5 ways to use SEO keywords on Instagram in 2023
As people continue to use social media platforms more as search engines, keywords are vital in getting your content visible and discoverable.
Using keywords helps Instagram and other platforms understand what your content is about and where it should be shown. A keyword also does not mean just one word, it can be a sentence to group of words. Think about what words are key to your niche and what you want to be found for.
You could also use Google Analytics to see which keywords are driving people to your site.
✔️ The algorithm will try to match what a user has searched for with top posts, accounts, audio, tags, and places (as per the tabs at the top of the Instagram app).
Other factors it will take into account are:
✔️ User activity. If Instagram thinks someone will be more interested in one post over another, it will show them that first. It bases this on the user’s previous activity on what they’ve engaged with.
✔️ What the search results return - when there are a high volume of relevant results for a search term, Instagram is likely to prioritise content that has a lot of engagement on it.
5 places you can use keywords are:
In your bio - your name is searchable so be sure to include keywords for your niche or industry. Are you a weight loss coach or men’s nutritionist?
Captions - these get scanned for keywords and are a great place to expand your keywords - always think about what your potential client could be searching for
Hashtags - use a focused number of hashtags containing keywords of what your content and business is about
Alt text - originally designed to help those with accessibility requirements, it’s now also helpful to use this to help Instagram understand what your content is about.
On screen text over lay in video - if you’re creating reels, you can use keywords in the text you place on the screen. If you don’t want the text visible, it’s possible to make it really small or a similar colour to the background
Additionally, Instagram have now introduced ‘Topics’ when posting Reels. This allows you to select up to 3 topics to tag your video with e.g. Recipes, Coffee, Juice and smoothies.
Got any questions? DM me on Instagram