Despite the narrative “Content is the King”, marketers swear by Search Engine Optimization or the popular SEO for their ranking and reach. It surely plays a vital role in aggrandizing the website visibility and driving relevant organic traffic to the page.
Instagram SEO functions on similar principles that eventually reap long-term, permanent benefits over other hacks implemented for achieving the same objectives. It creates a stage for the gradual growth of the creator’s profile as well as content and assists their overall goals on the social media platform.
The explore option on Instagram works almost the same as the search on Google that provides us with information related to the keyword input. Brands and marketers can utilize this opportunity to reach their target market while being discoverable by a new user base.
Optimizing the Instagram profile ensures that the creator is easy to find on the platform when searched for by the audiences. Therefore, staying updated and keeping the account equipped with the best Instagram SEO practices can improve the ranking of content and drive more traffic, engagement & improve performance.
Instagram SEO Hacks for Creators and Marketers
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Basic profile optimization
Make sure that the profile is public for better chances of being seen earlier when searched. Instagram SEO can be practised first with the initials of the account such as the profile name, user name and the bio with any associated links if available. It is very important to provide a name that matches the content posted in the original account along with a user name.
As both the names are searchable, audiences can type either of them to get the particular profile. It is advisable to add keywords that are most searched on Instagram as part of the names. The next big thing below the identified names is the bio that depends on the creator. It is subjective to individuals in the way they would introduce their content and work on Instagram to their followers and potential audiences. Hence, build a strong keyword filled introduction that will appear on the account on the top. It is the first impression note that deserves the right optimisation.
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Using keywords as hashtags
Researching for related keywords is essential for content creation on all social media platforms. Similarly, Instagram SEO relies on these keywords to be used as hashtags that will be then typed in the search box by audiences to view relevant content.
The algorithm is strongly dependant on the interest and preferred content type of audiences therefore, optimizing the content with well researched and right hashtags can make it more prone to discovery. Know your audience and study their way of searching content on the platform for a much-targeted description. Instagram allows users to use around 30 hashtags in their post description that one can effectively use as per requirement.
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Optimise the Alt Text
While adding photos to the post on Instagram, head to the advanced settings and fill in a relevant keyword in the Alt text (alternative text). These are used in HTML code that communicates to describe the appearance and purpose of an image to be uploaded on the platform.
It is similar to adding the Alt text in blog posts before publishing them as it informs more about the photo added or the content in the blog. This optimization facilitates the post and makes it yet more discoverable to the Google search engine. Here, Instagram SEO with the Alt text makes it more visible with more space for keyword application. Moreover, it confirms the Instagram bots to recognise with the associated search.
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Content share
Asking friends and followers for tags, mentions and share of stories is one of the most brilliant ways to get more visible on the explore page of Instagram. These shares act as a vote of confidence and build a reputation around the content that further gathers more attention and becomes relevant as well as important for the Instagram algorithm.
We can compare the shares to that of backlinks on blog posts where a mention from someone on their post or story exposes the shared content to their own followers and a new set of audiences. People who like the shared content may click on it and be led to land on the original creator’s profile first. More the views on these mention stories, more footfall and profile visits. This may create another snowball effect on the followers and viewers list and eventually improve the audience size for the future.
Instagram SEO is an essential part of Instagram marketing strategies that creators can use to upsurge their visibility, engagement rates, followers, and other metrics performances. Instagram consists of its own built-in search engine that functions individually to detect the right content posts relevant for their user base hence optimising the content posts accordingly is a must action for users who would like to be discovered by the audiences.
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