Google Now Indexing Instagram Content: What It Means for Your Brand

A major update just landed: as of July 10, 2025, Instagram content including reels, posts and photos, is now being indexed and surfaced in Google Search results.

That means your Instagram presence isn’t just for social anymore, it’s now influencing how your brand shows up on the world’s biggest search engine.

The criteria:

• The Instagram account must be public

• It must be a professional account

• The account holder must be 18+

• Only content posted after Jan 1, 2020 is eligible

  
  

We’re already seeing Instagram content appear more prominently in Google results and it’s not just brand names, keyword-driven captions are helping posts rank.

What this means for your brand

Your Instagram content can now directly impact your organic visibility and brand footprint across the web. Social and search are converging, and brands who treat content with search in mind will win.

What brands should do now on Instagram

• Treat Instagram captions like metadata (clear, keyword-aligned and intentional)

• Review your account settings to ensure you qualify

• Elevate your content quality – the visual and written elements now both matter for search

Instagram’s Head, Adam Mosseri, confirmed the platform is working to improve how content performs both in-app and in external search. This update is the first major step.

Connected Comment

Search is evolving and so should your strategy! This latest Instagram update is part of a much bigger shift. SEO is no longer just about optimising your website; it’s about optimising your entire digital footprint. From social content to third-party platforms and even media mentions, discoverability now extends well beyond your domain.

And it’s not just Google who are shifting the game. Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and Gemini are shaping how people access information, and these models draw from a wide range of public content, not just your website.

If your brand’s most valuable content lives solely on your site, you’re limiting visibility where it counts. It’s time to expand how we think about SEO, because visibility today is multi-platform, multi-format, and multi-channel.

Need a strategy that’s built for what’s next? We’re here to help.