SEO & Your Instagram Page: Quick Tips

Instagram is competitive. Then again, so is anything hosted online. A lot of website owners turn to improve their SEO score to help them stand out– but can you use SEO for social media?

SEO

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is, in simple terms, the process of improving your site score and encouraging Google (or other search engines) to rank you higher on each search. 

Search engines like Google and Bing use bots to crawl web pages and collect information, the easier you make it for the bots to read your content, the easier it is for them to rank you higher. 

An SEO specialist will typically work on your website:

• Speed and responsiveness

• Content and keywords

• Links (on your site and connecting to other websites)

As well as technical stuff like your website’s errors, coding, and design.

How does SEO work for Instagram?

Like with your website, you can optimise your Instagram content to rank higher in search results (SERPS).

How SEO works on Instagram: is it different to website SEO?

Some of the most important ranking factors of your website's SEO score include technical errors, links, and speed; all of which you can't change on your Instagram page. 

Fortunately, though, another crucial factor to ranking higher on SERPS is the content you produce. And on Instagram, you can do a lot of that.

Do Instagram pictures show up in Google search engine results?

It's possible for Instagram pictures to show in Google SERPS and on Google images, but, typically Google will choose websites with more specific content instead of your post.

As well as that, Instagram has a nifty little piece of code that prevents many pages and images from ever showing up in search engine results. However, if you've used the web version of Instagram instead of the app, you might have changed your settings.

8 SEO tips to boost Instagram followers using SEO

Make your profile public

Google can't grab content like images, captions, or your followers unless your profile is set to public. That means that your images can't show up in search results on Google Search or Google Images until you've made the change.

At the moment, it's impossible to hide your Instagram profile from Google - so, people can still search for your name to find your page online, but they can't see your images.

Grow your follower count

As Instagram doesn’t allow for click-through links on individual posts, your engagements will consist of only likes, follows, and comments. The easiest ways to generate these engagements are below.

Use hashtags

Starting with the obvious, hashtags are the easiest way to reach users and generate engagements. To find the right hashtags, check what competitors are using or similar pages in other areas. Typically you will want to include at least:

• Your location

• What the image includes

• A trending topic/theme like a movie or tv show

But, be careful because Google can see the number of hashtags you use and rank you lower based on distrust. To keep your Instagram SEO and trust high, you should use fewer than six or seven hashtags. 

Engage with your followers

Back and forth discussions on posts can be seen positively by both your social media platform and by search engines. By using more words in comment sections and discussions, you have more of an opportunity to organically boost keyword numbers.

It’s also polite to keep in touch with your followers.

Post regularly

More than showing up in follower feeds often, posting regularly gives you a better opportunity to continue updating your keywords rankings.

Be Specific (and relevant)

Your content is the most important feature of improving your Instagram page’s SEO score and follower count. 

If you want your content to be as relevant as possible, use specific hashtags and terms in your image captions, and page bio. For example, if your business sells flowers on the Gold Coast, you could use keywords like:

• Florist Gold Coast

• Local florist Gold Coast

• Flowers and Bouquets Near You

• Floristry Gold Coast

Not sure what would be relevant to your target audience? You can use tools like Google Analytics to find out or you can ask an SEO specialist to get you started. 

Google’s SEO crawl bots also examine images, so if you have recognisable landmarks and structures featured on your page, you’re on the right track.

Use Alt text

Your Alt text is an important feature in improving your website score. And similarly, it’s important to help optimise your Instagram’s SEO potential and follower count.

Alt text can be used to describe an image if it fails to load. It also helps describe to search engine crawl bots what your content is, giving you a chance to rank higher. 

On top of that, your use of Alt text can help you show up in Google Images search results.

Don’t link to websites or accounts you don’t trust

Links on your Instagram page work similarly to those on a website. If your content links to users that search engines like the look of, it’s a good thing. 

But if you link websites that may be malicious, spammy, or untrustworthy in any way, Google will lower your trust score and chances of showing higher in search results.

The same goes for backlinks that link to your page or site. If untrustworthy sources are linking to your content, Google may be concerned that you’re affiliated with their content. So, it’s a good idea to perform an SEO audit every once in a while to see which sites are linking to your website.

Integrate Instagram into your website

If you're a photographer or have your own business that could be linked to Instagram, you should connect it to boost your follower counts and increase your website's backlinks.

Having images from Instagram linked to your website can also drastically increase the chances that they will show up in search results of Google Search or Images.

Wondering how your website SEO score is looking? You can use the Bloomtools free Australian website grader to give it a quick look over.

Or, we can provide you with a quick-turnaround SEO audit to check your website's technical issues and errors, keywords, rankings, and more.

For help with your SEO strategy

Bloomtools helps websites improve their SEO strategy every day with considerate strategies relevant to their industry and target area. 

With locations across Australia in Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide, and a head office on the Gold Coast, we’ve got an office near you. Contact us today or call us directly at (07) 5636 3700 to get started on your website and SEO strategy.