By Matt Derby Bigger than Zendaya and Tom Holland. More failed podcast ventures than Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. That’s right: Instagram and Google are about to change how your Instagram content gets seen.
As of July 10, 2025, your business Instagram posts are searchable on Google. And it probably is going to have as big an impact on the culture as Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce.
So what’s the deal? As anyone who has ever tried to see what their college ex was doing while on a work computer would know (author’s note: I have NEVER done this completely hypothetical thing), Instagram for years has been a walled garden: accessible only by people who are also on the app, with limited visibility from computers and especially from search crawlers. Now, that’s all changing, at least for businesses: if someone searches for “latest on Gaza” or “cute puppies,” the first thing that someone might see is an Instagram post from the International Rescue Committee or ASPCA. That Instagram content will show up just like full websites and news articles do currently.
By the way, this change only affects business profiles, not individuals – so unless your college ex has made a hard pivot to, I dunno, shilling supplements as a seed-oil-free influencer, I regret to inform that this change will be of little use for your personal internet-stalking purposes.
So what does this mean for nonprofits? Glad you asked.
The first issue is just simply realizing that everything you did on Instagram is now public. While that might not be as embarrassing as J-Lo suddenly seeing her love posts about Ben Affleck show up right alongside her album release, it’s still possible that not every Instagram post fits into your broader brand guidelines. For instance, you might have had more leniency to post your CEO doing the ice bucket challenge on Instagram in a way that you may not have been able to do on your website. Every post now requires careful consideration for a wider, potentially professional, audience (e.g., funders, media). That includes content that relies on in-the-moment context that might have been clear in 2018, but could seem downright strange now. And thanks to Google’s caching mechanisms, even deleted content may be searchable for an extended period of time.
But more important than minimizing risk is finding ways to take advantage of this change. Your visual content can now reach a significantly larger audience, including individuals actively searching for solutions or causes aligned with your mission who may not be Instagram users. This expands your potential reach beyond your existing follower base. An optimized Instagram profile can now function as a searchable online presence, potentially ranking for key terms relevant to your organization. This offers a low-cost and potentially more effective alternative or supplement to traditional website SEO efforts.
While I wouldn’t go so far to say as this completely changes how you should prioritize organic posts, content created for Instagram can now serve a dual purpose, driving discovery through Google search. That’s a big advantage if you’re considering focusing on one social media platform vs. another (and especially if you’re already doing that for other reasons).
So what should you do right now?
It’s early on, but here’s our best suggestion for what to do while this is still new is to consider taking a fresh look at your Instagram content strategy with searchability and maximum reach in mind.
- Ensure you have a steady stream of mission-based and case-for-giving Instagram posts: If there’s any chance that this shift will bring new donors to your organization, this seems like the easiest way to capture that new attention. Make sure you have fundraising links in posts and on your Instagram bio. Consider including some of your top-performing Google Ad keywords into your caption, alt text and especially hashtags! Hashtags apparently are better for search algorithms and so they are going to be all the retro rage.
- Start to brainstorm other ways to illustrate your organization’s impact in a visual medium: Move beyond descriptive text by visually demonstrating your impact. Use “before and after” examples, share stories of beneficiaries (with consent), and provide behind-the-scenes glimpses of your operations. This is especially true for reels, which are highly compatible with search algorithms (even though they take a bit more work).
- Foster engagement on Instagram: This might not have been a priority for you now, but consider actively responding to comments, posing questions in captions, and running polls. While we don’t exactly know how this will work, it’s likely that Google’s algorithms will value high engagement signals in some way.
The integration between Instagram and Google introduces both challenges and substantial opportunities. By adopting a strategic and informed approach, your nonprofit can effectively navigate this new digital landscape and enhance its online discoverability and impact.