Instagram Content Is Now Indexable on Google

How to Leverage This Game‑Changing Update for Growth

By Carlos Quintero, CEO & Creative Director, MediaOnQ

Effective July 10, 2025, Instagram announced that public posts from professional accounts are now discoverable on Google. This changes the way brands, creators, and businesses need to think about Instagram. In this in‑depth guide, I’ll walk you through exactly how to optimize your Instagram presence to benefit from this update, how to track performance in GA4, and how to turn these views into leads and revenue.

Why This Change Matters

Instagram has always been a walled garden, great for brand awareness but hard to integrate into broader digital strategies. Now, Instagram posts from public business and creator accounts are eligible to appear directly in Google Search results.

This means:

• Your Instagram posts are now competing with (and appearing alongside) blogs, videos, and news articles in search results.
• Photos, Reels, and carousels can drive organic traffic, much better than just likes and comments.
• Small businesses, tradespeople, and creators can reach audiences searching on Google who might never open Instagram.

Translation: Instagram is no longer just a social channel, it’s now a piece of your SEO strategy.

Who Can Benefit?

This update opens doors for:

• Local tradespeople: Plumbers, electricians, mechanics, painters can rank for service‑related searches in their area.
• Professional services: Attorneys, dentists, and consultants can use Instagram posts to answer FAQs and appear in relevant queries.
• Retail & e‑commerce: Shops can showcase products with optimized captions that bring in Google traffic.
• Real estate & construction: Project walkthroughs, property highlights, and before/after showcases can pull in search leads.
• Academia & thought leaders: Professors, researchers, and educational brands can reach broader audiences for content related to their expertise.

This is about more than followers, it’s about visibility in one of the most competitive spaces, Google Search.

Requirements for Your Content to Be Indexed

1. Professional Account
   • Switch to a business or creator account in your Instagram settings.
2. Public Profile
   • Set your account to public (private accounts won’t be indexed).
3. Content Eligibility
   • Posts created after January 1, 2020 are eligible.
   • Reels, carousels, single images, and videos can appear.
   • Stories and Highlights are not indexed (yet).
4. Search Engine Indexing
   • In Settings > Privacy > Search Engine Indexing, make sure indexing is enabled. (It’s on by default for professional accounts.)

How to Optimize Your Instagram Content for Google

This is where social meets SEO.

1. Captions: Your Mini Blog Post

2. Alt Text: The Hidden Power Play

3. Hashtags: Beyond Discovery

4. Geo‑Tagging for Local SEO

5. On‑Screen Text for Reels