Instagram SEO: Get Found in Instagram Search and on Google

Two different searches, two different jobs, one profile to optimise for both.

Most Instagram SEO advice still starts with "use 30 hashtags". Instagram now caps posts at five, and its own search documentation puts captions and profile text first.

This post covers search only. The platform as a whole lives in our Instagram marketing guide, and what to post and how often is covered in our Instagram marketing strategy post. Here we deal with two questions: how Instagram's search ranks accounts and posts, and how your posts end up in Google.

We'll use one running example throughout: a small handmade-jewellery brand in Jaipur selling kundan and meenakari pieces, with the handle @kundankesar.jaipur (hypothetical). Its buyers search for things like "kundan earrings", "jaipur jewellery" and "bridal choker". The job is to make sure those searches find it.

How does Instagram search rank accounts and posts?

Instagram published the answer itself, in a 2021 post titled "Breaking down how Instagram Search works". It names three signals, in order of importance.

1. Your text in the search bar. Instagram calls this "by far the most important signal". It tries to match what you type "with relevant usernames, bios, captions, hashtags and places."
2. Your activity. The accounts the searcher follows, the posts they have viewed and how they have interacted with accounts before.
3. Popularity. The number of clicks, likes, shares and follows for an account, hashtag or place.

Only the first one is fully in your hands. You cannot change a stranger's history, and popularity comes after you have been found. So Instagram SEO is mostly about making sure the words people type actually appear in the fields Instagram matches against.

The same post says accounts that post spam or break the guidelines "may appear lower in search results", to the point where people have to type the full username to find them. If a brand account suddenly stops showing up for its own name, check for guideline strikes before blaming "the algorithm".

What Instagram has not published is a list of secret factors. Posting time, "SEO-friendly" fonts and keyword-stuffed comments do not appear anywhere in its documentation. Instagram's post explicitly tells you to put keywords "in the caption, not the comments".

What does Instagram say about hashtags now?

Short version: hashtags help Instagram understand the topic of a post. Instagram does not say they increase reach.

In February 2025, Instagram head Adam Mosseri said hashtags "don't improve visibility on Instagram", while still being useful for describing what a post is about. In December 2025, Instagram's @creators account made it a rule: posts and reels can carry up to five hashtags, and it said "fewer (up to 5) more targeted hashtags, rather than many generic ones" work better. Both are reported, with links to the original posts, by Social Media Today.

For our Jaipur brand, "#jewellery #love #instagood" says nothing. "#kundanjewellery #jaipurjewellery #bridaljewellery" describes the post, and the same words written in a plain caption sentence do the matching work anyway.

Our view: write the caption first, in words a buyer would type, then add two to four hashtags that repeat the main topic. If you can only do one, do the caption.

Where can your Instagram content be found, and what decides it?

Search is only one of four places a stranger can find you. Each runs on different inputs, and only some of those inputs are yours to change. This is the table we use to explain it to clients.

Look at the right-hand column. The text fields are the cheapest lever on this page, and they are the only place where search and Google overlap: a caption that reads well to a buyer on Instagram is also the text Google has to work with.

How do Instagram posts show up in Google search?

In July 2025 Instagram started notifying professional accounts that search engines would be allowed to show their public photos and videos. The Help Center wording, quoted by Tubefilter, says Instagram allows search engines "to index photos and videos from public reels and posts that were uploaded or posted from January 1, 2020 onwards" from accounts that meet its criteria.

Those criteria, as summarised by Buffer from the same help article: a business or creator account, an account holder aged 18 or over, and a public profile. Personal accounts, private accounts and teen accounts are left out.

The setting is called "Allow public photos and videos to appear in search engine results" and sits under Settings › Account privacy. For eligible accounts it was switched on by default, per PPC Land's report of the notice. Stories, private posts and anything from before 2020 are not covered.

One nuance most guides skip. Social Media Today pointed out that in many regions public posts were already indexable, and the July 2025 notice extended it to more of them. So "Instagram is now on Google" is less of a switch-flip than the headlines suggested. What changed in practice is that brands now have to decide, on purpose, whether they want it.

For @kundankesar.jaipur the answer is yes. A buyer in Pune googling "kundan choker jaipur" and landing on a reel of the choker being made is exactly the traffic a small brand cannot buy cheaply. A brand posting unreleased designs, or a creator with a stalker problem, might sensibly turn it off.

You can now see which Google searches reach your posts

In July 2026, Google opened Search Console reporting for social and video platforms, including Instagram, to all accounts. According to Search Engine Journal, it shows the Google queries that led people to your posts, across Search, Discover and News, and accounts verified through a claimed Search profile are added automatically. Google's own announcement is on the Search Central blog.

This is the first real feedback loop for Instagram-to-Google traffic. Before it, you were guessing. If the Jaipur brand sees "meenakari jhumka price" climbing in that report, that is a caption, and probably a product post, it should write next.

Run an Instagram SEO pass on your profile in one sitting

This is the pass we run on an existing account before any content plan. It uses @kundankesar.jaipur as the example. Do it in this order, because the first three fields are what Instagram matches first.

1. Name field: add the category word. The name field is separate from your handle and is matched in search. "Kundan Kesar | Jaipur Jewellery" beats "Kundan Kesar ✨". Instagram's guidance: "Use a fitting handle and profile name. Search results are matched by text."
2. Username: keep it, unless it hides what you are. A handle change breaks old tags and printed packaging. Change it only if nothing in it says what you sell. Adding ".jaipur" or "jewels" is enough; do not stuff three keywords into it.
3. Bio: one line of keywords, one line of place. "Handmade kundan & meenakari jewellery · Bridal and everyday · Made in Jaipur, ships across India." Instagram says location in the bio helps local accounts get found by people nearby.
4. Category: pick the literal one. The jewellery category over "Artist" or a generic retail one. Instagram has not said category affects search ranking. Our observation is that it tells a visitor what you are in one glance, and the wrong one creates confusion.
5. Captions: first line says what the post is. "Kundan bridal choker with pearl drops, handmade in Jaipur" in line one, story after. Then rewrite the captions on your ten most-viewed posts, since those already have popularity behind them. Up to five specific hashtags, in the caption, not a comment.
6. Alt text: describe the piece, plainly. When posting, find "Write alt text" in the post's extra options (the menu label has moved between app versions); on older posts, use Edit on the post and look for the same option. Instagram built it for screen readers (Instagram, 2018) and has not called it a search signal, so write it for people first. "Gold kundan choker with green meenakari and pearl drops, on a white cloth" helps a blind shopper and costs you a minute.
7. Google-indexing setting: decide, don't default. Settings › Account privacy › "Allow public photos and videos to appear in search engine results". Confirm the account is a professional one and public, then choose on or off on purpose.
8. Location tags: tag the real place. Tag the workshop area (Johari Bazaar, say) on making-of posts and the city on product posts. Places are one of the result types Instagram search returns, so a location tag is another text match.

Then leave it for a month. Check which search terms your Instagram insights and, if you have it set up, Search Console are showing before rewriting anything again.

What most Instagram SEO guides get wrong

A few claims we see repeated that Instagram's own material does not support.

"Hashtags are how people find you." Instagram's head said in 2025 they do not improve visibility, and the platform capped them at five. They label a post. Your caption does the same job with more words.

"Put keywords in the first comment." Instagram said the opposite, in writing: caption, not comments.

"Instagram SEO will multiply your reach." Nobody can promise that. Search catches people already looking for what you sell, which is valuable and usually small. Reach from Explore and Reels still depends on whether people like and share the post. Good search hygiene makes sure you are not invisible to the people typing your category; it does not replace content people want.

"Stuff the username with keywords." A handle like @kundan.jewellery.jaipur.bridal.shop reads as spam and is hard to remember. The name field exists so you can keep a clean handle and still match the search.

Where Instagram SEO fits with the rest of your marketing

Search sits underneath everything else. It makes sure the attention you earn from content, Instagram ads or creators actually lands on a profile that explains itself and shows up when someone types your category a week later.

It also overlaps with your website SEO more than people expect. The same product descriptions, alt text habits and plain-language keywords work in both places; our image SEO guide covers the website side.

If you would rather have someone run the profile pass, the caption rewrites and the monthly Search Console check for you, that is part of how we run social media marketing for D2C brands. Management typically falls in a ₹25,000–₹1,00,000 a month range depending on content volume; any ad spend is separate.