Instagram has begun allowing search engines to index public content from professional accounts as of July 10. The update applies exclusively to professional accounts belonging to users 18 and older with public profiles, while content posted before 2020 remains excluded.
As Instagram Head Adam Mosseri recently noted, the platform is “investing more in search” to showcase “amazing content” to wider audiences.
This development comes amid changing search behaviors, particularly among younger demographics. According to Sprout Social, 41% of Gen Z now turn to social platforms as their primary information source, outpacing traditional search engines at 32%. With 76% of consumers reporting that social content has influenced their purchasing decisions in the past six months, the implications for digital visibility are significant.
With that being said, the question here is, what does Instagram’s Google indexing update mean for creators and brands?
To gain a deeper understanding, we have gathered insights from several industry experts on maximizing visibility, measuring performance, and addressing potential challenges that this update may present.
Instagram becoming searchable on Google won’t fundamentally change how creators grow. Its explore page will remain the primary driver of discovery. For example, consider that less than 1% of views on YouTube come from Google search.
That said, this update does open up a new layer of visibility, especially for creators whose content intersects with things people actively search for, like restaurants, brands, or collaborators.
To take advantage of it, creators should start thinking more like publishers: use richer captions, naturally include searchable terms, and tap into tools like Google Trends to align with what audiences are actively looking for. It’s not a game-changer, but it’s definitely a new lever smart creators can start pulling.
Instagram’s new Google searchability flips the script for influencers. No longer do fans need to hit ‘follow’ to tap into a creator’s know-how—Google’s Gemini AI can now pluck their posts straight from the web, showcasing their expertise to anyone searching. This opens doors to a massive audience beyond Instagram’s walls, but it’s not a free ride. Influencers have to craft posts that vibe with their loyal niche while also hooking a wider crowd. Those who master catchy captions and sharp hashtags will see their clout soar, their words potentially fueling AI-powered search answers. This shift catapults discoverability and cements influencers as go-to voices in their space, but only if they play this newfound spotlight with savvy.
This update forces creators to stop thinking like influencers and start thinking like publishers. Suddenly, captions, keywords, and clarity matter more than just vibes. The creator economy will reward those who understand SEO, not just the algorithm and aesthetics.
Instagram content becoming searchable on Google is a meaningful step forward for creator discoverability, but its impact will take time. Platforms like YouTube and TikTok have been showing up in Google searches for a while now and are already deeply integrated into user search behavior, both within their apps and on Google. Instagram is playing catch-up, and while this shift is a clear SEO win for creators, it will require a mindset shift.
To fully benefit, creators will need to optimize their content with searchability in mind: i.e. thoughtful captions, keywords, and buzzy content will become increasingly important. This change opens up new traffic sources and potential monetization streams, especially for always-relevant or educational content. However, the real value will come when users begin to see Instagram not just as a scrolling app, but as a destination for searchable, informative content… something that may take time to solidify.
I think it’s a major shift that opens the door for creators and brands to reach people beyond the app. This update will supercharge brand discovery and influencer visibility, posts that were only seen by followers will now appear in search results and attract new fans and customers organically. I believe this will also usher in a new era of social SEO strategy, creators will start optimizing captions and alt text like mini web pages to capture search demand. And of course with greater reach comes greater monetization potential, more eyeballs from search mean more affiliate clicks, stronger brand partnerships and a longer lifespan for content to generate value. Overall I think it’s a game-changing convergence of social media and search that will make the creator economy more dynamic and more lucrative than ever before!
Instagram’s Indexing Update is only going to have a positive impact on creators, making their content highly discoverable amongst a much broader audience. For years socials platforms have essentially been search engines themselves, with Gen Z users particularly looking to Instagram and TikTok before more traditional search engines like Google, so this feels like a very natural and exciting step towards a deeper integration.
At RISER, we work with thousands of everyday creators, and this update marks a huge shift in how their content can be discovered. With Instagram content now searchable on Google, the walls around social discovery are starting to come down.
This will reshape the creator economy by giving smaller creators more pathways to visibility, particularly those who don’t have huge followings but create high-quality, searchable content. It’s a reminder that content now needs to be understood by humans and search engines alike. Creators should focus on clarity, use natural keywords in spoken audio, on-screen text, and captions, and be specific about what their content is about. It’s no longer just about being seen in the feed, it’s about being findable everywhere. This opens up exciting new ways for creators to grow their audiences and for brands to discover talent that’s been hiding in plain sight.
Instagram’s evolution from a social sharing app to a content discovery platform marks a turning point in the creator economy. As content becomes searchable on Google and driven by keywords, captions, and AI-based analysis, Instagram is positioning itself more like a publishing platform than a social network. This empowers creators to act more like media brands—optimizing content for search, visibility, and long-tail monetization. But it also raises important questions. For non-public users simply sharing personal moments, like photos of children, this shift could mean unintended exposure. AI can now surface content based on what’s visually in a post, not just hashtags—so a family photo might reach strangers’ feeds. As Instagram blurs the line between private sharing and public publishing, creators must adopt professional strategies, and everyday users may need to rethink privacy settings. The creator economy is gaining ground, but it’s changing the rules for everyone on the platform.
At Sundaze PR, we work with the tech brands powering the creator economy and believe that making Instagram content searchable on Google bridges a major discovery gap for creators. Until now, creators lived mostly inside walled gardens. This shift cracks that open, giving creators broader visibility beyond the app and into the wider web. This includes how they’re surfaced by AI models like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude, which rely on indexed content to recommend people, products, and ideas.
For brands, searchable content means better attribution, easier vetting, and stronger alignment when choosing collaborators. Looking at the ecosystem as a whole, it’s a step toward a more connected, scalable creator economy, one where talent isn’t limited by platform silos.
As a creator and talent manager, I think Instagram content being searchable on Google is a game-changer. It brings a new level of importance to SEO in the creator economy. I’ve always told my creator friends to be intentional with their captions, but now, it’s not just about engaging your followers; it’s about being discoverable beyond the platform. This shift means creators will need to think more like marketers: optimizing keywords, writing smarter captions, and aligning content with what people are searching for. It’s a new era of searchability where your Instagram post could be the first thing someone sees about you on Google. That increases visibility, drives traffic, and strengthens personal branding. It also levels the playing field: now niche creators have a chance to be found just as easily as mainstream influencers. At the end of the day, it’s all about staying relevant and being where the audience is looking.
Instagram content becoming Google-searchable will significantly reshape the creator economy. Most noticeably, it will boost creators’ audience sizes and attract new audiences by expanding reach beyond the app, as well as offer existing content a longer shelf life. This change will also provide creators with new monetization opportunities through increased brand partnerships and affiliate conversions.
However, with new innovations come challenges. To be successful in this new landscape, SEO will need to become a core skill for creators, with captions, bios, and alt text becoming critical for discoverability. Additionally, creators will face more competition and have less privacy.
Their fans and communities might see content strategies shift as they lean towards safer, keyword-rich content over authentic creation in order to drive performance.
Overall, I believe the benefits of this change outweigh the challenges, but it will definitely change how creators create and consumers consume content moving forward.
Instagram content being indexed by Google is a game-changer for the creator economy. It extends reach beyond the app, giving creators and brands evergreen visibility through search. This makes content more valuable over time, especially for niche topics. With AI playing a bigger role in search ranking and personalization, creators who optimize captions, alt text, and metadata could see outsized benefits. AI will also surface the most relevant or high-performing content, rewarding those who create with both engagement and discoverability in mind. Ultimately, this shift merges social media with traditional search, opening new doors for monetization, SEO strategy, and brand reach.
For creators and brands, this marks a pivotal shift: Instagram isn’t just a platform for engagement, but it’s now a discovery engine, blurring the lines between social media and traditional SEO.
There’s now more pressure on creators and brands to think strategically about content architecture, not just aesthetics, as captions become new real estate for SEO. Smart, keyword-rich captions can now help content surface on Google, and visual-first search opens new doors for niche content and long-tail discoverability.
Meanwhile, with AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude emerging as preferred search assistants, the question becomes: how do creators and marketers prepare for a world where discoverability happens outside traditional platforms? The key is to create content that’s not only engaging but also informative, structured, and indexable so it can live across search engines, AI tools, and social feeds alike.
Making Instagram content searchable on Google is absolutely going to expand the creator economy and will expose creator content to new audiences who may not even be on the platform. This means added reach, new ways to make money, and an increase in the value of past content. However, this also means creators will be seeing their content compete against more traditional and established websites, like YouTube, for Google search ranking. Since content creators are more visual in nature, they’ll need to focus on words to compete, so mastering SEO skills has never been more important. Using keywords, alt text, in-app captions, and metadata will be key to ensure content breaks through to search! There’s also a risk of older content hitting search without context, which could include outdated information and put creators in situations where their reputations could be at risk.
Making Instagram content searchable on Google is a huge win for Creators. It boosts visibility beyond the app, giving posts a longer life and making it easier for new audiences to discover their work. This opens the door for more organic growth, especially for niche Creators who might not always surface in the algorithm. For brands, it adds lasting value to influencer campaigns by making content, CTAs and brand messaging easier to find, scale, and reference. Overall, this shift helps Creators get more eyes on their content, reach new communities, and build stronger digital footprints across platforms.
For Creators, this means their “reach” is no longer limited to the app so it’s now especially true that their digital presence extends beyond just their followers. While it’s an exciting shift, Creators may want to be more intentional about how they write captions and consider revisiting older posts that weren’t made with discoverability outside the app in mind. If embraced with the right strategies it could be a huge unlock for creators looking to grow their brands beyond the app.
Courtney Canfield, Influencer Marketing Strategist and Content Creator
As both a veteran content creator and former agency account director, I’ve seen firsthand that Instagram SEO has always mattered, but now that posts are indexing on Google, creators who understand searchability will win twice. I’ve had content ranking in Google for years for terms like “dog influencer” and “cat content creator” even though I only have 36K followers. So if I’m showing up, and bigger creators aren’t, that tells you how much untapped opportunity there is. With this update, your captions, keywords, and even how you structure your profile matter for reaching your audience AND for being discovered by brands, journalists, and other creators. My content ranked early because I consistently used specific, niche-relevant keywords across my public profile and content. With this new update, creators should be giving even more thought to their SEO keywords than before (if they were at all). This shift gives creators more control over discoverability outside the algorithm, and the ones who optimize will stand out.
Instagram content being indexed by Google is a major signal that there’s a blurred line between traditional web content and social media. It gives creators newfound reach beyond the app since organic posts can now surface in search, bringing in audiences who may never have opened Instagram. For the creator economy, this means more visibility, more traffic to affiliate links and more value for brand partners. It also represents a maturation of the creator economy as a whole, validating creators as a scaled media channel and reinforcing their role as full-fledged small businesses competing in the broader digital marketplace. Platforms like Later and Mavely that support creator commerce are now even more powerful, and creators who optimize their bios, captions and CTAs will win.
Creators already play a significant role in boosting brand discoverability, with 67% of Gen Z using Instagram for search. Now, with Instagram content becoming searchable on Google, creators’ content is no longer limited to in-app discovery – it can reach much broader and more diverse audiences, increasing creator ROI.
This shift expands opportunities for brands working with creators, especially those collaborating with micro and nano creators, whose posts may now appear in relevant search results and attract long-tail traffic, to grow brand discoverability, reach and long-term relevance.
For creators of all sizes, especially smaller-scale ones, this development highlights the rising importance of SEO-conscious content. Strategically optimized posts using keywords, alt text, and thoughtful tagging will be more likely to surface in search results, significantly extending the longevity and reach of creator content.
I think this relationship between Instagram and Google puts Instagram into a new league of content discovery. We’ve seen TikTok over the recent years position themselves as a discovery tool, rivalling search engines for inspiration and entertainment – this partnership now solidifies an ecosystem play where IG (and Meta) look to double down on their automations and partnerships. For creators this means longevity in content, discoverability and for those that are strategic, a more holistic approach to campaigns.
But this is bigger than that – we’re witnessing the death of the walled garden. Content creators won’t just be competing with others on Instagram anymore, but also with YouTube, blogs, and websites for top rankings, fundamentally reshaping how creators build audiences and generate revenue. A fashion influencer’s post about “”sustainable wedding dresses”” could now surface in Google search, funneling new traffic without paid promotions
This partnership offers creators a critical hedge against platform dependency. However, it also creates a new stratification: those who master SEO-driven content strategies will thrive, while creators focused purely on visual storytelling may struggle to maintain visibility.
We’re entering Creator Economy 2.0 (or perhaps even more like 10.0), where success requires mastering both platform-native engagement AND search optimisation. The winners won’t just be social media personalities – they’ll be omnichannel content strategists building searchable, sustainable content empires that transcend any single platform’s algorithm.
I think this could push the creator economy into a really interesting direction where it’s no longer just about who has the biggest following, but rather creators who are being more strategic with their content and copy to target the followers they are trying to attract. This shift can open doors for niche creators, like the mum influencers we work with at Envision, to build on their presence even further.
In marketing, we already focus heavily on keywords, brand messaging and searchability, so this isn’t a huge leap. But it does enable an additional avenue for customers to find what they’re looking for and for brands to increase their discoverability.
Overall, I see it as a great additional way for creators and brands to slightly refresh their strategy to stand out from the crowd and combat the potential oversaturation in their field, especially for those who adapt quickly and think about long-term brand building.
This update helps clean up the influencer ecosystem and rebalance the value chain.
The roots (and true power) of influencer marketing will come back to the forefront. Influencers with niche expertise will have an easier time being found for that expertise, which will strengthen their value proposition to brands.
Why?
Because smart brands know the quickest way to build awareness and purchase intent is to connect with the very consumer communities that influencers are already nurturing. Boosting influencers’ ability to grow aligned communities benefits the entire system and supercharges every investment.
This will positively impact the creator economy, especially as more consumers turn to social platforms as trusted search engines. Creators have already been optimizing their content for Instagram’s algorithm, but now they can prove the SEO value of that content more directly. With Instagram posts now appearing in Google search results, like Reddit, creators can show brands that their content ranks on Instagram and across the broader web. That’s a big deal for measurement—it adds a new layer of visibility and gives brands a more concrete way to track organic content performance.
It also reflects a broader shift in user behavior. Consumers increasingly trust social content, especially from verified creators, over traditional, faceless SEO blog posts. So, if a creator’s content surfaces on both Instagram and Google, it reinforces their value as a credible voice. Overall, I see this as a win for creators and brands alike.
This update accelerates the blurring of search and social, as traditional search engines move closer to tools of visual discovery historically available only in social platforms. It also indicates that Google believes multi-platform video search (YouTube + Instagram) is necessary to compete with TikTok’s breadth of content.
Creators stand to gain visibility beyond Instagram’s walls, but in turn, they must master ‘Social SEO’ to compete in a complex new environment. The best creators will learn new avenues of discoverability on search engines to ensure they stay findable and relevant.
One interesting consideration will be what happens next. The door is now open for this newly indexed wealth of creator content to become prime fuel for training non-Meta AI (if allowed). While this promises to supercharge AI development, it also threatens to blur the line between authentic human content and its AI-generated counterpart—which could reshape the creator economy as we know it.
With the evolution of algorithm-enabled social feeds, brands recognize the importance of being discoverable as nearly two out of three brands say that social search is a top priority for their 2025 social media strategy. Until now, brands focused on social platforms, but as social content gets indexed by search engines, they must consider how their content is prioritized beyond platform algorithms. This shift impacts social strategies and content visibility. Discoverability will increasingly depend on a brand’s ability to quickly identify and become a part of conversations around trending or widely searched topics both on-platform and within more search engines. Creators have proven to be an amplifier for discoverability in the past, there’s absolutely no reason to think it won’t also drive discoverability off-platform. Ultimately, this evolution gives brands one more reason to double down on the creator economy.
Cecilia Carloni, Interview Manager at Influence Weekly and writer for NetInfluencer. Coming from beautiful Argentina, Ceci has spent years chatting with big names in the influencer world, making friends and learning insider info along the way. When she’s not deep in interviews or writing, she's enjoying life with her two daughters. Ceci’s stories give a peek behind the curtain of influencer life, sharing the real and interesting tales from her many conversations with movers and shakers in the space.
Instagram has begun allowing search engines to index public content from professional accounts as of July 10. The update applies exclusively to professional accounts belonging to users 18 and older with public profiles, while content posted before 2020 remains excluded.
As Instagram Head Adam Mosseri recently noted, the platform is “investing more in search” to showcase “amazing content” to wider audiences.
This development comes amid changing search behaviors, particularly among younger demographics. According to Sprout Social, 41% of Gen Z now turn to social platforms as their primary information source, outpacing traditional search engines at 32%. With 76% of consumers reporting that social content has influenced their purchasing decisions in the past six months, the implications for digital visibility are significant.
With that being said, the question here is, what does Instagram’s Google indexing update mean for creators and brands?
To gain a deeper understanding, we have gathered insights from several industry experts on maximizing visibility, measuring performance, and addressing potential challenges that this update may present.
Daniel Coughlan, Senior Vice President of Content, Fixated
Instagram becoming searchable on Google won’t fundamentally change how creators grow. Its explore page will remain the primary driver of discovery. For example, consider that less than 1% of views on YouTube come from Google search.
That said, this update does open up a new layer of visibility, especially for creators whose content intersects with things people actively search for, like restaurants, brands, or collaborators.
To take advantage of it, creators should start thinking more like publishers: use richer captions, naturally include searchable terms, and tap into tools like Google Trends to align with what audiences are actively looking for. It’s not a game-changer, but it’s definitely a new lever smart creators can start pulling.
Jason Pampell, Managing Director, HireInfluence
Instagram’s new Google searchability flips the script for influencers. No longer do fans need to hit ‘follow’ to tap into a creator’s know-how—Google’s Gemini AI can now pluck their posts straight from the web, showcasing their expertise to anyone searching. This opens doors to a massive audience beyond Instagram’s walls, but it’s not a free ride. Influencers have to craft posts that vibe with their loyal niche while also hooking a wider crowd. Those who master catchy captions and sharp hashtags will see their clout soar, their words potentially fueling AI-powered search answers. This shift catapults discoverability and cements influencers as go-to voices in their space, but only if they play this newfound spotlight with savvy.
Fabio Soprano, Founder, Enclaverse
This update forces creators to stop thinking like influencers and start thinking like publishers. Suddenly, captions, keywords, and clarity matter more than just vibes. The creator economy will reward those who understand SEO, not just the algorithm and aesthetics.
Becca Bahrke, Founder and CEO, Illuminate Social
Instagram content becoming searchable on Google is a meaningful step forward for creator discoverability, but its impact will take time. Platforms like YouTube and TikTok have been showing up in Google searches for a while now and are already deeply integrated into user search behavior, both within their apps and on Google. Instagram is playing catch-up, and while this shift is a clear SEO win for creators, it will require a mindset shift.
To fully benefit, creators will need to optimize their content with searchability in mind: i.e. thoughtful captions, keywords, and buzzy content will become increasingly important. This change opens up new traffic sources and potential monetization streams, especially for always-relevant or educational content. However, the real value will come when users begin to see Instagram not just as a scrolling app, but as a destination for searchable, informative content… something that may take time to solidify.
Ernest Sturm, Owner, Runway Influence
I think it’s a major shift that opens the door for creators and brands to reach people beyond the app. This update will supercharge brand discovery and influencer visibility, posts that were only seen by followers will now appear in search results and attract new fans and customers organically. I believe this will also usher in a new era of social SEO strategy, creators will start optimizing captions and alt text like mini web pages to capture search demand. And of course with greater reach comes greater monetization potential, more eyeballs from search mean more affiliate clicks, stronger brand partnerships and a longer lifespan for content to generate value. Overall I think it’s a game-changing convergence of social media and search that will make the creator economy more dynamic and more lucrative than ever before!
Jess Hunichen, Co-Founder, Shine Talent Group
Instagram’s Indexing Update is only going to have a positive impact on creators, making their content highly discoverable amongst a much broader audience. For years socials platforms have essentially been search engines themselves, with Gen Z users particularly looking to Instagram and TikTok before more traditional search engines like Google, so this feels like a very natural and exciting step towards a deeper integration.
Felicity Grey, Founder and Managing Director, Theory Crew & RISER
At RISER, we work with thousands of everyday creators, and this update marks a huge shift in how their content can be discovered. With Instagram content now searchable on Google, the walls around social discovery are starting to come down.
This will reshape the creator economy by giving smaller creators more pathways to visibility, particularly those who don’t have huge followings but create high-quality, searchable content. It’s a reminder that content now needs to be understood by humans and search engines alike. Creators should focus on clarity, use natural keywords in spoken audio, on-screen text, and captions, and be specific about what their content is about. It’s no longer just about being seen in the feed, it’s about being findable everywhere. This opens up exciting new ways for creators to grow their audiences and for brands to discover talent that’s been hiding in plain sight.
Fabienne Fourquet , Co-Founder and CEO, 2btube
Instagram’s evolution from a social sharing app to a content discovery platform marks a turning point in the creator economy. As content becomes searchable on Google and driven by keywords, captions, and AI-based analysis, Instagram is positioning itself more like a publishing platform than a social network. This empowers creators to act more like media brands—optimizing content for search, visibility, and long-tail monetization. But it also raises important questions. For non-public users simply sharing personal moments, like photos of children, this shift could mean unintended exposure. AI can now surface content based on what’s visually in a post, not just hashtags—so a family photo might reach strangers’ feeds. As Instagram blurs the line between private sharing and public publishing, creators must adopt professional strategies, and everyday users may need to rethink privacy settings. The creator economy is gaining ground, but it’s changing the rules for everyone on the platform.
Sarah Jackson (CEO) and Molly DeMellier (COO), Sundaze PR
At Sundaze PR, we work with the tech brands powering the creator economy and believe that making Instagram content searchable on Google bridges a major discovery gap for creators. Until now, creators lived mostly inside walled gardens. This shift cracks that open, giving creators broader visibility beyond the app and into the wider web. This includes how they’re surfaced by AI models like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude, which rely on indexed content to recommend people, products, and ideas.
For brands, searchable content means better attribution, easier vetting, and stronger alignment when choosing collaborators. Looking at the ecosystem as a whole, it’s a step toward a more connected, scalable creator economy, one where talent isn’t limited by platform silos.
Dylan Huey, Founder and CEO, REACH
As a creator and talent manager, I think Instagram content being searchable on Google is a game-changer. It brings a new level of importance to SEO in the creator economy. I’ve always told my creator friends to be intentional with their captions, but now, it’s not just about engaging your followers; it’s about being discoverable beyond the platform. This shift means creators will need to think more like marketers: optimizing keywords, writing smarter captions, and aligning content with what people are searching for. It’s a new era of searchability where your Instagram post could be the first thing someone sees about you on Google. That increases visibility, drives traffic, and strengthens personal branding. It also levels the playing field: now niche creators have a chance to be found just as easily as mainstream influencers. At the end of the day, it’s all about staying relevant and being where the audience is looking.
Sarah Gerrish, Senior Director of Creator & Influencer, Movers+Shakers
Instagram content becoming Google-searchable will significantly reshape the creator economy. Most noticeably, it will boost creators’ audience sizes and attract new audiences by expanding reach beyond the app, as well as offer existing content a longer shelf life. This change will also provide creators with new monetization opportunities through increased brand partnerships and affiliate conversions.
However, with new innovations come challenges. To be successful in this new landscape, SEO will need to become a core skill for creators, with captions, bios, and alt text becoming critical for discoverability. Additionally, creators will face more competition and have less privacy.
Their fans and communities might see content strategies shift as they lean towards safer, keyword-rich content over authentic creation in order to drive performance.
Overall, I believe the benefits of this change outweigh the challenges, but it will definitely change how creators create and consumers consume content moving forward.
Dimitar Gougov, Chief Influence Officer and Partner, Mādin
Instagram content being indexed by Google is a game-changer for the creator economy. It extends reach beyond the app, giving creators and brands evergreen visibility through search. This makes content more valuable over time, especially for niche topics. With AI playing a bigger role in search ranking and personalization, creators who optimize captions, alt text, and metadata could see outsized benefits. AI will also surface the most relevant or high-performing content, rewarding those who create with both engagement and discoverability in mind. Ultimately, this shift merges social media with traditional search, opening new doors for monetization, SEO strategy, and brand reach.
Maria Rodriguez, Vice President of Communications. and Marketing, Open Influence
For creators and brands, this marks a pivotal shift: Instagram isn’t just a platform for engagement, but it’s now a discovery engine, blurring the lines between social media and traditional SEO.
There’s now more pressure on creators and brands to think strategically about content architecture, not just aesthetics, as captions become new real estate for SEO. Smart, keyword-rich captions can now help content surface on Google, and visual-first search opens new doors for niche content and long-tail discoverability.
Meanwhile, with AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude emerging as preferred search assistants, the question becomes: how do creators and marketers prepare for a world where discoverability happens outside traditional platforms? The key is to create content that’s not only engaging but also informative, structured, and indexable so it can live across search engines, AI tools, and social feeds alike.
Amy Cotteleer, Partner and Chief Experience Officer, Duncan Channon
Making Instagram content searchable on Google is absolutely going to expand the creator economy and will expose creator content to new audiences who may not even be on the platform. This means added reach, new ways to make money, and an increase in the value of past content. However, this also means creators will be seeing their content compete against more traditional and established websites, like YouTube, for Google search ranking. Since content creators are more visual in nature, they’ll need to focus on words to compete, so mastering SEO skills has never been more important. Using keywords, alt text, in-app captions, and metadata will be key to ensure content breaks through to search! There’s also a risk of older content hitting search without context, which could include outdated information and put creators in situations where their reputations could be at risk.
Megan Frantz, Senior Talent Manager, Sixteenth
Making Instagram content searchable on Google is a huge win for Creators. It boosts visibility beyond the app, giving posts a longer life and making it easier for new audiences to discover their work. This opens the door for more organic growth, especially for niche Creators who might not always surface in the algorithm. For brands, it adds lasting value to influencer campaigns by making content, CTAs and brand messaging easier to find, scale, and reference. Overall, this shift helps Creators get more eyes on their content, reach new communities, and build stronger digital footprints across platforms.
Rick Bhatia, Senior Talent Manager, Sixteenth
For Creators, this means their “reach” is no longer limited to the app so it’s now especially true that their digital presence extends beyond just their followers. While it’s an exciting shift, Creators may want to be more intentional about how they write captions and consider revisiting older posts that weren’t made with discoverability outside the app in mind. If embraced with the right strategies it could be a huge unlock for creators looking to grow their brands beyond the app.
Courtney Canfield, Influencer Marketing Strategist and Content Creator
As both a veteran content creator and former agency account director, I’ve seen firsthand that Instagram SEO has always mattered, but now that posts are indexing on Google, creators who understand searchability will win twice. I’ve had content ranking in Google for years for terms like “dog influencer” and “cat content creator” even though I only have 36K followers. So if I’m showing up, and bigger creators aren’t, that tells you how much untapped opportunity there is. With this update, your captions, keywords, and even how you structure your profile matter for reaching your audience AND for being discovered by brands, journalists, and other creators. My content ranked early because I consistently used specific, niche-relevant keywords across my public profile and content. With this new update, creators should be giving even more thought to their SEO keywords than before (if they were at all). This shift gives creators more control over discoverability outside the algorithm, and the ones who optimize will stand out.
Evan Wray, President of Later and Co-Founder of Mavely by Later
Instagram content being indexed by Google is a major signal that there’s a blurred line between traditional web content and social media. It gives creators newfound reach beyond the app since organic posts can now surface in search, bringing in audiences who may never have opened Instagram. For the creator economy, this means more visibility, more traffic to affiliate links and more value for brand partners. It also represents a maturation of the creator economy as a whole, validating creators as a scaled media channel and reinforcing their role as full-fledged small businesses competing in the broader digital marketplace. Platforms like Later and Mavely that support creator commerce are now even more powerful, and creators who optimize their bios, captions and CTAs will win.
Jenny Tsai, Founder, WeArisma
Creators already play a significant role in boosting brand discoverability, with 67% of Gen Z using Instagram for search. Now, with Instagram content becoming searchable on Google, creators’ content is no longer limited to in-app discovery – it can reach much broader and more diverse audiences, increasing creator ROI.
This shift expands opportunities for brands working with creators, especially those collaborating with micro and nano creators, whose posts may now appear in relevant search results and attract long-tail traffic, to grow brand discoverability, reach and long-term relevance.
For creators of all sizes, especially smaller-scale ones, this development highlights the rising importance of SEO-conscious content. Strategically optimized posts using keywords, alt text, and thoughtful tagging will be more likely to surface in search results, significantly extending the longevity and reach of creator content.
Benjamin Woollams, Founder & CEO, TrueRights
I think this relationship between Instagram and Google puts Instagram into a new league of content discovery. We’ve seen TikTok over the recent years position themselves as a discovery tool, rivalling search engines for inspiration and entertainment – this partnership now solidifies an ecosystem play where IG (and Meta) look to double down on their automations and partnerships. For creators this means longevity in content, discoverability and for those that are strategic, a more holistic approach to campaigns.
But this is bigger than that – we’re witnessing the death of the walled garden. Content creators won’t just be competing with others on Instagram anymore, but also with YouTube, blogs, and websites for top rankings, fundamentally reshaping how creators build audiences and generate revenue. A fashion influencer’s post about “”sustainable wedding dresses”” could now surface in Google search, funneling new traffic without paid promotions
This partnership offers creators a critical hedge against platform dependency. However, it also creates a new stratification: those who master SEO-driven content strategies will thrive, while creators focused purely on visual storytelling may struggle to maintain visibility.
We’re entering Creator Economy 2.0 (or perhaps even more like 10.0), where success requires mastering both platform-native engagement AND search optimisation. The winners won’t just be social media personalities – they’ll be omnichannel content strategists building searchable, sustainable content empires that transcend any single platform’s algorithm.
Jasmine Yoong, Founder, Envision Mum Influencer Agency
I think this could push the creator economy into a really interesting direction where it’s no longer just about who has the biggest following, but rather creators who are being more strategic with their content and copy to target the followers they are trying to attract. This shift can open doors for niche creators, like the mum influencers we work with at Envision, to build on their presence even further.
In marketing, we already focus heavily on keywords, brand messaging and searchability, so this isn’t a huge leap. But it does enable an additional avenue for customers to find what they’re looking for and for brands to increase their discoverability.
Overall, I see it as a great additional way for creators and brands to slightly refresh their strategy to stand out from the crowd and combat the potential oversaturation in their field, especially for those who adapt quickly and think about long-term brand building.
Casey Benedict, Founder and CEO, Maverick Mindshare
This update helps clean up the influencer ecosystem and rebalance the value chain.
The roots (and true power) of influencer marketing will come back to the forefront. Influencers with niche expertise will have an easier time being found for that expertise, which will strengthen their value proposition to brands.
Why?
Because smart brands know the quickest way to build awareness and purchase intent is to connect with the very consumer communities that influencers are already nurturing. Boosting influencers’ ability to grow aligned communities benefits the entire system and supercharges every investment.
Shatesha Scales, Supervisor & Paid Social, Rain the Growth Agency
This will positively impact the creator economy, especially as more consumers turn to social platforms as trusted search engines. Creators have already been optimizing their content for Instagram’s algorithm, but now they can prove the SEO value of that content more directly. With Instagram posts now appearing in Google search results, like Reddit, creators can show brands that their content ranks on Instagram and across the broader web. That’s a big deal for measurement—it adds a new layer of visibility and gives brands a more concrete way to track organic content performance.
It also reflects a broader shift in user behavior. Consumers increasingly trust social content, especially from verified creators, over traditional, faceless SEO blog posts. So, if a creator’s content surfaces on both Instagram and Google, it reinforces their value as a credible voice. Overall, I see this as a win for creators and brands alike.
Kira Henson, Director of Paid Social & Search, Good Apple
This update accelerates the blurring of search and social, as traditional search engines move closer to tools of visual discovery historically available only in social platforms. It also indicates that Google believes multi-platform video search (YouTube + Instagram) is necessary to compete with TikTok’s breadth of content.
Creators stand to gain visibility beyond Instagram’s walls, but in turn, they must master ‘Social SEO’ to compete in a complex new environment. The best creators will learn new avenues of discoverability on search engines to ensure they stay findable and relevant.
One interesting consideration will be what happens next. The door is now open for this newly indexed wealth of creator content to become prime fuel for training non-Meta AI (if allowed). While this promises to supercharge AI development, it also threatens to blur the line between authentic human content and its AI-generated counterpart—which could reshape the creator economy as we know it.
Christina Kavalauskas, Executive Strategy Director, Social & Creator, Deloitte Digital
With the evolution of algorithm-enabled social feeds, brands recognize the importance of being discoverable as nearly two out of three brands say that social search is a top priority for their 2025 social media strategy. Until now, brands focused on social platforms, but as social content gets indexed by search engines, they must consider how their content is prioritized beyond platform algorithms. This shift impacts social strategies and content visibility. Discoverability will increasingly depend on a brand’s ability to quickly identify and become a part of conversations around trending or widely searched topics both on-platform and within more search engines. Creators have proven to be an amplifier for discoverability in the past, there’s absolutely no reason to think it won’t also drive discoverability off-platform. Ultimately, this evolution gives brands one more reason to double down on the creator economy.
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