6 Ways To Incorporate SEO In Your Instagram Marketing Strategy

When you think of SEO, you probably think of keywords in blogs and articles. While this is correct, SEO also plays a massive role in social media content, including Instagram.

When you use SEO in your posts and profile on Instagram, you optimize it to attract the right audience and convert them into customers. Instagram SEO is an easy way to make your brand more visible on the platform and to introduce your products and services to new followers.

Much like on TikTok, people use Instagram to search for various things. When you use SEO correctly, your posts will appear at the top of the search results. This is what you want to happen so you can grow your brand on Instagram.

If you’re unsure of how to start incorporating SEO into your Instagram marketing strategy, the following steps will get you going:

1. Start With Your Profile

Your Instagram profile is more than just a few lines of text, a profile picture, and a link to your website. It is here that your SEO strategy can have a huge impact. You can optimize your Instagram profile for overall searches happening on the platform.

For example, you can add a major keyword right into your username. If you are a writer, you can add ‘genre-writer’ to your name. Or, if you are an artist, you can add ‘acrylic-painter’ to your Instagram name. This way, you have a better chance of your profile popping up when people search for topics in that niche.

You should also write your bio using strategic keywords. Do not stuff your bio full of them just to rank higher. Instead, your bio should contain the most essential keywords for your niche. So, if you work in air conditioning, you want to add relevant terms like “cooling,” “aircon,” or “HVAC.”

Your profile should kick off your SEO strategy for Instagram. It is where people will learn more about your brand and find out how to contact you for more information.

2. Use SEO Keywords In All Captions

Once you discover trending keywords (or seasonal keywords), you can use them in all your captions.

Use Google Analytics and Google Trends to find the keywords people are most likely to use when searching for a product or service in your niche. Use these suggested keywords in your captions for higher brand visibility.

You can also use Instagram’s search bar to find trending keywords. When you type a specific term into the search bar, you’ll find a list of suggestions to add to your list.

3. Hashtags Need SEO Keywords, Too

Hashtags shouldn’t be a part of your comments. Lots of content creators still do this, but it no longer works. You must include hashtags in your captions if you want them to improve your profile’s search ranking.

Moreover, you should not use trending hashtags only. You should use hashtags that are directly relevant to your niche. You can combine these hashtags with branded ones to make the strategy more effective.

And, your hashtags should be driven by SEO. Use Instagram Insights to discover which of your existing hashtags draw the most engagement, and then add SEO keywords. This is also why you should only implement a handful of hashtags and not 30 of them.

If you type a keyword into Instagram’s search bar and tap on Tags, you will find the top hashtags for that keyword. It is a shortcut that allows you to find the best hashtags and link them to SEO terms for maximum impact.

4. Don’t Take the Wrong Shortcuts

While discovering hashtags and keywords on Instagram is a great shortcut that will help you build a strong SEO strategy, it will take time to see results.

Don’t be tempted to speed up the process using black hat SEO practices. These are unethical and will only lead to problems in the long run. Black hat SEO includes keyword stuffing, keyword cloaking, and private links.

Instagram success relies on a long game. Rarely do brands find overnight success on social media, so don’t try to beat the odds by using the wrong tactics.

Black hat SEO relates to poor quality content, which is a disservice to the brand you’ve worked hard to build and an insult to your customers who deserve better.

5. Don’t Forget About Alt Text

Alternative text or alt text allows you to describe your Instagram photos. Alt-text was once used to help visually impaired social media users understand photos and videos. Now it can also help you improve your Instagram SEO.

You can use SEO keywords in your alt text, which will help Instagram’s algorithm understand the relevance of your content.

Instagram automatically generates image alt text, but you can edit it to include important SEO keywords. You can do this under Advanced Settings before you publish your post. Instagram also generates generic subtitles for videos.

But you can edit these too, by adding keywords. This will give the algorithm more opportunity to understand your content and place it in front of the right audience.

6. SEO Is Also About Timing

When you have your keywords and phrases in place, you can run with your content campaign. Just remember that timing is as important as the SEO strategy itself. If you post your content when your audience is asleep, your SEO efforts will be in vain.

You need to get your posts on Instagram when your followers and target audience are already scrolling and searching the platform.

Keep Optimizing Your SEO Strategy for Maximum Results

You should measure each SEO effort to see how well they work. If they don’t work, you need to change things up. If they work, you can optimize your strategy to get even more out of it.

Audit your Instagram account every few months to establish how well your content performs. Use Instagram’s analytics feature to measure your success.

Doing this will show you where you need to improve your strategy and when you need to start doing something different. Make the most of these tips to build your brand on Instagram and grow your audience.