Probably, you won’t be surprised when we say that social media has a significant impact on your business by increasing customer engagement and growing online sales. But did you know that it can affect your SEO results and Google rankings? That’s the topic we’ll cover today — how to optimize your social media profile so that it improves your brand’s visibility in Google search results and enhances your online reputation. So, let’s dive into it!
What Is Instagram SEO?
Search engine optimization has been the primary way for organic discoverability on the Internet since the dawn of time. Moreover, it has always been a part of the social platforms but of late it has become a lot more prevalent. Fun fact: the second largest search engine in the world is YouTube.
Instagram SEO is all about optimizing your content so your account can be discovered in search results (the Explore page). Instagram search results include relevant content, audio, hashtags, accounts, and places. Also, there are keyword results pages. Each of them is essentially an Explore page for a specific keyword.
Using Instagram to Rank on Google (And Beyond)
So, how to tailor your content, tap into what your target audience is looking for, and boost your Google rankings? Besides well-known strategies of business promotion, such as local link building, blogger outreach, and PR, here are some expert tricks and insights on Instagram optimization. For additional support, you may consider specialized paid services for professional assistance.
1. Fine-Tune Your Bio
It sounds like pretty basic information. But common knowledge isn’t always a common practice. This is why you need to take a look at your Instagram bio first and make sure that it clearly reflects what you do and who you do it for.
When it comes to marketing, one of the biggest rules is to always prioritize clarity over creativity. So, ensure that you’re making it very clear what you do, who you do it for, and why someone should follow you or stick around for what you’ve got to offer. Your Instagram bio is an essential component of SEO as well. So, what information should you include?
- Keywords and search terms.
- Location (tap on your profile icon → Edit Profile → Contact Options. Enter your address, being specific (street address) or general (your city) as you like).
- CTA (call-to-action) — it’s that link in a bio that guides people toward what you want them to do next.
2. Leverage New Feature — Alt Text
This is the secret feature that works way better than hashtags. It can help you improve SEO as well as rank your business on Google higher. Alt text was initially designed to allow visually impaired people to enjoy Instagram content, however, now, it is also used for the optimization of your Instagram profile search.
How to find this tool? While posting your new content, scroll down on the page where the caption goes. At the bottom of the page, you’ll see Advanced Settings. Press it and go to the bottom of the page until you see Write Alt Text. Tap this button and create a description of your image, for example, “branded women’s sunglasses.” Next time, when somebody looks for women’s sunglasses on Google, it will enhance your chances of them coming across your content in the search results.
3. Cooperate & Engage with Instagram Accounts That Rank for Your Niche Keywords
As with usual SEO, adding relevant backlinks in the posts works great for Instagram. But there are other ways to boost your search engine rankings.
By engaging with accounts that already rank for your target keywords, you help Instagram to comprehend what niche your account fits into via the user activity ranking signal. Collaborating with these accounts or influencers who are in the same niche is also one of the winning strategies for business in 2023. Use this link to learn more about how to employ influencer marketing to improve your search rankings.
However, there are some things to highlight. We are all used to the concept that it is better to work with million-bloggers, old-timers. But people don’t trust them anymore, they are tired of endless advertising on their pages. So, contrary to this, you can choose to work with small influencers (from two to ten thousand followers). In such a way, your advertisement will look like a piece of friendly advice. The majority of followers on such accounts are close people, friends, or relatives.
One more important detail is that you should carefully choose bloggers, minding your target audience, product, and prices. For instance, a young entrepreneur who travels around the world and shows luxurious cars and the biggest yachts advertises a baby shop with the best prices. Do his followers coincide with a baby shop’s target audience? Of course, some of them can be interested in these products. But if an energetic mom of four showed these goods, it would be way more effective.
Wrapping Up
If you’re making a commitment to double down on your Instagram marketing efforts and Google ranking, make sure that you’re carving out the time, money, and energy to do so appropriately. Use the above-mentioned strategies to polish your Instagram profile and rank your business higher in Google.
