Sr. SEO Strategist Joshua May contributed to this post.

Google’s organic discovery playground is now open for business for Instagram influencers; in July 2025, the search giant began indexing Instagram content to begin populating in the SERP.

While other major platforms, notably TikTok and Reddit, have been given plenty of real estate on Google for a while now, this is potentially big news for creators who focus their content on Instagram – and for the brands they promote.

Yet, as even highly experienced SEOs understand all too well, visibility in Google’s organic results doesn’t simply happen when you produce content. There are a ton of variables in the algorithm – or make that algorithms, considering the recent proliferation of AI Overviews in the SERP – and they are known only to a select few employees at Google.

Influencers who have made their livelihoods on Instagram may recognize the opportunity at hand without having the experience to seize it, and that’s where agency partners can differentiate themselves.

In this post, I’ll lay out how we’re helping our creator partners take advantage of Google’s decision – and what we’re watching closely as the landscape evolves.

Turning Instagram Creators into SEO Machines

SEO has always been a great discovery and awareness engine that helps introduce brands to net-new users. The same is true for creators; those whose content gets traction in the SERP have more views, new potential followers, and a bigger microphone to use. More visibility for creators = more visibility for their brand partners, which means creators can become more valuable without producing any more content.

At DMi, we’ve been working to get our creators up to speed on best SEO practices that both transcend platforms and specifically leverage facets of Instagram. A snapshot of the more general SEO practices:

• Leverage free Google tools like the Keyword planner and Google Trends to keep pace with current and emerging themes that creators can address in their content.
• Use low-cost third-party tools like KW Planner to find long-tail terms with low SEO difficulty (based on competition and effort).
• Produce content that varies in media type (images, Reels, videos) to increase the odds of being pulled into various SERP properties.

Although we can’t say for sure (since Google’s search algorithms aren’t public), we also recommend that our creator partners pay special attention to Instagram profile and post elements likely to be indexed by Google search engine. Those include:

The profile bio section, which becomes the description / snippet text in organic results. We recommend using a snippet of the creator’s “About me” language, while including relevant keywords and CTAs and including a link to the creator’s home page or a relevant bio page.

Pinned posts in the creator’s profile, which could also become description or snippet text. Google may prioritize this content over other potential snippets based on its position in the creator’s profile, so be aware of the post’s content and check to see whether the post is already in the SERP.

Content captions, which become title tag text link in organic results, image SERP, and image packs. We strongly encourage creators to include relevant search keywords and link to content-relevant landing pages on their websites. Since only 70 characters of a caption will be visible as a search result title tag, creators should be strategic about what to include.

What to watch as the SERP evolves

Getting Instagram creators started with SEO best practices is a big first step, but we consider it our job as a great partner to relay insights and recommendations as things take shape.

We still don’t know, for instance, how Google will generally value Instagram content compared with content from publishers like Vogue, but we’re monitoring it closely. We also don’t know – but are keeping an eye on – how this kind of content will be surfaced in AI Overviews (AIOs) or other GEO platforms. (Note that it is fair to assume that influencer content in AIOs will get a lower click-to-impression ratio than influencer content in traditional SERP properties because that trend has been firmly established in early days.)

Whether we’re talking about emerging trends or recognized best practices, the point is that we’re not asking our creator partners to become SEO experts – or even moderately experienced practitioners – to get more coverage for the brands in our portfolio. We’re determined to do the legwork of training and education so that our creator partners can focus on producing engaging, authentic content that will help shine a spotlight on the brands they’re promoting no matter where a user happens to consume it.