Instagram on Google: will indexing rules change from July 10?
From July 10, 2025, Instagram content will automatically be available for indexing by search engines. Many users around the world are currently receiving an in-app notification announcing this change: public posts from professional accounts will be able to appear directly in organic search results if users choose to enable the feature in their account settings. This is not a new revolution: we have been noticing it for years, and SEOZoom has documented the growing presence of social content within Google’s SERPs. Reels, videos, carousels, and profiles have also been visible outside the platform for months. So what really changes?
What Instagram’s message says
The message that appeared within the app is clear: “Starting July 10, 2025, public content from professional accounts may appear in search engine results.” It should be noted that public photos and videos will be included and that the feature can be manually managed in the privacy settings, in the section dedicated to visibility.
So far, this would seem to be something new, but those who work in digital know that Instagram content is already widely visible in Google SERPs for millions of queries, often in prominent positions. This is the point that causes the most confusion: if Google already indexes and ranks reels, posts, and profiles, what will really change on July 10?
To answer this question, we need to look at a technical detail that is often overlooked.
Instagram has always asked search engines not to index its content
In its official documents, Instagram specifies that it requires search engines to not index its content (posts, profiles, reels, videos). It does this through robots.txt files and noindex tags, which function as a request to respect public privacy, but do not represent an absolute technical block. The content is still accessible and, if found by crawlers or linked from other sources, can still be indexed.
Google, in fact, has chosen to partially ignore this request, indexing millions of public posts from Instagram. Other search engines — such as Bing and DuckDuckGo — follow the guidelines more strictly, but not uniformly.
The real news, therefore, is the shift from an implicit technical request to an explicit option that can be controlled by the user. This is an opt-in mechanism, which introduces an unprecedented level of individual control. From July 10, every creator with a professional account will be able to choose whether to leave their public content indexable or not, whether to limit visibility to the platform only, excluding it entirely from external results. And this possibility introduces a new dynamic: not everyone will want to “leave” Instagram, not everyone will want to be visible on Google.
It’s like having a blog set to noindex: the content remains accessible, but is not shown in search results. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing: those who work for communities or direct traffic may prefer to remain visible only on the platform itself—a conscious choice.
Social media visibility on Google? We’ve been monitoring it for years
Those who work with SEOZoom are already familiar with this dynamic: the presence of social content in Google SERPs is not a recent discovery, but a phenomenon that we have been observing and analyzing systematically since at least 2023. Even then, we had noticed a clear sign: social networks were gaining ground in organic results, with content appearing in prominent positions for all types of queries.
Ivano reminded us of this at SEOZoom day 2025: almost 40% of Italian SERPs feature at least one piece of social content, with differences depending on vertical market sectors and a clear overall predominance of YouTube (present in 43% of cases).
If we look only at Instagram, it appears in 11% of cases, and an in-depth analysis (to date) provides us with figures that speak for themselves:
- 669,359 are the keywords for which Instagram content is present in the top 10 of Google Italy
- 613,495 are the Instagram reels currently indexed by Google
- Indexing covers all types of public formats: single posts, carousels, videos, reels, and even profiles.
Further processing has also allowed us to track the distribution of Instagram content by position: the data shows a high frequency from the second position onwards, with an absolute peak in fourth place. We are talking about hundreds of thousands of occurrences per position.
These volumes are not accidental. These are not isolated cases or anomalies: social content is an integral part of the organic landscape—and social signals have always been useful to algorithms. Anyone searching Google for current news, information on art and entertainment, or curiosities about tourism, sports, and TV is highly likely to be referred to a link leading to an Instagram resource.
If Google takes away organic traffic, a broader strategy is needed
For weeks, there has been nothing but talk of a drop in organic traffic, and we have seen it: the arrival of AI Overview has further significantly changed the structure of SERPs. Depending on the type of search and the market, these AI-generated boxes appear in between 16% and 42% of queries. And every time they appear, the impact is measurable: according to various studies, the CTR of the top organic positions drops by an average of between 34% and 37%.
Industry data is consistent: in the presence of AI Overview, organic traffic can drop by as much as 64%, with classic results increasingly marginalized in favor of interactive boxes, widgets, carousels, and integrated content.
Therefore, organic traffic from Google is no longer the only resource on which to base the visibility of a brand or editorial project, not least because we are witnessing a progressive shift in attention towards visual, dynamic, and integrated content. In this context, social media becomes an active component of SERPs, and not just an “external” source of traffic.
The consequence is clear: those who work on content must think in a multi-channel way, leveraging every opportunity to intercept searches — whether they are articles, videos, reels, posts, or profiles. The rigid separation between SEO and social media is now no longer realistic or strategically advantageous. New visibility is also built through other channels, and content published on social media — if designed consciously — can intercept real traffic from Google, with direct benefits in terms of brand awareness, discovery, and conversion.
Social Opportunities: the SEOZoom module that analyzes the visibility of social content
But how? Back in 2023, we introduced Social Opportunities, a module designed to analyze how much and how social media occupies space in Google SERPs. This is not a side feature: it is a central tool for those who work on multiple fronts and want to understand in which cases and for which search intents social content gains organic visibility.
This tool is designed for those who work with blogs, magazines, editorial projects, and professional profiles that produce content on multiple channels and allows you to:
- view the keywords for which TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, or Pinterest appear in SERPs
- evaluate content distribution by type and position
- understand if and how to replicate a winning strategy on your social channels, leveraging the potential of direct positioning.
The system reports which types of content work best, which platforms have the most exposure, and where there is real potential to rank even without going through a proprietary site.
An evolving platform: in the new version of SEOZoom, monitoring is comprehensive
The new version of SEOZoom, currently in beta, further expands multi-channel analysis. In addition to the Social Opportunities module, you will find:
- social competitor analysis, with comparable indicators and direct comparisons
- social monitoring tools to keep track of content performance on Instagram, TikTok, and other platforms
- new dashboards that combine classic SEO, social visibility, and multi-format content in a single strategic view
The goal is to provide a platform that meets the real needs of those who work with online visibility today: no more silos between website and social media, between SEO and branding, between organic traffic and discovery.
Visibility outside Instagram: choice or sacrifice?
In short, no revolution (unless there are sensational denials), but explicit control available to users: from July 10, Instagram allows professional accounts to decide whether to make their content publicly indexable by search engines, activating a formal transition that makes an already existing process visible and manageable.
Google has already shown that it ignores noindex tags on much Instagram content, and today millions of posts, reels, and profiles appear regularly in SERPs. The real difference is that now every creator can decide whether to participate in this dynamic or remain visible only within the platform.
At a time when AI Overview and AI Mode are reducing the space and clicks reserved for organic results—with traffic losses exceeding 60% in some cases—diversifying visibility channels is no longer an option. It is a necessity.
There is another side to the story: people haven’t stopped looking for information, they’ve just changed channels. According to Forrester, 32% of users in the US have used Instagram in the last month to search for content. This confirms something we’ve been saying for a long time at SEOZoom: social media is no longer “just” social media, but real spaces for discovery, research, and visibility that are useful even outside the platform’s logic.
And the content published there—if made indexable—can contribute significantly to the overall visibility of a brand, an editorial project, or a content marketing strategy.
Instagram’s opt-in feature doesn’t change the rules. But it makes it clearer that visibility is no longer limited to the website. And those who work on content need to take this into account.
FAQ
- What exactly will happen on July 10, 2025, on Instagram?
Professional accounts will be able to activate an option to allow (or prevent) their public content from being indexed by search engines. This is not a technical change for Google, but a native Instagram feature to give users control.
- Does this feature also apply to personal accounts?
No, according to the current announcement, it only applies to public professional accounts. There is no information about any future extensions.
- Didn’t Google already show Instagram content?
Yes. Google has been indexing Instagram content for years, including reels, posts, profiles, and public videos. The change seems to be in the conscious control given to the user.
- Does the option affect Google or other search engines as well?
The message refers generically to “search engines,” but it is very likely that the most direct and relevant interaction will be with Google, since Google already displays Instagram content in SERPs. Other engines (such as Bing or Yahoo) may follow suit, but there is no specific confirmation.
- Will disabling this feature affect my visibility?
Yes, in the sense that your content will no longer be accessible via external searches. It’s like setting an entire site to “noindex”: it remains accessible on Instagram, but disappears from Google.
