How to Optimize Your Instagram Account to Help Your Organic Rankings
The display of Instagram accounts in search results is notoriously difficult. Images on Instagram are blocked by Instagram from being indexed by search engines, but profiles can still be indexed. Although it is a challenge, it is not impossible.
A powerful visual platform like Instagram can be very useful for digital marketers. Multichannel marketing strategies include efforts beyond Instagram itself. Anyone developing a multichannel marketing plan knows this.
Here are a few ways to get around the challenges for optimizing Instagram for SEO:
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Set Your Profile to Public
Your Instagram profile is set to public by default, which means that anyone can view everything you post. This is obviously what you want as a marketer. Nevertheless, it’s a good idea to double check that your privacy settings have not been altered and to be sure that this has not occurred.
Ensure Profile Schema is Set Up Properly on Your Instagram Page
Google allows you to specify which social media profiles are yours by using schema.org markup. As soon as you get a knowledge graph card for your brand, your social media profiles will appear there.
Add in Your Most Significant Keywords in Your Instagram Handle and Name
Instagram pages use your profile information to generate title tags. In order to make sure your most important keyword shows up in your Instagram title, you should include it under your profile name.
Add in a Keyword-Rich Bio that Contains Specific, Relevant Keywords
Your bio should also be optimized for search results while you edit your profile.
It is a tight squeeze: the Instagram bio must not exceed 150 characters, similar to the dynamic limit for Google meta descriptions.
In the case of Instagram bios, “keyword stuffing” tends to be acceptable if you use hashtag keywords with appropriate content. Users can click on Instagram hashtags to see a list of posts that share the same one, so hashtags are considered to be useful for them.
Imagine That Your Image Caption is Like a Title Tag to Help with SEO
When we write captions for Instagram images, we often treat them like meta descriptions, but we should treat them more like title tags, because the title tag appears on your profile page.
You should check your title tag to see where the cutoff will be and make sure that the most important information is at the beginning of the caption and before the break.
Don’t Forget to Link Directly to Your Posts on Instagram
This is perhaps the most critical step in the process.
Due to the fact that it is built in JavaScript, Instagram’s web app does not count as a real URL, which means your Instagram profile’s post links do not count. Therefore, most Instagram posts do not appear in search results.
The mere promotion of your Instagram profile cannot promote your Instagram posts. It is therefore imperative that you link directly to these posts from your other channels, copying the link that points directly to the post, in order to make them appear in the search results.
To ensure that your post is indexed, it is necessary to have a link from as many platforms as possible. You can accomplish this by posting citation links to your Instagram posts in your blog posts, or by including Instagram recaps in your blog posts.
Final Conclusion on SEO for Instagram
The slight effort you put into your Instagram profile and posts will help you appear in search results when similar brands will likely go unnoticed. Make sure you incorporate these steps into your Instagram process to boost your account’s visibility.