Getting Instagram followers from Google and Bing; Great news for businesses!

Instagram have recently announced that content from professional Instagram's accounts will be allowed to show in search engines (such as Google and Bing). This could be great news for your business, but you'll need to make sure you follow a few tips to make the most of it.

Here's the message they sent out:-

"We're writing to let you know that starting on 10 July 2025 search engines, such as Google and Microsoft Bing, will automatically be allowed to show all public photos and videos from your professional account in search result pages. This will help more people discover your content outside Instagram."

a) Why this could be great news for your business

It's simple...

• Do you want more Instagram followers?
• Do you want to sell more stock via your Instagram?
• Do you want to do it without spending a fortune?

If so then leveraging tactics which we'll cover in ths blog article to take advantage of this change to Instagram can help you grow your followers and sell more online.

b) How it works

Let's say somebody is searching for "victorian antique table". Within the normal (organic) search results, posts from Instagram may now appear too. This means that people who may not follow you on Instagram could end up finding your account and your stock from searches in Google. It's something we've covered in the past with Pinterest too.

This means that people who haven't heard of your business yet can find your Instagram in an additional way and opens up the posibility of growing your followers and selling more stock as a result.

So...

• Your content (eg your items/stock for sale) will be given a chance to be found by a bigger audience; eg people searching Google / Bing as well as those looking on Instagram
   
• You'll be able to reach people who aren't following you on Instagram
   
• You can use it to gain new followers

c) Why now?

It's likely due to the head of Instagram Adam Mosseri and something he was quoted as saying recently on the podcast "Build Your Tribe":-

"The ability to search for content on Instagram is not satisfactory at the moment. Now the function of searching for the content itself, not finding an account, is becoming more important."

d) 4 ways to make the most of this

1) Write content that's good for SEO

In order to make sure that your Instagram posts show up in Google, you need to be smart and do some SEO in your posts. Don't be scared; in this context it's simple.

Make sure that the captions on your posts include terms that people are likely to be searching for on Google, and that you're descriptive when posting up pictures of stock.

For example, rather than posting a picture of a table with a caption of "Beautiful table now in stock", be more descriptive and include keywords that people are likely to be searching for. For example:-

"Beautiful French 19th century antique farmhouse table"

Then go on to describe the materials it's made from, what makes it special, and any other relevant keywords you think people may search for. Applying this basic SEO technique can help ensure your posts get seen in Google and Bing.

Do NOT overload with irrelevant keywords as you don't want to make it spammy (as that'll have a negative effect).

You can read more in our article How to write item titles that get more sales (and rank in Google too!)

2) Include alt text

When posting on Instagram go to "More options", then scroll to the bottom and go to "Alt text" as per the screenshot below:-

Make sure that your alt text contains the name of the product(s) that you're posting and like our SEO tip above, ensure that it's descriptive and features relevant keywords.

This can help make sure your post gets found in Google.

3) Make sure you post your latest stock and tag it on Insta shopping

If you're using Instagram Shopping, which we heavily recommend you do (as per several of our previous blog posts and video guide on the topic) we'd recommend that you tag products in each of your posts to help get visitors from Google to Instagram and to your website so they're buying online and spending money with you.

To do this, when posting, go to "More options" as we've explained in the section above regarding alt text. From here, tap "Tag products" at the top. Tagged items appear like this:-

If you're unfamiliar with Instagram Shopping it allows you to tag products on your posts so you can get visitors from your posts to view more details about the item, then view the item on your actual website so the customer can make a purchase.

4) Make sure you're using a business (professional) account

According to the article from Instagram, content will only be visible to Google and Bing if you're using a professional account; eg a Business account.

As we covered in our article 6 Instagram Myths BUSTED (+ Tips That Actually Work!), there's a whole bunch of advantages to a Business instagram account such as being able to view stats such as follower growth, engagement levels, audience’s demographics and activity etc.

Don't worry; a Business instagram account is still free.

If you're using a personal account for your business and want to switch to an Instagram Business account, you can find a guide on Instagram's help pages here.

Conclusion

Whilst this change with instagram doesn't guarantee that you're all of a sudden going to be getting millions in sales from Google via your Instagram account, we would say it is best practice and we'd certainly recommend following the 4 very simple steps above regarding basic SEO in your Instagram captions, using Instagram shopping, alt text, and making sure you're using a business account to maximise your chances of success.

Need some help? If you need help with promoting your business online we offer Instagram management services, including being able to help with Instagram Shopping. Please get in touch to find out how we can help you.