How to optimise your Instagram content for SEO visibility

Instagram's new update allows public content from Business and Creator accounts (videos, Reels, images and captions) to appear in Google’s search engine results pages, even as featured snippets, alongside blogs, YouTube videos and web pages.

This update is a game changer for businesses, creators, and marketers who want to maximise their visibility through organic search and expand content shelf-life. 

But how can you ensure you’re maximising discoverability and traffic?

Here are 5 ways to optimise your content for SEO visibility:

1. Content pillars with SEO intent

When it comes to designing your content, you need to include searchable topics that align with your business and products/services.

Here are some examples of content pillars:

• "How to" tutorials
• Product reviews or demos
• Expert Q&A
• Industry trends
• Local content (for businesses targeting cities/regions)

Your videos should answer a question or solve a problem that people are searching for online. 

2. SEO-optimised video captions

Instagram captions now serve a dual role: in-app engagement and off-app discovery, so you need to ensure your captions include keywords that your audience is searching for.

Here’s a suggestion on how to format your caption:

• Start with a strong H1 style hook (e.g., “How to create a promotional video”)
• Use natural keywords related to your topic (e.g., "video production”, "promotional video")
• Include synonyms and long-tail phrases users might search (like “what to include in a promotional video")
• End with a call-to-action (e.g., “save this post”)

There a number of free tools you can use for keyword research:

• Google Trends
• Ubersuggest
• KeywordTool.io
• All Hashtag

3. Keyword-rich hashtags and alt text

Hashtags still matter but ensure they are strategic and relevant. You can have up to 30 on your post but Instagram currently recommends using 3 - 5 hashtags.

Alt text provides a visual description of photos for people with visual impairments and gives Instagram and Google more opportunities to understand what your post is about.

Make sure you add your own custom alt text to describe the visuals for search indexing and accessibility. Include a clear image description, a relevant search term and additional context that a screen reader might need.

4. Tips for creating Reels

Reels dominate discoverability and Instagram’s algorithm now reads captions, alt text, and on-screen words in Reels so it’s recommended that you: 

• Keep your Reels under 60 seconds and front-load value in the first 3 seconds
• Use on-screen text with relevant keywords
• Use trending audio, but add voiceover or on-screen text with keywords to improve context indexing

5. Video naming and file optimisation

Google can access your image metadata when indexing content so the name of the file will influence how it shows up in search. Before you upload your image, rename your file descriptively with a short title that uses keywords.

It’s important to remember that whilst this update is a game changer for your content, Instagram is still a social media platform so you need to be consistent with your tone as your followers are still interacting with you.

If you’re looking to partner with a video agency who can help you create impactful Reels, we’d love to hear from you. Get in touch today.