Instagram brand images in Google search results
- OneFifty Consultancy
- 9 hours ago
- 2 min read
Google has begun including Instagram posts from brand and creator in search results. This shift to make search richer, with more social results, complements YouTube’s integral presence in search, and presents brands with more opportunities to use social media for SEO.
What has Google done with Instagram posts in results?
Instagram is now allowing images dating as early as January 2020, from public professional and creator accounts, to appear in Google search results. This is a shift, as previously Instagram posts were not indexed and routinely available.
Why has Google started showing Instagram posts in search?
In a social and visual content world, a full picture of information on a topic needs Instagram and rich image content
Some topics and categories (e.g. fashion or beauty) have Instagram as arguably the key channel - not having these risks low quality / less relevant results
Instagram results from brand and top creator accounts are relatively heavily policed from a content moderation perspective, meaning the content is relatively reliable and authoritative. This is a shift on where the service was in years gone by, an d decreases the risks to users of Google directing traffic there (note the average users posts do not feature still)
Ensuring the continued improvement in search results in the face of AI search, tapping ever more contextually relevant material
What does it mean for your brand?
Social search is already thriving - this demonstrates it is a two-way street - ensuring visibility within social platforms themselves can also drive SEO
Ensuring captions are written with search-optimised keywords
Ideally using alt-text on images - this isn’t just best practice for accessibility, but now will improve search visibility as well
Audit and cleanse old posts which might be ‘confusing’ to users if they appeared out of chronological sequence on a grid - e.g. an old version of a product which has the same name as the current edition
This all sits as part of the rapidly evolving world of social search - speak to us to understand how this impacts your brand today and tomorrow.
