9 Best SEO Techniques To Increase Your Organic Reach On Instagram

Did you know that Instagram has around 1.08 billion monthly active users?

It has simply become an essential marketing platform in 2021.

Instagram is more popular than Twitter and LinkedIn but less popular than YouTube and Facebook. In fact, it is “just” the third most used social network in the world.

This is why being present on this social network is essential to find new opportunities and win new customers ...

Now, how do you reach users of this social network and create opportunities for them to interact with your brand?

My answer may surprise: it's SEO for Instagram!

Wondering whether to use the same SEO techniques as for Google?

Yes and no…

According to Laurent  :

 

The trick is not to apply your existing SEO strategy to your Instagram posts. But to broaden the organic reach of your posts, there are effective SEO techniques on Instagram ...

This is what we will discover in this article, or rather the 9 little-known Instagram SEO techniques, but terribly effective in broadening the reach of your publications.

But first, let's see how to engage your audience.

How to engage and retain your audience on Instagram?

We all know that the most important thing is to engage and retain your audience ...

So how do you get there?

The answer is simple: build a community and forge strong, lasting relationships.

Yep, the first thing to do is create a focused community that you can interact with regularly.

If you don't build that “community aspect,” it is difficult, if not impossible, to appear as an authoritative brand on Instagram.

Let's see how to do it on Instagram.

First of all, Instagram is suitable for most industries ...

Indeed, whatever your sector of activity, you can at least share the facets of your company that your customers are not used to seeing:

• Your daily experiences in the workplace,
• Behind the scenes of your offices,
• Photos of your employees ...

All of these posts make your brand more human. As a result, your business and your offer are immediately more accessible.

If you regularly post visuals on Instagram, Internet users will interact positively with them. It becomes easier to bond emotionally with your followers.

This is how it works.

By posting quality and original content, you generate engagement around your posts.

This commitment establishes a bond of trust. You retain your audience, which will engage even more. Thus, one thing leading to another, you are building your community.

In the long run, this helps you gain more customers, who may later become ambassadors for your brand.

But to build your community, do you still have to be found?

Sure, you can tell your existing customers about it and wait for word of mouth.

But there is a faster way to gain visibility: SEO on Instagram ...

9 Instagram SEO techniques to implement

3 tips for your profile

Instagram has its own search engine.

This is because just like you type a search term into Google, you can use the search bar at the top of the Explore page to find and discover accounts, hashtags, and placements.

But how does Instagram decide which search results to show?

According to Instagram, the search results you see are based on a variety of factors:

• The people you follow,
• Who you are connected with,
• And the photos and videos you like on Instagram ...

But they're also keyword-based!

Just like on Google, when you search for a keyword on Instagram (e.g., “bakery”), Instagram sorts through millions of accounts to find the most useful and relevant results for what you are looking for.

To put it more simply, the accounts that contain this keyword.

It is, therefore, quite possible to appear for specific keywords in Instagram search!

You need to optimize your profile for these keywords.

1. Optimize your Instagram profile

Indeed, to generate traffic to your Instagram account, your profile must be optimized in terms of SEO.

To do this, here are some effective tips:

• Obviously, make your profile public. A private profile is like an unindexed web page,
• Choose a  captivating profile picture  in line with your brand,
• Select an  easy-to-remember username (@Username),
• Have an easily recognizable business name,
• Opt for a professional account,
• Insert a link in your bio ...

Once your profile is optimized, you can move on to more sophisticated aspects to increase your chances of appearing at the top of search results and gain new subscribers.

2. Include your main keyword in your display name and @Username

FYI, the name in your Instagram bio is fully customizable and may be different from your username. You can therefore include words that highlight your business profile.

And so, to appear as high up as possible in Instagram search results for the search terms you are targeting, embed your main keyword not only in your display name but also in your @Username.

To get started, identify your main keyword.

Let's take an example, suppose you work in the bakery industry.

When an Instagram user wants to fill their feed with baked goods, they'll probably search for the keyword “bakery.”

So, if you include this keyword in your display name and @Username, your business is more likely to appear in search results for suggested Instagram accounts.

As you can see above, 4 of the top 5 search results for bakery added this word in their display name and @Username.

My advice: add your main keyword to these 2 places to increase your chances of being spotted by Instagram's algorithm.

3. Use secondary keywords in your bio

Now that you have your main keyword, well-placed work on your secondary keywords.

In case you don't know, secondary keywords are phrases related to your main keyword.

If your primary keyword is "bakery," your secondary keywords can be:

• Bread,
• Leaven,
• Organic,
• Increasing,
• Cakes,
• Pastries ...

Let's take a look at the top 3 results of the search for “bakery.”

Note: I have underlined some of their secondary keywords in red.

Additionally, Basil Bakery managed to put together an informative and rather fun bio while still including a few important keywords to show up in search results.

It's no wonder that they appear among the first results when searching for the term “bakery” on Instagram.

Secondary keywords are great for attracting people who may not be looking for your primary keyword but might still be interested in your offer.

Someone looking for great sourdough bread will surely go through the profiles of these top results and follow them if they find their post feed to be interesting or original.

And why?

Because the keyword perfectly matches the user's search intent.

My advice: it's up to you to decide how many secondary keywords you want to use, but beware of keyword stuffing.

3 tips for your publications

Perfect, you have worked on your profile, now let's see how to optimize each of your publications.

It's an ongoing process that requires special attention for each of your posts.

Indeed, each field offered by the social network must contain keywords.

I want to talk :

• Hashtags,
• From the legend,
• The alternative text for images.

Note: also consider geolocating your publications… This is the “local” part of SEO on Instagram.

4. Treat your hashtags like keywords

Most people won't search for you directly but will likely find you through a hashtag on one of your posts.

That's why, for each of your Instagram posts, you need to have a hashtag strategy.

It would help if you considered these hashtags as secondary keywords for SEO on Instagram.

In the examples above, you can identify hashtags:

• Specific to the photo: #painauchocolat
• Geolocated: # paris16eme
• Branded: #boulangerie_gana

By including hashtags specific to each of your posts, you increase your chances of attracting a larger and more diverse audience. People who search for terms related to #bakery, but also people who search for #artisan or #paris.

Note: Also note some hashtags in English (#bakery) in the examples above. They are useful for targeting tourists around your establishment as well.

My advice: always use 5 same hashtags on each post to give them more weight. Then the trick is variety and relevance ...

5. Use secondary keywords in your image captions

We have already mentioned that Instagram has its own search engine.

Creating an engaging caption is essential to attracting new followers while retaining those you already have.

With a good caption, you do more than grab a user's attention.

It also helps you appear in search results.

The same way you optimized your bio and hashtags with secondary keywords, do the same for your Instagram caption.

By doing the same, you're signaling Instagram's algorithm that you'll like to rank in their search results for those terms.

6. Take advantage of Instagram alt text

Instagram alt text is a little-known feature.

It is particularly intended for visually impaired users.

But, like on Google, it is also used for the search engine and, therefore, for your SEO.

If you leave the alt text in the image blank, Instagram will fill it in automatically. That's why it's best to fill it in yourself to make sure the caption matches what's actually in the photo.

To fill in the alt text, just before sharing your photo, click on "Advanced settings" at the bottom of the screen.

Then select the option “write your alt text.”

Write the perfect description, then share your post as usual.

Note: Alt text on Instagram provides the same benefits as alt text on images on your website.

7. Get tagged

So far, we've seen how to optimize your profile and content for SEO on Instagram.

But there are other ways to give visibility to your Instagram profile. These are the tags and the mentions.

Tags and mentions are the equivalents of backlinks on the web. Indeed, being tagged and/or mentioned corresponds to a vote of confidence. Instagram knows that your content is valued and that people care about it.

And like backlinks, it's harder to get since it's not up to you, but others.

Either way, it's a great way to drive traffic to your profile.

Indeed, when someone marks your account in one of their posts or stories :

• Not only is your username clearly visible,
• But in addition, other users who see this post can point to your profile.

There are several ways to improve your chances of being tagged in other people's posts.

But by far, the most effective way is to post quality content that others want to share in their Stories.

Shares in stories directly link to the original Instagram post and therefore no longer far from your account.

I also imagine that these tags and mentions should also improve the way you appear on the Explore page or user feed.

My advice: If you can find a way to get more tags and mentions on Instagram, you are well on your way to driving more traffic to your profile and content.

8. Track the performance of your Instagram SEO strategy

As always in Digital Marketing, don't forget to track the impacts of your SEO efforts on Instagram.

In addition, professional accounts have access to some analysis statistics in the platform.

As with any content marketing strategy, having solid performance data from your existing posts is essential to provide:

• Continuously refine your publications,
• Position yourself as an expert or an influencer,
• Improve the overall performance of your strategy.

Note: Instagram only gives data for the last 7 or 30 days. This is not ideal if you are using the platform for marketing purposes.

Indeed, your posts are permanent content and can be found months after their posts. Fortunately, there are tools to get around this problem: Hootsuite, Sprinklr, or Sprout Social ...

9. Avoid all Black Hat SEO techniques

You think Google is the only platform sophisticated enough to spot and punish users who try to beat the search algorithm.

This is not true. The game of policeman and thieves also happens on Instagram as on other social networks.

The social network punishes accounts that try to cheat it with SEO tactics on Instagram Black Hat.

Here are some Black Hat SEO techniques to avoid on Instagram:

• Steal content,
• Use bots,
• Make a keyword stuffing,
• Follow too many accounts at once,
• Buy subscribers ...

And as you can see, it's actually quite close to Google's guidelines.

Obviously, it's frustrating not to see the results right away, to see that its number of subscribers is ridiculous compared to that of your competition.

So, solutions that offer to increase your number of followers or your organic reach quickly may seem too good to be left out.

But the results are dire if you get caught (and sooner or later, you will).

For this, the social network has set up a “shadow ban” for users who repeatedly break the rules. And stepping out of the shadows is not just a click away.

So, if you are investing in your Instagram account, absolutely avoid these tactics!

Like on Google, SEO on Instagram is a long-term strategy.

My advice: be consistent between your business sector offer, your publications, and the keywords used. In addition, it is more effective if you are looking to promote your products and/or services.

Conclusion on Little Known, But Effective Instagram SEO Techniques

SEO is mainly used for website optimization.

But that doesn't mean you can't take this concept to social media like Instagram.

Indeed, SEO on Instagram can give a real boost to the reach and engagement of your publications as well as your visibility on this social network.

To increase your organic reach on Instagram, there are some little-used but very effective SEO techniques:

• Optimization of your Instagram profile,
• Integration of the main keyword in your display name and @Username,
• Insertion of secondary keywords in your bio and your image captions,
• Use of hashtags as secondary keywords,
• Use of alternative text ...

Do not hesitate to follow these few tips to strengthen your presence on Instagram while improving your organic reach.

In addition, avoid Black Hat techniques so as not to be sanctioned by the social network.

Finally, don't forget to follow the performance of your SEO actions on Instagram or with tools like Hootsuite, Sprinklr, Sprout Social ...

Then, in addition to polishing your posts with SEO on Instagram, take advantage of the stories to be highlighted.