Instagram posts became Google-searchable this summer: What to know

At the beginning of this summer, if a homeowner Googled a specific, HVAC-related question, the search engine would surface responses primarily from a myriad of HVAC company blog posts and YouTube videos. 

If an ideal answer, however, were tucked away in a contractor’s Instagram post, they would have had to open the app separately to find it. But not anymore.

What’s happening: Instagram mid-summer began allowing search engines to ‘index’ posts from business accounts, automatically enabling companies’ photos, videos, and Reels, along with their captions, to show up in results. 

• Why it matters: The move expands the discoverability of contractors’ Instagram content, transforming the platform into what analysts have called a “searchable content powerhouse.”

State of play: The feature has been enabled by default and can be toggled on and off in Instagram’s privacy settings. 

• Company bio sections now effectively serve as mini-webpages, as information reflecting services and location can be indexed and ranked. 
• And captions “function as searchable text” that can also be displayed, writes news site PPC Land. “The first line of Instagram captions now operates similarly to webpage titles in search results.” 

Go deeper: Oklahoma-based Yarbrough & Sons, for instance, offers customers $50 off a day’s service for allowing them to place a sign in their yards, with technicians receiving a $20 spiff for snapping a picture, marketing director Bryce McElhaney explains. 

• That image then gets posted on Instagram with a caption outlining why the customer called, how the problem was solved, and the specific location — details that now increase the company’s chances of appearing in the results when someone searches for related terms. 

What they’re saying: “We see Google’s indexing update as a huge opportunity to reach customers in their own neighborhoods,” said Jake Winchell, sales and marketing director at Arkansas-based Paschal Air, Plumbing & Electric, in an email to Homepros. 

• “By leveraging geo-tags and location-specific hashtags on Instagram, we can spotlight each community we serve — from legacy markets to new territories — so that local Google searches surface our posts alongside traditional results,” he added. 

The bottom line: The move not only aligns with a broader trend toward multi-platform content strategies, but also “represents the clearest signal yet that social content now functions as core digital marketing infrastructure rather than supplementary brand building activity,” PPC Land adds.