If engagement, discoverability, and reach are something you desire to boost on your Instagram account, you will have to brush up on your Instagram SEO skills. The fact is that many of the techniques you use to optimize your content on the web can also be applied to improve your profile’s discovery on Instagram.

That said, we will be enlightening you on how to take on the SEO mindset on Instagram and why this can help increase your discoverability. Let’s explore more.

1) Optimize Your Instagram Profile for Search

The search on Instagram is the directory to every account on the platform. And just like searching on Google, you can also use the search bar at the top of the explore page to discover accounts, hashtags, and locations. However, the question is, how does Instagram decide which search results to display?

Instagram says that search results are based on a variety of factors like who you follow, your photos, videos, and connections, etc., but most importantly, they are based on keywords! Therefore, when you search for a keyword on Instagram, it sorts through millions of accounts to find the most useful, relevant result that contains the keyword searched. Therefore if you want to optimize your profile, try to incorporate your keyword into your name, username, and Instagram bio.

2) Write Descriptive Captions

Another way to increase your content discoverability is by writing relevant, descriptive captions. The Instagram explore page algorithm constantly learn from your behaviors on the app and sorts out what content you will probably enjoy the most. So because Instagram works by using your interest to feed you content, putting keywords into the captions you write will make it easy for the algorithm to associate your account with that keyword and bring it out when it is searched on.

3) Treat Hashtags Like Keywords

It is important to use relevant, targeted hashtags on your post and stories as it is still one of the most effective ways of achieving better discoverability by a new audience on Instagram. This translates into more engagements, more followers, and more customers for your business. And since the hashtags are used with an intent to discover new content, using the “right” hashtags can get you a front seat of your target audience even if they haven’t connected with you before.

4) Create Your Alternate Text

With the new Instagram feature, the Instagram alt text, you can now write the custom alternative text. This makes it easy for you to add a caption and description to your photos. With this, you can also create custom alternative text that makes it possible for you to give a clear description of what your post is about.

5) Get Tagged

Other things that can make you more discoverable are tags and mentions. Just like backlinks on the web, when someone tags your account in one of their stories, other users will see the stories and click on them through your profile. This is a great way of discovery.

6) Track your Instagram Reach

To see if your SEO efforts are successful, check your Instagram analytics regularly. Instagram analytics can be used to learn more about your followers and the people you interact with your business on the platform.