name in your bio as is the case with @luxemagazine and @oka above.
Bio – Your bio is also a great place to add in keywords that you want to rank for. You can use this space to describe your business with relevant secondary keywords. For example, let’s say you want to target the keyword “salon,” then you could also include secondary keywords like “styling,” or “makeup,” in your bio.
2. Write Keyword-Optimised Hashtags
On the Instagram Explore page, you can only search for content using hashtags and location tags. Besides this, Instagram also provides content recommendations personalized for each user based on their interests and interactions. For instance, if you regularly “like” food-related posts, your Explore page will likely display content similar to that.
The Instagram Explore page algorithm identifies accounts that are topically similar to each other. It also identifies how certain accounts are relevant to one another based on the keywords used in bios, names, and usernames as well as captions.
That’s exactly why writing descriptive captions with relevant keywords will improve your chances of showing up in the Explore page of relevant users. Instagram will use the keywords in your captions to determine which topics of interest align with your account.
Millers Wood Birds uses a descriptive caption related to nature and wildlife photography:
3. Consider Hashtags as Keywords
On Instagram, hashtags function like keywords do in regular search engines – they help users discover relevant content. When you search for a certain hashtag, it’ll show you all the posts tagged with said hashtag. Similarly, tagging your post with a certain hashtag means that the post will show up when someone searches for that particular hashtag.
So, it’s crucial to tag your posts with hashtags relevant to the content so that you can attract the right audience. Although you have the freedom to use up to 30 hashtags, make sure you find the right hashtag density for your posts.
For instance, the following post has about 20 hashtags relevant to the image.
4. Encourage Tagging
Another way to boost discoverability on Instagram is by getting tagged. When people tag your account in their posts or Instagram Stories, others will be able to click through to your profile. So, there’s a good chance you can attract an even bigger audience the more you get tagged.
You could encourage people to tag you in their photos of your products for a chance to be featured in your posts. You could then repost some of their photos to show how much you appreciate them.
Alternatively, you could also run promotions and giveaways that involve tagging your account. This is a great way to boost the number of tags because people are more likely to participate when there’s a chance to win something.
Check out how Benefit Cosmetics runs a giveaway, encouraging people to share the post to their Stories and tag the brand for extra entries.
5. Track and Optimize
Just like how you analyze the impact of your regular SEO efforts, it’s also crucial that you measure how your Instagram optimization efforts are paying off. To stay on top of your game, conduct an audit on your Instagram account on a regular basis. Make sure you’re asking the right questions:
Were the changes worth it? Did they have any impact on visibility at all? What could you possibly do to make an even bigger impact? You can get the answer to all of these questions once you start tracking your Instagram performance.
If you have a business account or a creator profile on Instagram, you’ll get a comprehensive analytics tool to measure your account performance.
This built-in analytics is great for understanding individual post insights. Also, it gives you a detailed breakdown of reach and impressions as well as how you managed to attract each viewer – whether it’s from home, hashtags, profile, and so on.
TAKE OVER INSTAGRAM WITH SEO
Your Instagram account could make all the difference between being a winning brand and being just another business. So, drive up visibility on the platform with effective Instagram SEO by making the most of the Instagram optimization tips given above.
Looking to boost your brand awareness on Instagram? We can help you! Drop us a message here to find out more.
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