When we think SEO, we think of our website. What changes can we make to the website to make it better? What works about our website and what doesn’t? What does Google want to see on our website in order to rank it higher on search engines? While these are good questions when it comes to SEO, another question you should be asking yourself is “How can my social media accounts also help me increase my search engine rankings or local SEO?”
These are 10 strategies to use if you want to increase your search engine rankings using Instagram.
- Complete your profile and fill everything in using the keyword you want to be found for – When setting up your Instagram profile hoping to increase your local SEO ranking, it’s important to fill in every piece of information you can. Search engines such as Google evaluate things such as the amount of information available on your profile while judging whether or not that information is helpful to users to decide where you should rank.
- Use keywords in your bio – Many of us either overthink or underthink the wording of our Instagram bios. Be sure that whatever you decide to put in your bio, it represents your brand and uses a couple of your main keywords while also being cut to the chase and upfront about what you do.
- Use hashtags – Every single one of your posts should have at least one or two hashtags that are relevant to your business. Using hashtags allows you to find new leads and rank higher in the search engines because when used strategically they help “sort” your content by keyword.
- Have your top keyword in your handle – If you’ve selected an Instagram handle, it may be a little too late to change your username now. However, if you haven’t, add your top keyword to your handle. This will make it easier for people to find your business as well as for you to attract new leads. For example, take the clothing company Garage. On Instagram, their handle is @garageclothing. By adding the keyword ‘clothing’ to their name, their handle is still easy to find but can help them attract customers searching for “clothing” stores.
- Share for share – Work with other businesses in your community and help promote one another by sharing posts and stories back and forth. This will not only allow you to help their business, but it will help yours too by exposing your business to a bunch of new followers.
- Put your website link in your bio – One of the downsides of Instagram is that you can’t add a link to your post captions, but you can add a link to your bio. In fact, you can add multiple links but, you should use them strategically. To generate more leads and increase your search rankings, be sure to add the link to your website to your bio so people have easier access to your business online but, don’t add too many or people will get overwhelmed and not click on any of them.
- Use location tags – Wherever possible, add a location tag to your posts. Whether you’re a local company or not, using location tags will help promote your business in the areas you tag. For example, if you are a law firm in Barrie, you should tag Barrie. But, if you are a clothing store in London, you would tag London. If you have a service area that covers Muskoka you are trying to reach but, your head office is in Barrie, try tagging your posts with “Muskoka” to target people in that area.
- Use Alt Text – Originally designed to allow those who are visually impaired to enjoy Instagram, ALT tags have become a very helpful tool for marketers. To add Alt Text, start creating a post. Once you get to the screen where you write a caption, scroll to the very bottom of the page where you will see “Advanced Settings”. Then, under Accessibility, you have the option to add Alt Text. You don’t need to write a paragraph here, but just a simple description of what is in the image. For example, let’s say you run a hair salon and you’re sharing a photo of a female with bright pink hair. Your Alt Text could be “Long bright pink hair”. Now, anytime someone looks that up, your image will appear in their search.
- Post relevant content – The more relevant your content is to your business, the more likely it is to reach the top of the search rankings. That means less “National Blah Blah Day” and more “Expert Advice on X” type posts. It’s good to post about a variety of topics though so you aren’t reusing the same hashtags over and over, but just be sure that what you are posting is relevant to your business and your brand.
- Think aesthetically – Opposed to some other social media platforms, one of your big focuses with Instagram should be visuals and specifically video content. The content you post not only needs to be relevant, but it needs to be good quality and eye-catching.
Now that you know where to start, it’s time to get moving and make that Instagram account you’ve been dragging your feet on. But if you need a little help, or even need someone to run your social media for you, we got you covered at 3SIXTY Marketing Solutions! From setting up your basic profiles for you to creating captivating content for your followers, we can do it all. To get started give us a call at 647-250-1494, or book a free consultation. We’re always happy to help out however best suits your needs.
