As Instagram advanced to become a full-fledged social media platform from a simple photo-sharing app, the Facebook-owned company has brought a ton of changes to its app to improve user experience very recently. Amongst others, the Search and Explore functionality on Instagram has evolved to become more relevant and user-friendly than ever. So, in a recent detailed blog post, Instagram chief Adam Mosseri explained how the platform’s search functionality actually works.
Instagram Search: Explained in Detail (2021)
In the blog post, Mosseri explained a few significant features that the Search functionality on Instagram leverages to deliver relevant search results while keeping them safe for the users. So, when a user searches for a certain topic or account on Instagram, the company makes sure they get the most relevant results curated for them.
Ranking Search Results
The first thing that Instagram Search does is rank the search results based on their relevance to the users. To do this right, the platform leverages other data from accounts, hashtags, and places, which are essentially called Signals, to rank and curate the search results of users.
Mosseri explained some of the elements that the search functionality on Instagram uses to rank your search results. They are:
- Your text in Search – One of the primary elements on which your Instagram search results will depend is the text you enter in the search field. So, once you start typing texts into the search bar on Instagram, the search tool matches relevant usernames, places, and bios to deliver appreciable search results.
- Your Activity – Other than the search text, the search tool also takes your activity on the platform into account. This includes accounts you follow, posts you have viewed, with which accounts you interacted in the past, and how. This way, it is able to deliver exactly what you are looking for on the search results page.
- Search Results Information – In the case of several potential search results, the search functionality also takes popularity signals into account. These include accounts, posts, or places, that have many likes, shares, and clicks.
How Instagram Keeps Search Safe
Mosseri also explained the ways through which the company keeps the search functionality remain safe for users. So, as per the Instagram head, the company restricts accounts that spam posts or violate the guidelines to show up at the top of the search results. For these kinds of accounts, users must put their full username on a search bar to find them on the platform.
Furthermore, the company balances the search results for sensitive topics with “additional safety measures” to ensure that no harmful content shows up on your search results page. Plus, the company entirely removes accounts, posts, and hashtags that violate the Community Guidelines, which prevents them from showing up as a search result.
How to Show up at the Top on Instagram Search
Now, other than explaining the technical details about Instagram’s Search function, Mosseri also provided some tips that will enable your account or posts to show up at the top of the search results page.
That company says you should use a “fitting handle and profile name” for your Instagram account. It should match with the type of content you share on the platform and will enable other users to easily look for your account on Instagram.
Other than this, you should use relevant hashtags, keywords, and locations in your Instagram profile bio as well as your posts to enable you to show up at the top of search results. These tips come from the head of Instagram, so you should include them in your profile to make you easily discoverable.
Future Plans for Instagram Search
So, these are some of the ways using which Instagram’s Search function works. Going forward, the company aims to introduce various new design improvements for search to better its performance and discoverability capabilities. The company says it is moving towards “a full search results page experience that makes it even easier to go deep on your interests.”
Moreover, Instagram will further improve the keyword search function of its search tool and add support for more languages other than English in the future.
This is How Instagram Search Works!
Now, this is how Instagram’s Search function works. So if you are a content creator or an influencer, take this article as an educative story and try to make the most of the tips and tricks to appear in the search on Instagram. Also, this way, you will be able to discover more content on the platform while keeping your search results litter-free. If you found this educational resource helpful, do share it with other content creators and friends. Also, if you have any queries, do let us know in the comments section below.
