How to grow using the search function
The search function of Instagram is really undervalued, it basically is another stream of possible followers to your account but a lot of people don’t know how to use it properly. In this guide I will be explaining how you can be able to grow via the search function without a lot of hassle, this can be set up in a few minutes but it all depends on how much research time you want to put into this.
How does the search function work?
The search function uses keywords found in your “Full Name”, it is the bolded part on your profile where you are supposed to put your name on a personal page. Next to that it also ranks the accounts with that keyword based on engagement. That is why, for example, when searching for puppies, the first account that will pop up is not @puppies but @pups. @Pups is ranking 1st because the account is getting 110K-250k likes per picture while @Puppies is ranking 5th because it is only getting 500 likes per picture. This of course is different per account because ‘search’ is filled with algorithmic stuff, but use the engagement as a rule of thumb to predict where an account would land under certain keywords.
Choosing the right keywords
Choosing the right keyword to put in your full name doesn’t require a lot of explanation. Your keyword can also be multiple words, and don’t be afraid to do that as well! ‘Hot Boys’ can be working just as good as ‘Boys’. But you should be focusing on 2 things.
Your account should have enough engagement to compete with the top 3 accounts under that keyword
The keyword that you are going to be using should be something that a user would search.
Once you nail those 2, you should be golden
Why you should do this
Can be implemented in a few minutes.
Really easy to implement
Totally free to do
TIP:
Use an incognito browser to always get non-personalized search results. This way you can see where your own account is ranking and what other accounts are ranking under that search term.
Where do you draw the line between keyword optimization and keyword stuffing?
What are your thoughts on changing names? Week 1 - puppies / Week 2 - pups / Week 3 - adorable little puppies?
Do you know if any way to track any of these traffic sources? Due to the personalized way of doing things that IG has switched to, everyone sees different things when they search.
Where do you draw the line between keyword optimization and keyword stuffing?
The search function is really algorithmic so I suggest to do it on feel, I’ve seen some very big accounts putting in 3 keywords “Fitness | Health | Gains” for example but I always go for a single search term like “cute puppies” or “cat videos”. These are keywords that can actually be searched by people while not being dominated by huge accounts/
What are your thoughts on changing names? Week 1 - puppies / Week 2 - pups / Week 3 - adorable little puppies?
You should be changing names according to your engagement, so I wouldn’t change it every week. Changing it to a better one every time that you double your engagement should be better/ What you could also try is changing it temporarily when you go viral, haven’t tested this but when you are going viral Instagram really likes your profile so an algorithmic thing like search should really favour you at that moment.
Do you know if any way to track any of these traffic sources? Due to the personalized way of doing things that IG has switched to, everyone sees different things when they search
Yes, like I said, this part of Instagram is very algorithmic. If someone searches for ‘puppies’ and then taps on the 3rd account, that 3rd account will now appear first for that person whenever he searches ‘puppies’. That is why a good logo is very important (Publishing a thread on good logos in the upcoming days).
But anyways, what you are going for is people that are searching a term for the first time. So let’s say someone wants to receive football news in their feeds, they will either search for ‘Football’ or ‘Football news’, these kind of people are the ones that are going to be driven to your account.
For the tracking part, there is absolutely no way of tracking this. You could use google keyword planner for inspiration but people just search different things on Insta compared to google. No one is going to search questions or products on Instagram.
TIP:
Use an incognito browser to always get non-personalized search results. This way you can see where your own account is ranking and what other accounts are ranking under that search term.
I’d like to add a personal variation I do, and that’s monitoring the keywords I have in mind with Google Trends occasionally one of the keywords gets a Spike in popularity, and then it makes sense to (temp.) use that one in the name momentum helps
occasionally one of the keywords gets a Spike in popularity, and then it makes sense to (temp.) use that one in the name 
