8 Little-Known Instagram SEO Techniques for Increasing Reach

8 Little-Known Instagram SEO Techniques for Increasing Reach



Written by Lauren Pope@G2Lauren





Instagram is an undeniably viable platform for marketing in 2019. In fact, Instagram has officially reached more than one billion active monthly users -- which means it's now more popular than social media giants such as Twitter or LinkedIn.

That's a lot of users sitting around, waiting to see your content. So, how can you reach all of those users and create opportunities for them to engage with your brand?

The answer might surprise you -- SEO for Instagram.

I know what you're thinking: Can I really employ the same SEO techniques I use to optimize web pages for a social media app?

Fortunately, you can. The trick isn't shoe-horning Instagram into your existing SEO strategy, but rather to use what you already know about SEO to drive organic growth to your Instagram account. Think of Instagram as its own search engine. The platform has built-in search functions that act like its own mini-Google.

Here, we're going to tell you eight little-known Instagram SEO techniques to expand your reach.


*Bonus Content* Click here to unlock 20 more powerful strategies & hacks for increasing Instagram engagement.


Instagram Optimization
1. Optimize your Instagram profile.

The first step you should take toward increasing your Instagram reach is optimizing your Instagram profile. Driving traffic to your Instagram account won't benefit you in the long-run if your profile isn't optimized for the best user experience.

Here are a few tricks for optimizing your Instagram profile:
Make your profile public
Choose a colorful, on-brand profile image
Create a recognizable and searchable @Username
Create an easily searchable business name
Register for an Instagram Business account
Include a trackable link in your bio

These steps might seem like a no-brainer, but it's important to lay the groundwork before you make any other SEO changes. Once you've covered those basics, you can move onto the more technical optimization steps.
2. Include your primary keyword in your display name and @Username.

As we mentioned before, Instagram is its own self-contained search engine. In order to show up for the correct terms in the search bar, you need to work within the app itself to land that coveted top-of-search positioning.

To start, you'll need to pinpoint your primary keyword. We'll use a bakery as our example for this. When an Instagram user is looking to fill their news feed with baked goods, they'll likely search the keyword 'bakery'. When you have this keyword in your display name and @Username, you're more likely to show up in the search results for suggested accounts.


As you can see here, four of the top five search results for bakery have that keyword in both their display name and @Username. You should be using your primary keyword in both places to increase your chances of being picked up by the algorithm.
3. Use your secondary keywords in the bio.

Now that you've taken care of your primary keyword, it's time to get the most out of your secondary keywords. Secondary keywords are the phrases and topics that orbit your primary keyword.

If your primary keyword is 'bakery', your secondary keywords might be things like 'cupcakes', 'wedding cakes', 'baked goods', etc.

Let's take a look at Magnolia Bakery, the top result for this keyword -- their primary keyword is highlighted in red, and their secondary keywords are highlighted in orange:


Image Source

As you can see, Magnolia Bakery has done a great job of crafting an informative and fun bio, while still including a few very important search-optimized keywords. It's no wonder they show up first when you search the term 'bakery' on Instagram.

Secondary keywords are perfect for catching people who might not be searching for your primary keyword but could still be interested in your product. A person looking for baking good recipes would likely follow Magnolia if they found them in the search, because it still matches the user's search intent.
4. Treat your hashtags as keywords.

Once you've optimized your profile, it's time to optimize your posts. This is an ongoing process that requires special attention. Most users aren't going to look for you directly. They'll likely discover you through a hashtag on a specific post.

That's why each of your Instagram posts should have its own hashtag strategy. You should be treating these hashtags like secondary keywords. Check out the example from CorePower Yoga, below: