Instagram has notified professional account holders that search engines will ‘automatically be allowed to show all photos and videos’ from 10 July this year. It’s a rollout that could have far-reaching consequences for brands, creators and the wider digital advertising landscape.
The official wording, sent only to professional accounts, such as businesses and influencers, is coy: ‘From 10 July 2025, search engines will automatically be allowed to show all photos and videos on results pages. This means that more people could discover content from your professional account outside of Instagram.’
According to social media experts, this almost certainly refers to the ‘Allow public photos and videos to appear in search engine results’ toggle that appeared on the platform last year. When switched on, it allows search engines like Google to index public posts and surface them beyond Instagram. Until now, that setting has been off by default, meaning users had to opt in. From July 10, the expectation is that it will be on for all professional accounts unless they opt out.
It won’t apply to the 85% of users with personal accounts, which will remain hidden from search indexing — at least, for now.
The change may seem small, but it marks the most significant shift in Instagram’s relationship with the open web to date. In an interview with Build Your Tribe earlier this year, Instagram boss Adam Mosseri said: ‘We’re trying to do better at having content from creators on Instagram surface in search results for Google and other search providers because I just think that’s a win-win for everybody.’
SEO expert Lindsey Gamble points out that while some headlines have mistaken this for a brand new feature, the real news is how Instagram is making it the default — and what that signals.
He writes: ‘Either way, this points to a larger trend. Social platforms and AI-powered search engines are becoming primary tools for content discovery, helping users find products, local spots, creators, and news. This change gives creators and brands a new opportunity to increase visibility and traffic to their Instagram accounts, especially if they take the time to optimise their posts.’
Social consultant Matt Navarra agrees the update offers advantages for creators, but describes the change as a double-edged sword.
‘On the one hand it’s a massive opportunity for visibility, brands can get discovered through search without solely relying on Instagram’s algorithm. On the other hand it’s there for the whole world to see forever, once it’s indexed it’s pretty hard to get rid of anything on the internet these days. It will be part of your permanent digital footprint.’
For marketers, that means rethinking how Instagram fits into a broader digital strategy. ‘It’s not just about posting for your followers anymore, it’s about creating content that works for both Instagram and search engines,’ Navarra adds. ‘That means optimising captions, key words, text for images, geotagging it for discoverability and more.
‘The kicker is that nowadays it’s not just about traditional SEO as it once was. With the rise of AI-powered search engines and Google’s search generative experience and ChatGPT, your content does need to be optimised for those platforms as well.’
The bigger picture here is platform competition. Instagram has been trying to claw back ground from TikTok, which has redefined how younger audiences discover content online. While Instagram still narrowly has more users, TikTok holds a clear advantage when it comes to engagement and reach. In 2024, according to data from statistics company ElectroIQ, the average TikTok post achieved a 2.5% engagement rate — five times higher than Instagram’s. TikTok users are also far more likely to share content beyond the platform, with the average video shared 170 times compared to just 40 for Instagram.
Moving away from its previous walled-garden approach is a deliberate strategy from Instagram to stay competitive. Increasing visibility for public posts will go some way to helping it catch up with TikTok, which itself stepped up efforts to secure the dominant position last month by releasing Bulletin Boards to some users — its take on Instagram’s successful Broadcast Channels feature.
It’s also part of a wider trend of social platforms increasingly positioning themselves as search tools, not just social networks. As Gamble notes: ‘TikTok is often considered the leader in social media search, but Instagram, along with platforms like YouTube, is clearly working to strengthen its own discovery capabilities.’
Main image by Solen Feyissa on Unsplash.
