Your Instagram posts indexed by search engines
Written by Jamie Joseph
Today we look at some exciting news for all professional Instagram users. As of July 10th 2025, Instagram content can be indexed by search engines, this means that your content can show up in Google, Bing and more.
It’s crucial to understand how this change will impact the search ecosystem going forward if you use Instagram for business. To understand the evolving role of social media platforms in the realm of search engines, we recommend reading this article on how social media platforms have taken over search engines.
This article has been assigned the following categories: Social media, News,
What is search indexing?
First, it’s important to know what search indexing means. It is the process of information being stored and organised so that it can be found quickly and efficiently by search engines when you search for something.
You may have seen Instagram profiles show up in your search results before, however, this update means that individual pieces of content will be included – similarly to YouTube where each video is given a search ranking and can be found through search engines.
This will not be a historical indexing of all content – we understand that it will only apply to content shared after 2020. This means that you have an opportunity to reshare older content or recreate it if you feel it is still relevant to your business or industry.
Potential drawbacks
Search engines take time to index content and correctly rank it. With the large volume of less relevant and fake informational content on social media apps, especially Instagram, some search results may be populated by less relevant posts.
This should only be a temporary impact of the recent indexing. Search results will recover through positive user experience and Google’s pre-existing ranking system. You may still experience this with more niche topics that overlap with social media sub-cultures; however, it will likely not negatively affect your day-to-day search experience.
If you are, for any reason, not interested in having your content indexed, you can find information on disabling it in the Instagram Help Centre.
Getting your content indexed on Instagram
To start getting your content indexed, you need to have a professional Instagram account that is set to ‘public’, this can be a business or creator account.
If your account is not currently a professional account, you’ll need to go into ‘Settings’, ‘Account type and tools’ and then select ‘Switch to a processional account’. Select the relevant account type which should be ‘Business’ and follow the suggested steps.
It is free to change your account type, so you don’t have to worry about any hidden costs.
How to utilise this change
We’ve always championed the adoption of a strategy led social media content plan. Ensuring that your visual content and copy provide value whilst maximising technical benefits through keywords and hashtag strategies.
It can be overwhelming, but now is the best time to start if you haven’t already. Creating a clear content plan around your content pillars and sticking to it will enable continued growth and exposure against traditional websites.
It is important to note that AI generated content may potentially harm your growth more than benefit it, as Google and other search engines allocate lower values to poor quality generated content in search rankings. To avoid this, ensure that your content is well researched and provides real value to any potential viewers.
If you’d like to grow your Instagram presence and make the most of this new change, get in touch with us today.
