Over 25 percent of adults in the United States use Instagram. Instagram is one of the most used and fastest-growing social media platforms in the world. It’s almost singlehandedly responsible for the boom in photography on social media sites and why more and more businesses are turning to visual content.

What’s even better is that Instagram SEO is not that difficult to execute. That’s because you don’t need to force Instagram into your current SEO strategy. Instead, you really just need to take what you already know about SEO and apply it to your company’s Instagram account. 

If you want to learn more about the subject, then continue reading and we’ll walk you through the top Instagram SEO tips that you need to know about!

1. Include Your Primary Keyword in Your Account Name

Instagram has its own built-in search engine. If you want to show up for terms that are related to your business, then you have to play ball with Instagram’s search tools. 

To begin, you need to figure out what your primary keyword is. If you’re a salon and you’re going to fill your Instagram page with photos of haircuts, then your target demographic will likely search the keyword “salon.” When you have this keyword both in your @Username and display name, you’ll be more likely to show up higher in the search results. 

You should place your keyword in both account names in order to boost your chances of being picked up by the site’s algorithm.

2. Treat Your Hashtags as Keywords

Aside from optimizing your profile, you also have to optimize your content. Most people won’t search for your account directly and are more likely to find you through hashtags.

This is why you need to have a hashtag strategy for each of your Instagram posts. The hashtags should include words that are specific to the image but also act as secondary keywords.  

3. Use Secondary Keywords in Your Photo Captions

Because Instagram is its own search engine, every part of your Instagram content should be focused on keywords. Remember, people can’t search an image, so they have to use words to find what they’re looking for. 

A good caption will not just grab someone’s attention, it can also help you rank higher in the search results. Put all of your important secondary keywords in your captions while also making the captions seem natural and relevant.  

4. Post Ads

Like Facebook, posting ads on Instagram can be incredibly useful. When people scroll through their feeds, your ad will be just as big and easy to see as any content that the user follows. You can even target a specific audience in order to boost your ROI.

In fact, ads are so popular and useful on Instagram that the social platform raked in $20 billion last year from ad revenue alone.

Using These Instagram SEO Tips

Instagram is a great place for businesses to connect with their customers and attract new clients as well. And by following the Instagram SEO tips listed above, you should be able to better set yourself up for success.

Are you looking to boost your social media SEO game? If so, then contact us today and see what we can do for you!