Instagram in Google & Bing: The SEO Shift No One Saw Coming
Nobody saw Instagram results becoming commonplace on Google and Bing, but that’s what’s happening. What does this update mean and how may it affect your Instagram account strategy moving forward? Discover all the latest in our recent article.
Things are changing in the world of SEO and Instagram search. Instagram posts are now being indexed by the big search engines, like Google and Bing, with game-changing consequences for influencers and online brands.
Previously, social media was somewhat separate from search engines. Some overlap existed, but Google was always quite forthright about the absence of posts in rankings.
However, this new change is opening new doors for those involved on social media platforms. The adjustment provides an opportunity to be more visible and engaging than ever before.
This article will explain more about what this update means and how it might affect your Instagram account strategy moving forward. By the end, you should have more insights into Instagram for Google and Bing, and how to optimise it.
The New Update: Why Instagram Posts Are Now Indexed
From 10 July 2025, public posts from brands and professional Instagram accounts now appear in Google and Bing search results. Currently, only “creator” and “business” accounts will receive this privilege (with regular accounts continuing as normal).
Posts and content on these sites now have a chance of appearing on Google and Bing if posted after 1 January 2020. Older posts will be disregarded by the new system.
Previously, creators and brand professionals relied solely on Instagram’s internal ecosystem for discoverability. Audiences had to seek out accounts and find them internally.
Now, though, that’s changed, and posts can be found outside the app. For creators and anyone else in the space, this shift is game-changing. Making Instagram posts searchable on Google and Bing opens up a new world of opportunities to attract audiences.
This shift is occurring because of parent company Meta’s desire to make Instagram more “cross-platform.” Previously, it viewed the social media network as insulated and isolated, especially compared to YouTube (which is Google-native) and TikTok, which sometimes also featured in search engine results.
Which Instagram Posts Types Are Now Public?
Various Instagram post types are now public under the new searchability system. These include your:
Photos
Videos
Reels
Carousels
Personal and private profiles won’t be made public on search engines, like Google, nor will Stories and Highlights (which will remain unindexed even for professional or creator accounts).
The fact that older posts will be retroactively searchable is interesting. Meta, Bing and Google hope that this will bring older, valuable content to the forefront that would otherwise get buried by the algorithm.
This change will also benefit users. Plenty of high quality content exists, but it remains buried because of the old way the algorithm used to work. Hopefully, this search engine switch will change that status quo.
How These Changes Affect Your Content Strategy, Discoverability, And Brand Visibility
The effects of these changes could be substantial on your brand visibility. If you are prominent on Instagram but most of your audience still uses Google search, you could witness a boost in the numbers flooding to your content. This could mean more organic traffic for profile visits, leading to higher engagement and more followers over time.
This change is especially welcome for brands or creators without established websites. Given the dominance of social media, regular web domains can sometimes remain in the background, reducing organic traffic from search engines. However, now Instagram content appears in search results, that’s all changing, and successful creators on the platform can also improve their SEO.
The key is to optimise your posts for search engines and Instagram, not the latter alone. As such, things like evergreen topics and keywords are going to become more important over time.
Here’s an example of how Google now indexes a fitness influencer’s account in search:
You can see how it prioritises his primary handle on Instagram at the top. You can also view some of the leading posts that Google believes users will find interesting.
Here’s an example of the same influencer in Bing search results:
Again, his handle and Reels are clickable directly from search results.
Optimising Off-Platform Search On Instagram
Instagram indexation is new, so SEOs and other marketing professionals are still getting to grips with the strategies that are likely to work. However, the current advice is to do the following:
Ensure you include captions and subtitles for your videos.
Check your content aligns with users’ search intent, especially if it is educational.
Add hashtags to your posts to signal relevancy to Google.
Add the keywords and phrases that people might use in search engines to your captions.
Ensure your bio contains relevant keywords relating to your niche.
Make your profile public and searchable.
Check your Instagram strategy aligns with your overall online brand.
Add descriptive alt text such as “man working out early morning”.
The key is to think of each Instagram asset as a “searchable post” (similar to old-fashioned blogging 15 years ago). The goal now is to give content a long-term edge, not just short-term relevance.
Meta has made clear that it wants posts to be around for a long time, and searchable retroactively, which is critical for brands and creators. Its long-term plan is to make Instagram more of a player in search so it can compete better with TikTok, which is currently leading the charge.
Meta’s move is also about adapting to new concepts, like visual and Zero Click search. The Instagram-Bing-Google changes, it hopes, will bring this to fruition.
Moving Forward With Searchable And Discoverable Instagram
From reading this article, you should now understand why searchable and discoverable Instagram is so critical. It has also hopefully given you a clear idea of how to ride this new SEO wave and use it to attract more followers to your account.
Creators and brands that adopt the SEO strategies outlined here from the start can benefit from first-mover advantage. Already, little-known influencers are seeing their content surfacing on Bing and Google, increasing interest and giving them more authority. Many are getting profile visits that are leading to sponsorship inquiries and more sales.
