Instagram SEO is becoming super important!
If you want to improve your Instagram strategy and make your content perform better, than
this video is for you!
Ready?
Let’s do this!
Hi my lovely people, it’s Natalia and welcome back to my channel where I help you create
better content and grow on social media!
Today, we’re on the topic of Instagram SEO which the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri
himself told us to use to make our content better so you know it’s the real deal.
In this video, you’ll learn exactly what Instagram SEO is, what’s the role of keywords
in all of this, how it’s connected to the algorithm, and how you can apply the Instagram
SEO strategy yourself!
And by the way, big shoutout to Aleem @livinglimitlessco for this awesome question under one of my
recent Instagram post and I’m so happy I
can dive deep on it today!
Make sure you stay till the end because I have a tip that I know not a lot of people
use still and it’s quite an important one!
Alright, straight into it, less go!
1.
What is SEO
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and it simply means making your content better
for the search engines.
I realize that even saying Instagram SEO can sound intimidating but for all my wonderful
content creators out there, don’t worry, it’s not as scary as you might think and
I’m here to explain exactly how you can use it in your own strategy!
Before, we used to think of SEO in a more traditional sense of Google and getting your
blog posts or websites to rank high there.
However, since more and more people started searching for stuff on social media platforms
as well, SEO started getting gradually more important there too.
I’m sure you know that both Pinterest and YouTube have always been based on search very
heavily since they both work as search engines.
You do have the algorithmic homepage of recommendations on those, but the search bar is usually what
the users are after there.
Since we have more and more content being produced on platforms like Facebook or Instagram,
they are improving their search performance because they need to be able to cater to the
needs of their users and make sure to deliver the content that they’re interested in when
they ask.
Now, with the rise of TikTok and the fact that Gen-Z use it as a search engine more
than Google, it’s no wonder we’re seeing more focus on the search engine functionalities
on Instagram because, as with soooo many other functions (ekhm Reels, pinned content), they
need to stay competitive.
This is exactly why SEO is going to be your best friend when it comes to your presence
on IG.
Now, how do we improve our SEO?
Well, we need to start with keywords!
2.
what are keywords
Keywords are basically any phrases that people are searching for so anything you’d type
into a search bar to find specific information.
If you think about them this way, they’re like a gateway for the people to actually
find your content.
Let’s start with an example of a fashion creator on Instagram.
Your audience are going to be using specific terms in the search bar like “how to find
your style”, “fall outfit ideas”, “how to dress better”, “style tips” and all
of these searches are actually considered keywords.
Now, when you use these specific keywords in your content (and I’ll explain more on
how to do it in a second, so make sure you watch the whole video!, when you use these
keywords in your content, the people who are searching for them have a chance of stumbling
upon your post, or a Reel, and then stay for more.
This is why it’s such a great tactic, because with the importance of SEO going up, this
is our way of improving our chances to get discovered.
And let’s be honest, the engagement and reach on Instagram have dropped significantly
lately, it’s a trend across the board, so we need to get smarter about getting new eyes
on our content.
Another important role of keywords is that they help the algorithm define your content
and your account as a whole.
And by the way, this is precisely why you need to be consistent with the subjects you
talk about!
Let’s look at two examples here:
one, we have an account belonging to Gemma and she’s posting a lot of things like travel
stories, fashion content, a bit of money tips, some health & fitness stuff, basically anything
and everything that Gemma’s life revolves around
then two, we have Isla who consistently posts only on the subjects within a specific niche
which is home organization, despite her being interested in many many other things
Who is more likely to consistently attract a specific audience?
Of course, Isla is, and this is also going to be reflected in the keywords.
When the algorithm sees that the keywords in her latest posts are from that same niche,
it’s going to be that much easier to recognize it as a home organization account and push
that content out to the people who are interested in that subject.
Side note, I can relate to Gemma and all of you out there who don’t feel like boxing
yourself in within a narrow niche because I’m very much multipassionate too, but I
really believe that it’s so much easier to build a larger, engaged following with
a consistent subject matter.
It’s much more cohesive and less confusing so people know exactly what they’re following
your for!
Ok, we know what the deal is with SEO and it’s clear that keywords are, well, key
here, now we need to know how to actually find them so…
3.
How to find keywords
Since we’re focusing on Instagram SEO today and I want to make it easy and accessible,
we’re not doing an extensive keyword research here.
The simplest way to identify the keywords for you and your niche is to think about what
you know what your audience is interested in already and start typing the stuff into
the search bar.
This way, you’ll see plenty of suggestions for those keywords.
You can do it on Google, on YouTube and Pinterest, but you can also stick to Instagram since
we already have this more keyword-based search available.
If we take the fashion IG example from before, here’s what I found under the “fall outfits”
category:
fall aesthetic, fall fashion, fall fashion inspo, autumn vibes, autumn outfit, autumn
fit inspo, and that’s just from the quick search on IG.
What I’m doing here is literally typing fall, seeing the suggested keywords, then
jumping into those and trying to identify some more similar phrases.
So that’s one simple tactic to find good keywords for your content.
Obviously, I chose a very specific subject here that’s going to help you for a specific
post and only for this season, but you can do the exact same thing with your general
niche subjects for your account.
Now, can you go further and do a more elaborate keyword research?
Absolutely, you can do it if you want, but remember not to put too much pressure on yourself
if you don’t exactly have the time or the resources to do it right now.
Instagram SEO is still getting better, I feel like we’re focused on more simple keywords
that can be easily identified and we don’t have to look for very detailed long-chain
keywords to beat the competition.
It’s the totality of your Instagram presence that counts and it’s important to focus
on consistency, being relevant to your audience and the quality of your content in general.
Another side note here to make things even more clear for you, there’s actually a specific
way in which Instagram ranks search results and I’ll talk about it in order of importance.
The most impactful factor here is the actual text that’s being typed in the search bar
because IG wants to match it as best as it can with all the different places these keywords
appear in.
This tells us that it’s definitely worth doing a small keyword research to know the
exact phrasing that people use when searching.
The second factor is the activity so the level of interaction the searcher had with the accounts
that show up.
This is why building an active community on IG is so important because you’re more likely
to show up in their search when they’ve engaged with you previously.
The third factor is the info about the results themselves which means that if the search
is popular, it’s also going to take into account the popularity of the posts measured
by likes, shares and the amount of followers a particular account, hashtag or location
has.
Ok, we have our keywords sorted, but now, where do we put them, right?
Well, let’s start with your handle, your name and your bio and that’s point 4.
4.
Handle, name, bio
I hope at this point you know your bio needs to be well optimized to invite the visitors
to your profile to actually stay and follow you.
If not, check out this video here to learn how you can make it better.
But do you know that your bio can get better with the use of keywords?
Yes, your bio is the perfect place for them so if you know your core keywords, put them
on there so that your account shows clearly what you normally cover.
As a nutritionist, you could include something like “weight loss tips” or “healthy
recipes”, you get my point.
Now, if you’re just starting out, you could also think about using a keyword in your actual
handle.
When you look at how the search on Instagram works, you’ll be able to see that it pulls
accounts based on their name and their actual handle too.
This may be something to consider if you want to appear in searches this way.
If you look at this simple search for a nutritionist, a lot of the accounts that show up here do
have “nutritionist” in their handle.
But, among those, you’ll find a ton of people with this same keyword in their display name
and I think this is where you can really use to your benefit.
I always recommend the format of Name | the vertical bar symbol and then the keyword,
especially now that we have more than 30 characters available there.
Definitely consider including your actual name there so that it displays properly in
DMs or suggested accounts.
When you follow with keyword defining what you do or your niche, it’s the perfect combo.
Just look at Kristina here with her handle @type2.diabetes.nutritionist which is very
keyword dense, followed by her display name as Kristina Cooke RD | Diabetes Dietician,
and she even threw in some keywords in the bio for good measure.
I’ve found her account simply by typing in nutritionist so you can clearly see she’s
done well on the Instagram SEO front, especially that she’s not a massive account.
So shoutout to Kristina, good job with this!
Since I want you to know I’m not just making things up and actually rely on official recommendations,
you can take a look at this post from the creators, I’ve linked it down in the description
box if you want to check it out, along with Mosseri’s video.
5.
Caption
This is the Instagram growth tactic a lot of people are sleeping on!
Here’s where we can really help the algorithm understand our content well and push it to
the right people.
At the very beginning of this video, I’ve mentioned that Mosseri said himself that we
should optimize for search, I’m going to put this video up somewhere here or here,
but what you need to know is that he said specifically that captions are KEY.
From my own experience, when I started using keywords in my captions in a very very low-key
way, I’ve definitely noticed an improvement!
My posts started reaching a more targeted, a better matched audience and let me say,
I’m here for it.
I feel like this is the crucial bit of the whole Instagram SEO puzzle because it’s
the perfect combination of the two functions I’ve mentioned at the beginning so improved
discoverability and better categorization.
Since we can click on the keywords when we’re searching for something, people have an easy
way of discovering a variety of posts that are relevant to them right in the moment when
they need them most.
This mechanism has a chance to work because of our captions.
When these same people find the answer to their question with a well-crafted, quality
piece of content, then it’s a win.
This exact need that’s answered can contribute to them consuming more of your content and
staying for longer which is ultimately what we want.
If we add to it a bonus in the form of engagement when they comment or reach out to you through
a DM, this all collectively tells the algorithm that your content is worth showing further.
And this is how you get on the path of success on Instagram.
So if there’s one thing you should take from this video is that you should include
a few keywords in every one of your captions.
They should be relevant to the subject of the post to provide a bit of context and act
as an emphasis on your niche so that the algorithm knows what you post about.
There’s no need to load it with keywords, just a few is fine, but it’s important to
use them naturally and not create some robotic sounding captions just for the sake of SEO.
I should probably mention here that location tags are also important for search optimization
so it’s worth including them in your posts, especially if you’re a local business.
But wait, there’s more!
There’s another thing you should always include in your caption and that’s hashtags
so point no 6.
6.
Hashtags
I posted a whole video on the hashtag strategy last week so I’m not going to spend too
much time on them here but there are two crucial pieces you need to know about them in the
context of SEO.
Here’s why you always need to use hashtags in the captions and not in the comments.
Although your content will appear under specific hashtags when you put them in the comments,
so it can bring you more reach, it’s not going to help optimize your content for SEO.
Here’s why: the caption is something you provide as a creator so the algorithm naturally
analyzes it to better understand this piece of content.
It does not do the same for the comments since it’s a public space where anyone else can
write something.
So when you include hashtags in your comments, you’re missing out on this huge opportunity
of appearing in search results and the algorithm categorizing your content even better so that
it can push it to the right people.
Now, some people may say, hey, if you’re using keywords, what’s the point of using
hashtags.
Well, let’s start with the fact that Mosseri said to use hashtags and this is still the
official recommendation.
They help connect the dots for the algorithm even further.
And remember, people can actually follow hashtags so it’s natural that your content would
then be more likely to be shown to them.
Apart from that, hashtags show up when you search for keywords which you can see right
here with the wedding bouquet example.
You’ll find that people are still searching for hashtags or in the hashtag format (so
clumping the words together) and this is a way for your content to be shown to them.
So I would absolutely still use hashtags and if you want to know how to do it best, you
know where to go (point!)
7.
Alt Text!
And now, my favorite little nugget of gold that’s so often overlooked, alt text.
If you don’t know what alt text is, it’s basically a bit of text that describes your
graphics visually and it’s especially important for people with visual impairments.
As Instagram explains, it uses object recognition technology to identify what’s on a photo
or a graphic and describe it to people who use a screen reader on IG.
Even though this technology is in place, you can actually provide a better description
yourself and the great news is, this contributes to your SEO as well!
Basically, when you specify what’s on the image, you can include keywords there which
are going to again, help you rank in search and help identify your content by the algorithm.
So every time you post a carousel or a single graphic, or a photo, take that little extra
time to add keyword-rich alt text for each of them, describing things like the colors,
the objects or people, and what the graphic says if it includes text.
It’s best to keep it concise though because only alt text under 100 characters can be
used by the screen reader properly.
To do this, you have to go to Advanced Settings here at the very bottom of the screen when
you’re adding a new post, then select Write alt text from the Accessibility section here
and type your description.
One of the crucial things I want to point out there is to not use alt text to just insert
your keywords.
This is something I’ve seen recommended many times online and here’s why it’s
a really bad practice.
As I mentioned a second ago, alt text is there primarily to help visually impaired people
understand the image and it’s essential to their experience on social media in general.
When you type out your own alt text, it replaces the text that would have been generated by
this object recognition technology so when you just list a bunch of keywords there without
actually describing the post, they have no way of knowing what the image looks like.
No matter how well optimized the post is going to be, it’s not worth excluding a part of
the community from experiencing the post fully.
Are you going to use Instagram SEO in your strategy?
I’d love to hear what you think about it in the comments below!
Make sure to watch this video next to find out how to use hashtags best in 2022 (spoiler
alert, things have changed there too!)
and subscribe to my channel for more in-depth content creation and Instagram tips.
Hit the like button if you’ve enjoyed this video, thank you so much for watching and
I’ll see you… next time!