Digital marketing involves mastering several channels to achieve success. It’s important to understand how they work together. Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms but what’s the connection between Instagram and social media? Read on to learn how to fix the most common SEO Instagram issues.
Instagram SEO Issue #1: Embedded Instagram Posts
The word is out from Google associates themselves: there’s a serious issue with Instagram embeds and SEO. According to Senior Webmaster Trends Analyst, John Mueller, any embeds from Instagram come equipped with a noindex robots meta tag.
A quick definition for those unfamiliar with these terms:
- ‘Noindex’ is a signifying term used in web code to alert search engines (like Google) not to include that page in their search index.
- ‘Robots meta tag’ is the title of the lines of code that communicate the instructions from a web page to the search engine ‘crawlers’, of information gatherers.
Why does this create issues for your site and your Instagram account? Any of your images embedded from the Instagram app or website will most likely not be indexed by Google in image search. Several well-respected professionals in the SEO space have since run their own tests to confirm the statement Mueller made about these Instagram problems. The tests noted that these issues resulted in a drop in rankings when embedded Instagram posts were used.
But why are these embeds from Instagram not working by causing so much SEO havoc for your website rankings? It’s because of the intent behind the core purpose of Instagram. The Instagram application wasn’t really designed to be used as an image embed tool for websites and blogs. Instagram was designed for social connection. Additionally, some of the Instagram accounts are privacy protected, which causes another issue because it adds an additional barrier.
Instagram SEO Issue #2: Private Instagram Profiles
While it may seem like an obvious function, many people don’t realize the true repercussions of not having a public Instagram profile. Remember that noindex robots meta tag we mentioned earlier? Not only will your images be less likely to be tracked by Google’s crawlers, but your entire Instagram profile will also be hidden from view, creating another SEO issue by limiting opportunities to rank well in search engines.
This Instagram SEO issue is easy to fix, however. Simply visit your Instagram account settings, then click privacy, and adjust the account privacy options to ‘Public’ if they are not already.
Instagram SEO Issue #3: Image Alt Text
If you’ve been working on your brand’s website or blog for some time, then by now you probably have learned about ‘image alt text’ and its importance for SEO. Image alt text was originally created as a tool to assist search engine users who might have difficulty viewing images on websites.
The image alt text is used to provide a description of the image in question so that hard of seeing users can still have a similar experience when interacting with the webpage. The image alt text should be a concise, descriptive sentence that explains what the image actually portrays. It is not a place to keyword stuff. Google crawlers judge based on whether the image alt text is helping to serve the visually impaired users or not.
In terms of Instagram SEO, the same concept applies. Instagram has recently released an image alt text opportunity for the standard posts on Instagram feeds. Opting to fill out the space for Instagram image alt text increases opportunities to be more highly ranked in terms of Instagram SEO.
Just because you’re not meant to keyword stuff doesn’t mean you should eliminate keywords altogether, though. Think strategically about the relevant keywords you could include in the image alt text. If there’s an appropriate place for it, feel free to add it in there.
Instagram SEO Issue #4: Lack of Keywords
On the subject of keywords, have you thought about the places you’re using your most valuable keywords on Instagram? Strategically placing keywords in your Instagram profile’s biography is an excellent opportunity to improve your Instagram SEO.
What terms are relevant to you and your brand that your ideal audience members may be using in their Instagram searches? Narrow down the list to your top three to five relevant keywords and figure out how to lace them into your description in your Instagram profile bio. These terms will help boost your Instagram SEO and connect you with users likely to be interested in what you’re offering.
The Easiest Solution for Instagram SEO Issues? Juicer!
Embedding an Instagram post directly to a website or blog post is proven to create a whole host of issues for your site’s SEO. But how do you solve these Instagram SEO problems while still ensuring the social media content is put to good use? Install the Juicer Instagram aggregator.
Juicer pulls up-to-date posts from the social media platforms of your choice and adds them to a single, stylized feed that you can embed anywhere on your website. Choose one social media account, like Instagram, or combine a few of your favorites from our menu of 15 available connections. There are also signature customization options available to ensure that your Instagram feed blends seamlessly into the look and feel of the existing site.
The biggest win? Juicer won’t ruin your SEO rankings. Get started with your free account today, or unlock all of the exclusive additions to make your Instagram feed stand out with our Medium or Large plans.
