Why Google indexing Instagram is game changer for travel trade

With Instagram posts now showing up in Google searches for the first time, travel brands should rethink their marketing strategies to make the most of this increased exposure.

 

That means applying the same SEO principles to Instagram posts that marketeers in the travel trade do for their websites.

 

Google searches will now display public content – including photos, videos, carousels and reels – from more than 200 million professional Instagram accounts. These include Business and Creator accounts, so cover brands and individuals such as travel bloggers and influencers.

 

This is significant as Instagram is widely regarded as the social media platform of choice for the travel industry, thanks to its ability to showcase destinations through inspirational images and video.

 

Not only that, but Instagram is also seriously influential, with 71% of travel brands saying the platform delivers the most traffic and highest levels of engagement.

 

The hashtags #travel and #vacation are used more than 200 million times every month and rank higher than #food and #music. 

 

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A recent report from Phocuswright says 65% of travellers who used social media for trip planning made a purchase or visit decision based on content they came across while scrolling.

 

“Visual Instagram content – which many travel brands today lead with – could now outrank traditional articles when they better match search intent, especially as Google’s evolving ranking systems increasingly favour engaging, multichannel content over static, keyword-heavy pages for certain terms,” said Claire Elsworth, Strategy Director at performance marketing agency Impression. 

 

Elsworth says travel brands should start optimising Instagram content in the same way they would a product page or website landing page. That means taking greater care with captions to make them SEO friendly, using alt text and a hashtag strategy that both aligns with your brand and taps into trends.

 

“Ultimately, those travel brands that adopt an integrated social-SEO strategy will be best placed to capitalise on this shift,” said Elsworth. 

 

Instagram is late to the party when it comes to being discoverable on Google. Twitter, now X, has had Tweets indexed since 2009, and TikTok since 2020. YouTube, which was acquired by Google in 2006, has long been a prominent feature of searches.

 

A Meta company, like Instagram, Facebook posts from businesses started being prioritised by Google in late 2021. 

 

Recognising the power of social media, Dubai Tourism earlier this year launched an academy for travel content creation.

 

For more information, visit www.instagram.com and blog.google and www.impressiondigital.com