Today I am going to break down three simple tips to ensure your Instagram account is search-friendly.
Tip #1 – Treat Hashtags Like Keywords
Posts, as well as stories are still the easiest way to get discovered by new audiences. So if you are looking to increase your engagement, gather more followers and to find more customers for your business, ensure that you are using relevant and targeted hashtags in your content.
Remember that hashtags should be used beyond improving your discoverability and growing your reach. Use them for targetted engagement to grow your community and to research your audience. They can also be used to see what other’s in a similar niche might be up to.
You are missing out if you do not have a well-crafted hashtag strategy!
Tip #2 – Optimize Your Profile/Bio
Is the “name” field on your profile the same as your user name? If so, we need to fix that today. The name field and your username are search friendly.
See in bold the “Male Blogger | Influencer” text on my profile? That is a search friendly field! It would be silly to have “boywhoblogs” in there because my username is already that. I test this field often but be careful, if you’re changing it frequently Instagram may make you wait 14-days between. That happened to me!
Beyond that, your IG bio should be optimized with keywords too! You can add clickable hashtags or even @ tag another account to boost your discoverability. Ensure your bio is clear and paints a picture for someone who comes by your page. What do you do? What’s your content include?
Tip #3 – Create Thoughtful Captions
By writing relevant and descriptive captions you can increase your content’s discoverability. Don’t you want to show up on the Explore page? I do! This page is curated for you – to keep you on the platform for as along as possible. They want to show you ads, so they can make more money. What better way to do that than showing you content you will likely enjoy?
Instagram is using a machine learning method, known as word embedding. This method searches for keywords that are used on accounts to determine relevancy. Keywords from word embedding come from the name field, your username and your bio on IG but they also come include the captions you’ve been writing.
Just like your website, your social can benefit from a thought out SEO strategy. I’ve shared three tips here but there are more! Reach out to me if you need support with increasing your Instagram’s discoverability and be sure to follow me on Instagram: @boywhoblogs
