A free guide by Lauren Dallas Instagram

Your Instagram Posts Can Now Bring You Traffic From Google. Do These 7 Things.

Your Instagram post doesn't have to die three days after you publish it. Google has just made one of the biggest changes to social media search we've seen in a while. You can now connect supported Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and X accounts to Google Search Console and see how people are finding your content through Google - including what people searched before discovering your content, which posts Google is showing, how many impressions they're getting, how many people are clicking, and your average search position. And here's the important bit: it means the content you're creating today could still be bringing people into your world months - or even years - from now.

So rather than just telling you about the update, here's what I would actually do with it.

Seven things, in order, starting with the one you have to do before any of the rest of this works.

Step 1

Connect Your Instagram To Google Search Console

First: get the data. Go into Google Search Console and choose Add Property. If Platform Properties have rolled out to your account, you'll see the option to add a supported social platform such as Instagram. Connect your account and complete the verification process - Google says it can take a few days before data begins appearing. Once it does, don't just look at your total clicks. Go into the Performance data and look for Queries - the actual searches people made before your content appeared. This is basically Google handing you a content idea list.

Step 2

Find The Search Terms Already Working For You

This is where it gets good. Say you discover people are finding one of your posts after Googling "how to make reels with AI." Don't just celebrate the traffic - use it.
Turn that one proven search term into content like:
"How I make Reels with AI in 10 minutes"
"5 AI tools I use to create Instagram Reels"
"How to script an Instagram Reel using ChatGPT"
"The AI Reel workflow I use every week"
"3 mistakes you're making when creating Reels with AI."
And unlike randomly brainstorming content ideas, you already know people are searching for this.

Action

Open your Queries report. Take your top 5 relevant searches. Create 3 new pieces of content around each one.
You now have 15 content ideas based on actual search behaviour.

Step 3

Stop Giving Your Posts Vague Titles

If you want content to be found through search, make it ridiculously obvious what the content is about.
Compare "You need to see this 👀" to "5 ways to use AI to create Instagram content faster."
Mystery can help create curiosity, but if every title you write gives no indication of what your content is about, you're making it harder for both your audience and search engines to understand it.

Action

Before publishing, ask "If someone saw only the first sentence or title of this post, would they immediately know what problem it solves?" If the answer is no, rewrite it.

Step 4

Use The Words People Actually Search

Your audience doesn't necessarily search using the same clever marketing language you use. You might call something "The Infinite Content Method." Your audience might be searching "how to never run out of Instagram content ideas." If you see particular phrases repeatedly appearing inside Google Search Console, start naturally working them into your Reel hooks, on-screen text, captions, carousel titles, video topics and supporting hashtags. Don't keyword-stuff - just make sure the words your ideal customer is searching are actually present in your content.

Action

Pick ONE main search phrase for your next post. Use that topic in your hook, your spoken content and your caption. Keep the entire post focused around that one problem.

Step 5

Create Content Someone Would Google

Before creating your next post, ask "Would someone ever type this into Google?" "Monday thoughts ☕️" - probably not.
Instead, "How much should you charge for social media management?" or "Best AI tools for content creators" - those are problems people actively want solved. This doesn't mean every post has to be educational - you still want personality, stories, opinions, entertainment, connection. It means deliberately adding searchable, evergreen content into your strategy too.

Action

Make at least one-third of your content answer a specific question, problem or search.
Think: HOW TO..., BEST..., WHAT IS..., X VS Y, 5 WAYS TO..., MISTAKES TO AVOID..., STEP-BY-STEP..., WHY IS...

Step 6

Go Back Through Your Old Content

Here's something most people won't do: look at your old posts, especially ones that teach something, answer a common question, solve a problem, or used to perform well. Check whether Google is showing any of them - you may discover an old Reel quietly generating Google impressions long after you assumed it was dead. If you find one that's working, don't leave it alone. Create the updated version - a part two, a deeper explanation, a carousel, a YouTube video, a blog, a freebie. Your old content can tell you what to create next.

Action

Find your top 3 old posts getting Google impressions. For each one, create one follow-up piece answering the obvious next question.

Step 7

Don't Just Chase The Click. Give People Somewhere To Go.

Getting discovered is great, but traffic isn't the end goal. Imagine someone searches "how to make money from Instagram," discovers your Reel, and clicks your profile. Then what? If your profile is just a collection of random posts, you've wasted a huge part of the opportunity. Your content should create a path: Search → Content → Profile → Free resource → Offer. Look at your Instagram profile as if you've never seen yourself before - within five seconds, can someone tell who you help, what you help them do, why they should follow you, and what they should do next?

Real Talk

Content is becoming searchable everywhere.

If you want to actually do something with this today, here's the 30-minute version: 10 minutes to connect your Instagram to Google Search Console, 5 minutes to write down your five most interesting search queries, 5 minutes to see which posts are getting impressions, 5 minutes to turn your best query into three new content ideas, and 5 minutes to check that your bio gives a new visitor an obvious next step. That's it - don't make Instagram SEO another enormous strategy you need to master.

And that's exactly what I teach in my free class.

People aren't only consuming whatever Instagram decides to put in their feed anymore. They're searching Google. They're searching Instagram. They're searching YouTube and TikTok. They're asking AI. The businesses that win aren't the ones creating the most content - they're the ones creating the right content around what their audience is already looking for, and building a system that turns that attention into customers.

And that's exactly what I teach in my FREE Masterclass:

Free Training

From Content To Customers: How To Grow An Instagram Account That Actually Pays You

A stacked 60-minute masterclass revealing how I grew from 0 to 101K followers in 9 months and built 10 income streams from Instagram — without spending hours engaging or dancing in Reels.

In this training you'll learn:
1️⃣ Why starting a new account from 0 was my biggest advantage (and how to train the algorithm to work for you)
2️⃣ The 3 content types you're probably missing (and the AI system I use to post 2–3 times a day)
3️⃣ My "Micro-Monetisation Method" - how to start generating income with only a few hundred followers

Save My Free Seat → →