Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, announced they are working on improved search capabilities. Instagram plans, as revealed, to highlight photos and videos in search results in the future. The change could show a grid of photos and videos linked with a search for a particular keyword. Results for accounts and hashtags will also appear, a bit like what happens on TikTok.
The new Instagram research
The research modification is part of “a series of enhancements designed for inspiration and discovery,” according to Mosseri. The company used the keyword search as a method of offering visual results: its purpose is to give them more space and prominence on the platform.
Mosseri writes that searching with a term like “space” will show results of Photo e video suggested together with traditional accounts and ai hashtag, encouraging more exploration. The visual results will still live behind the tap of a keyword but they should be more prominent e common.
Instagram’s current keyword research is pretty hit or miss, however; it does not always offer relevant results. That’s why Mosseri says the company also stands expanding the number of terms that will show these results. We will start with English and then we will proceed forward, from there. At the moment, Instagram has not yet revealed a release date.
Instagram’s main criterion for the results it displays is the relevance, according to Mosseri. The company has a number of “signals” that it takes into account when show results. We report them below, in order of importance.
- The text in the search: The text entered in the search bar is by far the most important element for the search bar. Instagram tries to match what we type with relevant usernames, biographies, captions, hashtags, and places.
- The activity: This includes the accounts we follow, the posts we have viewed, and how we have interacted with the accounts in the past. Usually Instagram shows the accounts and hashtags we follow or visit higher than the ones we don’t follow.
- Information on search results: When there are a lot of potential results, Instagram also looks for signs of popularity. These include the number of clicks, likes, shares and followers for a particular account, hashtag or place.
These same tips also apply to the way in whichour content appears. The platform looks at the text in our Instagram bio, our location, and captions on individual posts to determine if our content is relevant to a given search. The company is also looking for di filter content that violates its guidelines of recommendation, including sensitive topics such as violence or semi-nudity.