Posted By Ashley Tate on July 21, 2025
The update marketers, brands, and influencers have all been waiting for is finally here: Instagram is officially opening its doors to search engines. With platforms like TikTok and Reddit steadily gaining Google search share, Instagram is adapting. That means Google can now crawl and index public posts from business and professional Instagram accounts and place Reels, captions, images, hashtags, and alt text on the search engine results page (SERP).
For brands, this is a major moment. For the first time, your Instagram content can show up on Google just like blog posts, videos, or news articles. While the update is limited to organic content (not paid campaigns), it marks a huge step forward in expanding content reach outside the app.
So what does this mean for how we think about visibility, content strategy, and the way people discover your brand?
It's Big for Brands
Historically, Instagram has been great for engagement, but tough for discoverability outside the app. Unless someone searched your exact handle, your content rarely made it onto the SERP. That forced brands to play by Instagram’s internal algorithm rules to grow an audience.
By becoming more discoverable, this move is helpful to brands for a few reasons:
- Better visibility in search
- More opportunities to attract prospects via your Instagram content who are searching topics, not handles
- Longer shelf life for your content, since Instagram posts can now live beyond the feed and into evergreen search results
How to Optimize for the New Update
To make the most of this shift, brands need to think about Instagram not just as a social platform, but as part of their SEO strategy.
Use Keyword-Rich Language
Now more than ever, when it comes to your Instagram copy, be mindful of what your audience may actually be searching for. Swap out brand lingo for plainspoken keywords people are likely to type into Google. And pay special attention to the first line of your caption — it’s now doing the job of a title tag on a webpage.
Avoid Copy-Paste Captions
If dozens of influencers post the same caption, Google may treat it as spammy duplicate content. Keep your language fresh, on-brand, and authentic.
Include Alt Text
Alt text isn’t just for accessibility (though it absolutely helps there). With this update, it also becomes part of your search footprint. Use it to describe your image in a way that helps both humans and algorithms understand what’s going on.
#HashtagStrategically
Hashtags are now more than just tools for discovery on Instagram — they’re also keyword signals for search engines. Use relevant, specific hashtags that align with what your audience is searching for.
Update Past Posts
The beauty of this update? It’s not just for new content. Go back and optimize older posts by updating captions, adding alt text, and refining hashtags. These small tweaks can breathe new life into your past content and help it show up in search results.
Turn Visibility Into Value
Yes, this update creates new opportunities to get your content seen by a wider audience. But remember: Search algorithms still prioritize quality. A thoughtful, well-optimized post will always outperform a keyword-stuffed one.
If you're going to update your strategy to take advantage of this new Instagram shift (and you should), make sure it aligns with your larger brand business goals. After all, visibility is great — but visibility that drives action is even better.
The Tier One team can help take your content from the feed to the front page.
