Boosting Your Visibility on the Instagram Explore Page in 2026

Published on 23.03.2026 by Chizoba T

When developing a good Instagram marketing strategy, one of the most important factors is appearing in the Instagram Explore feed. As a valuable resource where Instagram users discover new content, the Explore page offers businesses a great opportunity to get their brand in front of new audiences.

The explore page serves as an organic, high-exposure tool that connects users with new audiences beyond the accounts they currently follow. With over half of Instagram accounts interacting with visuals on the Explore page, this offers brands a great opportunity to drive growth and increase their engagement. In this blog, we take you through the Instagram explore page and provide actionable tips on how to leverage it to gain more followers and visibility. We also show you why this is one of the top social media lead generation strategies. Buckle up and join us on this journey.

Understanding How the Instagram Explore Page Works

If you are active on Instagram, you most likely have come across the icons at the bottom of your page. One of these consists of an enlarging glass close to the home feed. This is the Explore page, which appears when you hit the search button on your account, marked by the magnifying glass. When your content appears in this spot, it can reach audiences beyond those following your account. 

The explore page features various types of content, including photos and videos. This content is curated from the page algorithm to provide Instagram users with the kind of content they want to see. If you are a brand, this can be a great place to connect with new audiences outside your current following. Appearing here increases your chances of going viral even when your followers share your content.

The Instagram algorithm analyzes how you interact with the Platform and determines the kinds of content you are likely to engage with. This is beneficial for creators and brands because it means their content can reach people they haven't connected with, as long as those people are interested in their niche. The Explore page also lets users discover Stories from IG accounts they may be interested in. 

Difference Between Explore and Feed

Before we go deeper into how to appear in Instagram Explore, let us learn how it differs from the feed.

  • On the Instagram feed, users are shown content from the accounts they are already following
  • The explore page suggests content from the accounts they aren't following, but Instagram believes they might be interested in, by studying their actions.

However, it is worth noting that there is also some suggested content on the Instagram feed.

Factors Determining the Content to Appear on the  Instagram Explore Page

The Instagram algorithm determines the content to appear on the Explore page. Some of the factors it considers are:

  • Watch time. This metric measures the time users spend watching your content. It is considered one of the leading factors that the IG algorithm takes into account. If you spend enough time creating quality and original content, you will be rewarded with appearing on the Explore page.
  • Engagement rate. If people are liking, commenting, sharing, and saving your posts, the algorithm interprets this as a sign of interest in your content. This is especially true when they engage immediately after you have posted. Instagram suggests that the engagement rate matters more on Explore than on Stories or Feed.
  • Authenticity. If you post content with a watermark or repost content, it won't appear on the explore page. However, original content will find its space on the explore feed.
  • Consistency. By consistently posting outstanding content that is in line with the Instagram community rules, you will be in a better position to appear on the Explore page.
  • Account standing. If you are using shady tricks or copy-catting, you will struggle to appear on the explore page.

Now, let us look at exactly how the algorithm on the explore page works:

  • Instagram creates a content pool depending on what the user has watched, saved, and liked.
  • The pool is ranked, and the top posts appear on the Explore page. That is the content that grabs the most attention.

This means the IG algorithm considers all content on Instagram and ranks it based on user engagement. Even if someone doesn't follow your account and likes other creators making similar content, they are likely to see your content as high-quality and original, and to receive high engagement. When combined with an outstanding Instagram bio, this is likely to convert visitors into followers.

Top Strategies for Appearing in the Instagram Explore Page

To increase your chances of appearing in the Instagram Explore page, use the following tips:

Understand Your Audience

Instagram will only show your content to users if it thinks it's relevant to them and they are more likely to interact with it. That means one of the most important factors it considers is relevancy.

Given that both Facebook and Instagram have extensive data on users and the content they share, it is clear that they understand the kinds of content each user is searching for. If they determine you like Football content, they are more likely to show such kind of content. So, how do you determine the kind of content that people in your niche are searching for? The best way to do that is to get ideas on the Explore page.

For instance, if you run a page on healthy meals, you should look at the kind of healthy meals content appearing in your own Explore page. You should also create an audience persona to better understand the type of Explore page you want to appear in. Once you have determined this, you can now create the kind of content that your audience personas are more interested in. You should find out the following key details to get a clear picture of your audience persona:

  • Age range
  • Hobbies and interests
  • Income
  • Geographical location
  • Likes and dislikes
  • Pain points

After defining your audience persona, you can now focus on creating content tailored to their needs. You can also leverage Instagram analytics and third-party social listening tools to better understand which content is driving the highest engagement. Additionally, ask yourself several questions to get a clear picture of your audience. These include:

  • Who are you targeting?
  • What kind of content are they interested in?
  • Which pages are they following?
  • What kind of content do they post?

If you are a local business, you can use the Places or search features to see the kinds of content that are regularly posted.

Post Outstanding and Original Content

Avoid the temptation of just posting without a plan. As noted earlier, Instagram is looking for high-quality, original content; therefore, you need to focus on creating quality content.  Additionally, people will only like and engage with your content if they feel it added value to them or entertained them. Therefore, you will need to answer the question: what is in it for us? Listen to your target audience and focus on creating content that solves their pain points.

Whether you are creating an Instagram caption or making your Instagram story, always consider how the content adds value to your audience. Unless it's educating, inspiring, or entertaining, it will not drive engagement. Pay attention to your analytics to determine the kind of content that is resonating with them.

Find a particular niche under which you can build a page, and be consistent and focused to increase your probability of appearing on the Explore page. Here are several tips for creating high-quality Instagram content:

  • Post high-quality videos or photos.  Ensure there is good lighting and that the visuals are crisp and clear, not grainy.
  • Consistent branding. Ensure that the fonts, color scheme, and overall styles are easy to recognize.
  • Leverage design tools. You can use templates from tools such as Adobe Spark and Canva to make your images stand out.
  • Diversify your content formats. Mix images, stories, shorts, and carousels to keep the stream of fresh content consistent.
  • Offer value. Make original, useful, and entertaining content such as customer stories, behind-the-scenes looks, and tutorials.
  • Leverage storytelling. Use videos and captions to add some narratives that your audience can resonate with.
  • Use reels. Add trending audios, speed controls, and effects to make your reels more engaging.
  • Repurpose content. If you have created blog posts, repurpose them into carousels or stories.

Add Popular and Trending Hashtags

The Instagram Explore page is a form of a search engine that groups similar content. That means when IG users search for hashtags in your niche,  your content will appear. According to one study, when a brand adds just one hashtag, it increases its engagement by 12.6% compared to those without

This also means you need to understand the basics of SEO to increase your chances of appearing in the Instagram explore feed. You can consider using an Instagram hashtag generator to find hashtags that are both popular and relevant to your niche. However, do not just rely on the limited brand hashtags. Instead, use unbranded hashtags to help your content reach new audiences.

You need to avoid overusing hashtags to avoid being seen as spamming. While Instagram allows you to add up to 30 hashtags, the optimal number is 11. However, some studies have suggested that to increase engagement, you should not use more than 9. You can conduct your own tests to determine the ideal number.

When you feature another brand in your content, you can tag them. When they like your photo, it will be visible to their audience. Again, when your audience sees you have tagged them, they are likely to repost. Consider also tagging the location in the post so it can be discovered by people in that area.

When using tags, make sure they are relevant to the post, or you may be seen as spamming. Adding tags can help increase engagement and, in turn, your chances of appearing in the Explore page.

Interact with Your Instagram Followers

Community building is a great way to build rapport with followers. They will find you more trustworthy, which will enhance your inbound social selling strategies. This can also be a great way to gather feedback to determine which content resonates with them and where to improve to increase loyalty. If your account interacts regularly with followers, it can be featured in the Explore page.

On top of providing you with a bigger reach on Instagram, engaging with your audience also helps build loyalty. When your followers see that you are putting in the effort and time, they are more likely to respond positively. 

A good way to increase engagement is to comment on and interact with your followers' posts. When they comment on your posts, reply to them. Comments are often seen as more valuable than likes. Therefore, instead of just liking your followers' posts, take time to comment on theirs as well. Make sure the comment is also quite specific, as this will encourage them to keep interacting with your posts.

Encourage Action Using Tags

The caption can be an important tool for encouraging a particular action on your IG post. Therefore, use a captivating CTA that encourages users to engage. You can do that by adding your branded hashtags, promoting sales discounts, asking questions, and more. Most of the Instagram accounts focus on sharing interesting, funny images. They then add a CTA labeled "double-tap if you agree." CTAs not only encourage interaction but can also help you convert your followers.

You can add questions in captions so followers can answer them in the comments and start a conversation. Be even more direct and ask followers to share, like, and tag their friends in their posts. This strategy can particularly be effective for giveaways and contests. You can ask your audience to engage with the posts for a chance to win the prize, which can help you to appear on the Explore page.

Understand the Optimal Posting Time

While content quality is one of the most important factors affecting engagement, some studies suggest that posting time also affects content performance. If you already have an Instagram Business Account, you can review Analytics data to see when your followers interact most with posts and identify the optimal posting time. However, this will only work if you have enough data you can work with. Again, you can keep testing with different posting times to determine the optimal time for your business.

Partner with Influencers and Other Big Brands 

Influencer marketing has proven to be an effective way for brands to increase their visibility, and can be a good strategy for appearing on the Explore page. Since your content will be seen by the influencer's followers, it can be a good strategy to boost engagement and appear on the Explore page.

However, when working with an influencer, find one whose audience aligns with yours. If you are on a budget, consider working with micro-influencers, as they have highly engaged audiences. Cross-promote your posts on your page as well as that of the influencer. 

Experiment With Different Kinds Of Content 

Instagram is regularly adding new features and content formats. You can try these out and choose those that your target audience engages with to achieve the highest visibility. Here are several content formats to try:

Collabs

One advantage of using Instagram collabs is that they can help your content reach another person's audience, leading to more reactions and a higher chance of appearing in the Explore feed. It can be a good feature for saving your content creation efforts and increasing your number of likes, comments, and shares. It can also help to increase your account visibility and follower base. You can read our guide on choosing a partner for your Instagram collab post.

Reels

While the engagement level of reels is declining due to increasing competition and algorithm changes, it is still one of the content formats that generates the highest engagement. Therefore, if you want to appear in the Instagram Explore page, this is one of the content formats that you should consider:

When using reels, several best practices can increase their visibility. These include:

  • Ensuring there are no other platforms’ watermarks, such as Capcut or TikTok. As noted earlier, Instagram prefers original content instead of recycled videos.
  • Maintain reels under three minutes. People’s attention span is decreasing, so short content is more likely to perform better than long videos.
  • Keep your content original. If you are posting reaction videos to an image or video, you can leverage tools like the Green Screen to make them more original.
  • Ensure your account has no violations. Go to your Instagram account settings and check whether your account is in good standing or has any restrictions.

Instagram Carousels and Feed Posts

The normal feed content and carousels will also perform well on the Explore page, especially when they are high-quality, and people don't mind sharing them. A good idea would be to add audio to your Instagram carousel posts. Since Instagram promotes new features, posts with audio are likely to receive higher visibility.

Stories

While stories will not enable you to reach new target audiences, they can be a good way to reach your current ones. This is especially important in an era when community and niche building are very important. Therefore, instead of reposting your feed content, you can add some interactive elements such as stickers, polls, Q&As, and more. These will help you increase engagement and keep your audience coming back.

IGTV formats and Shoppable Posts

There is no doubt that videos are among the best-performing content formats on different social media platforms. This is why Instagram is also pushing the IGTV content format so much that it launched an academy in London to help creators use it better. With the platform already having a separate section on the Explore page, the content format will push your brand into this space.

Additionally, shoppable posts are usually pinned at the top of the Explore page, and can therefore be a good content format, especially for B2C customers. However, these kinds of posts are very competitive, and you need to make your posts outstanding and ensure they go live at the most important time.

Strategic Use of Keywords

On Instagram, keywords play a more important role compared to hashtags. According to a Hootsuite study, posts optimized with relevant keywords had higher reach than those with hashtags. This is especially true in 2026 when we have AI-powered search.

Keywords on Instagram refer to the words and phrases used to categorize your content and help it get discovered. It plays an important role in determining what appears on the Explore page.

Leverage the Analytics

You can use the built-in Instagram analytics and third-party tools to get insights into what is working and what isn't. Pay attention to your best-performing posts as well as those of your competitors. You might realize that photos are among the best-performing on the grid, while reels perform better on the Explore page. You can then use this data to keep refining your strategy and put more effort into the strategies that you feel work best. Make sure you test any new ideas and keep analyzing the results.

Take time to analyze the content types appearing on the Explore page to determine what you think makes them stand out. This can give you insights into the kinds of content that are getting noticed by the Instagram algorithm and what your prospective audience wants to see.

Even if a post on the Explore page isn't in your industry, it may still have high engagement. Remember, each post will offer unique insights. Therefore, carefully consider them and how to add these elements to your own posts. Pay attention to the themes, formats, and styles that are effective at grabbing viewers' attention, and incorporate these insights into your content.

In Conclusion

When trying to appear in the Instagram Explore feed, focus on creating high-quality content and driving engagement. Additionally, understanding the Instagram algorithm's requirements will help you meet its needs and have your content recommended on the Explore page. By following the tips outlined above, you can increase your visibility on Instagram.