Instagram Opens Its Gates: Public Content to Appear on Google and Bing
Starting July 10, Instagram will allow Google and Bing to index public content from professional accounts, marking a major shift in how the platform handles visibility and searchability. The move could dramatically boost discoverability for creators, marketers, and brands outside Instagram’s app ecosystem.
Until now, Instagram has kept most content within its own walls, accessible only to logged-in users. But with this change, eligible posts, reels, and videos from professional accounts will begin to appear in open web search results—making them viewable even to users who don’t use Instagram at all.
Who’s Included—and Who’s Not
The indexing update applies to:
Public professional accounts
Users over 18 years old
Content published on or after January 1, 2020
Excluded from indexing are:
Private or personal accounts
Content published before 2020
Stories, highlights, and some other non-post formats
Instagram users received in-app notifications stating:
“Search engines will be automatically enabled to display all photos and videos on their results pages.”
This means content could now surface in search results alongside websites, blogs, and YouTube videos, making Instagram a more open and powerful tool for brand reach.
How to Opt Out If You Choose To
If you’re not comfortable with your content showing up outside the platform, Instagram gives you a few ways to opt out:
Switch to a personal account
Set your profile to private
Disable indexing through your privacy settings
However, Meta clarified that while it allows indexing, it does not control how search engines display or store this content. Meta has also asked that platforms exclude non-post content like stories and highlights.
Why This Matters for Creators and Marketers
For creators and businesses, this policy could be a game-changer. Until now, Instagram content relied heavily on in-app features like hashtags and the Explore tab to boost reach. But now, with public content visible through Google and Bing, creators can reach entirely new audiences, including non-Instagram users.
This expands Instagram’s SEO potential significantly, placing content alongside traditional search-friendly formats like blogs and product pages.
A Strategic Pivot Toward Openness
This move reflects a broader trend in social media—platforms opening up content to increase relevance, accessibility, and search traffic. For Meta, it’s also a strategic push to help creators monetize and grow their audiences more effectively by tapping into search engine visibility.
Whether this will lead to greater engagement remains to be seen, but it certainly gives marketers more tools to play with—and more places to be found.
Stay tuned to Maple Wire for more updates in digital trends and platform strategies.
