Semalt Advice On How To Use Instagram SEO To Increase Your Reach


Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. What is Instagram SEO?
  3. The benefit of Instagram SEO
  4. How to use Instagram SEO To Increase Your Reach
  5. Conclusion

Introduction

Do you know how many people use Instagram on a daily? Okay, that can be a little too bogus. What about the number of businesses that use Instagram? Even if you can't think of a particular number, you should be reasoning towards millions of users. Now how can you (one account) stand out among the other users (millions of accounts)? The answer is SEO. But when you are on Instagram, it's Instagram SEO. 
 

This face of SEO is different from search engine SEO because the ranking factors are different, the procedure is different, and the results are also different. For search engine SEO, the target is to be seen, land on the first page of SERPs, and rank high. Here, the target is to increase engagement, reach, and traffic. In this guide, you will learn what Instagram SEO is, how it is different from other SEO types, its benefit, and how to use it to increase your reach. 

What is Instagram SEO?

Instagram SEO (IG SEO) is a little like other SEO types but it is based and focused on Instagram. While on-page SEO is to help your on-page content rank high, and local SEO is to help your website gain a better visibility within a certain region, Instagram SEO is to help increase reach and engagement on Instagram.

So what is Instagram SEO? It means Instagram Search Engine Optimization and it means optimizing your Instagram account for better discoverability. In other words, it makes your posts optimized so that when a keyword related to your content is searched for, your post will appear as the first (or at least near the first) on the list. 

The ranking factors for Instagram SEO are a bit different. Where search engine SEO includes things like backlinks, keywords, meta descriptions, alt tags, and so on, Instagram SEO calls for other things. The ranking factors for Instagram SEO are:
  1. Search text: See this as keywords. People have a go-to term when looking for certain things and these terms or texts should be what you incorporate into your bio, username, captions, and hashtags when posting. They can either be a one-word text or a long-tail phrase. 
  2. User Activity: This has to do with how much users interact with your brand and content. Instagram always ranks accounts with a recent engagement that those that don't. So it's best to encourage engagement with every of your user at all times to rank higher. 
  3. Popularity: This has always been a thing with Instagram. Posts and accounts that are popular rank higher. Therefore before posting, study your audience and post only when most of them are active to engage with your post immediately. 
Also, the tools used in IG SEO are somewhat different. Here, the things that matter are hashtags, bio, captions, tags, keywords, short texts, quality (highly-quality) photos, alt text, and so on. 

The benefit of Instagram SEO

SEO can do so many things for your Instagram account. It can help increase the visibility of your brand, make it easier for your prospective customers to reach you, and so much more. But this is just like scraping the surface of the ice. Let's dig deeper into what you stand to gain from Instagram SEO whether you are a small business, a large business, an influencer, artist, or casual user. 
  1. Instagram SEO makes it easy for you to find and connect with other people that are like you. You will begin to find engagement with people that are doing things similar to your interest instead of just anybody.
  2. You'll become more popular than you are currently even more so now than ever. This is because of the new search-by-interest feature Instagram introduced. When your posts and profile are optimized for Instagram, it would be easier for you to get more traffic. 
  3. You'll rank higher on the explore page than before. Just like the normal SEO, your position on Instagram search results will increase making your post the first to pop up when a related search is requested. 
  4. You will be closer to verification. Except if you don't want to be verified, you should think about Instagram SEO because your journey to verification will be much shorter. Why? This is because Instagram SEO makes sure that your account is following all the rules, regulations, and guidelines while you are maintaining steady and consistent growth.
  5. Your account reach will increase with IG SEO. People usually feel like though you can control engagement, likes, and the rest, the control for reach is somewhat limited. Instagram itself is the one that is in charge of what posts reach what people at what time and there are certain requirements to meet if you want your post to be advertised by Instagram. By optimizing your account, you don't have to worry much because your reach will increase. Your post will be shown to more and more people which will, in turn, increase engagement and follows. That's why how much reach you have is the focus of this guide. 

How to use Instagram SEO To Increase Your Reach

To increase your reach using Instagram SEO, you simply have to modify some of the Instagram SEO tools mentioned earlier. 
  1. Username optimization: To use this tool, list out the primary keywords for your niche. Then focus on the short ones that are easy to remember and use them as your username. This is so that when people search for the keyword, your profile will be one of the first results to appear. 
  2. Bio optimization: In this case, you will need to construct a simple and short summary about yourself or what your brand is about. List out some primary and secondary keywords in your niche then add about 2 or 3 keywords while writing.
  3. Caption optimization: While constructing captions for every post, add about 3 to 4 keywords (naturally) also to highlight the post during searches. However, don't make the mistake of clogging up the caption with keywords. Add them naturally and avoid repeating keywords so that your posts won't be competing with each other. You can also check for what keywords your competitors are using to know which ones are trending and which of them that aren't. 
  4. Hashtags: Hashtags can also serve as keywords but remember the rules with hashtags. Don't spam it or use too popular hashtags. Your post will not stand out and at the end of the day, it will be a wasted effort. 
  5. Make the most out of Alt texts: Alt texts was created to help users with visual limitation better understand what a photo is describing or intending. Optimizing this aspect helps Instagram better understand what the image is about, what message you want to pass across, and how relevant it is for users. 
  6. Tag and get tagged: Tags on IG acts as links for a website. When a person tags you, Instagram is notified that your profile is relevant and valuable enough to be tagged. Have you noticed that celebrity pages are tagged a lot? They are like authority websites. Tagging them and getting tagged is another tool for Instagram SEO you can work on. 
  7. Track your progress: This is an important part of SEO (Instagram or not). When you track your progress, you can know where you are and what is working. You will also be able to tell what does not work and can adjust. The best thing about tracking your progress is that you can easily make changes where possible. Many programs allow you to perform analytics on your website or account for free. By using this software, you can consistently track where your account is, where competitors are and what you need to move from where you are to where you want to be. 
  8. Avoid black hat SEO: The final way is to avoid things that will ruin the entire progress. Don't copy and paste your captions repeatedly. Try to get new content to curate old content. Don't use bots and fake applications. Write like a human for a human, and don't buy followers or likes. 

Conclusion

There are over a billion accounts on Instagram but it's Instagram SEO that makes the difference between a winning IG account and every other profile. IG SEO will help increase your brand awareness, visibility, and reach. But more than that, it will bring your business from the background into the spotlight. The things mentioned in this post are merely the basics of IG SEO. But if you wish to step up the game and see the full effect of SEO on your Instagram account, you might need to hand things over to a professional in the game. Only then would you begin to record big ROIs and have a stable grounding on the growth of your Instagram account. 

Nevertheless, if you need to learn more about the subject of SEO and website promotion, we invite you to visit our Semalt blog.