7 Tips For Winning Instagram’s Explore Page Algorithm

By The Superviral Team, June 23rd 2024
3 minutes read

Brands and creators on social media thrive on follower counts—and earning a coveted spot on the Instagram Explore page can be your gateway to a broader reach.

Instagram’s Explore page acts as a spotlight for valuable content, reaching the users most likely to appreciate and engage with what they see. Just one well-timed feature can mean massive growth for your account. 

Landing on the Explore page is never guaranteed, but there are things you can do to increase your chances of being featured. Learn how the Instagram Explore page algorithm values each post and what you can do to create feature-worthy content. 

What Are the Benefits of Landing on Instagram’s Explore Page?

 

Getting content featured on Instagram’s Explore page is like winning the social media jackpot. Why? Instagram has around 2 billion users, with around 34 million based in the UK alone. That’s an incredibly vast pool of potential new followers if you can land content on the curated Explore feed.

Successfully making it on the Explore page has many advantages: 

These benefits stem from the way Instagram’s Explore page algorithm caters to each of its billion users’ unique interests. Focusing specifically on how to get content on the Explore page is key to reaching interested users. 

How Does Instagram’s Explore Page Algorithm Work?

 

There is no single Explore page for all accounts. Instead, Instagram creates a unique page for its many users. How? The Instagram Explore page algorithm uses machine learning and examines many factors to narrow the eligible posts for each user, like:

The Explore page algorithm narrows potential posts further, considering user likes and their selection of “see fewer posts like this”. It also picks just one post from an account to prevent the Explore page from being dominated by content from a single account. 

How Do You Get on Instagram’s Explore Page? 7 Tips

 

The Instagram Explore page algorithm prioritises creative, high-quality, and user-friendly content. These seven tips can improve your odds of being featured.

1. Craft an Optimised Instagram Profile

Optimising your Instagram profile is the first step to getting on the Explore page. An optimised profile looks more professional and makes it easier for other users to find you. You’ll need:

 

Perfecting your profile helps the Explore algorithm connect you to users who want to see you on their Explore pages. 

2. Target Your Audience Effectively 

To successfully target your audience, you need to understand their preferences within the platform. Figure out what your target audience likes by experimenting with different posts, keywords, and hashtags:

Analyse your data to determine the demographics of your target audience. This will help you tailor your posts for higher engagement and a better chance of being chosen for a user’s Explore page. 

3. Create Engaging Content 

Content creation is the core of your Instagram strategy. By understanding your audience, you can tailor your content style to their preferences and interests. 

Whatever your unique strategy, your content should always strike a healthy balance by being: 

Creating consistent content will also make your account more appealing to other users while signalling to Instagram’s Explore page algorithm that your account is trustworthy—and worth recommending. This is an essential piece of building a following that consistently engages with you.

Here are some good questions to ask yourself:

The answers to these questions will help you determine what direction to take your content. 

When users do find and engage with your content, engage back. Two-way engagement, like replying to user comments, will benefit you. However, you need to genuinely want to cultivate a community. People don’t want to be just another number and will sense if you’re doing this just for followers. 

4. Experiment With Different Formats

Part of creating engaging content is using a variety of formats. Publishing a wide range of content increases your chances of being seen. Instagram has many built-in options to help diversify your posts:

 

Keep in mind, some features may perform better than others for reasons outside of your influence. For instance, Reels, Instagram’s answer to the surge in TikTok’s popularity, is a focused video feature on the platform that shows up in its own category and on users’ Explore pages. It’s valuable social media real estate: In 2023, the Reels feature showed a usage increase of 57.4%, with an impression rate of 33.83%.

Leveraging the platform’s focus on Reels could make it easier for you to appear on different pages. The same Reel can be on the dedicated Reels page and the Explore page at the same time. 

Always try to stay on top of the format the platform is prioritising—this is constantly changing in the social media sphere.

5. Dive Into Your Analytics

Cracking the code on Instagram’s Explore page algorithm requires some things that aren’t as fun as content creation. Analytics is one of them, and it’s an essential tool to determine what’s working and what isn’t. Beyond the numbers, analytics reveal: 

There’s more to analytics than just looking at content metrics. Analytics can guide your posting strategy by indicating the best time to post, audience growth within a certain period, and what keywords resonate with your audience. 

Statistics tell you what’s working. Your content strategy and creativity take it from there. 

6. Post When Followers Are Most Active

Timing can make or break engagement. Fortunately, your analytics tell you when your followers are active and online. 

Monitoring follower activity is crucial because Instagram’s algorithm rewards fresh content. It prioritises timeliness when determining what will appear on followers’ feeds.

If you post at the right time, your post is more likely to be at the top of the feed when your followers open Instagram. Miss that window, and your post might get lost in a feed and go unseen by a large percentage of your following. 

It requires extra planning, but being seen sooner rather than later will increase engagement—and that’s essential if you want to earn a spot on the Explore page. 

7. Consider a Paid Explore Feature

Sometimes, even with hard work on growing your Instagram account organically, hitting your goals requires an extra nudge. If you don’t get on the Explore page after much effort, consider investing in an Explore ad.

Here’s the catch: When you purchase an Explore ad, your post isn’t featured directly on the Explore page. Instead, it’s featured on a list of similar posts when users click on a different post from the page. 

Even though it’s not on the Explore page, an Explore ad still extends your visibility to a broader audience. 

Can You Reset the Instagram Explore Page?

 

Any user can reset or change what appears on their own Instagram Explore page. There are two primary ways to do this: The first is to simply refresh the page by pulling it down when you’re at the top, the same way you would refresh any mobile webpage.

The second way to reset Instagram’s Explore page requires the ongoing effort of telling the platform what you don’t want to see by clicking “not interested” or “see fewer posts like this.” These actions refine the algorithm to better curate future posts.

Other methods involve refreshing the app’s cache, clearing your data, or deleting and reinstalling the app. While the platform doesn’t offer a direct “reset” button, and you can’t affect what other accounts see on their page, you can influence Instagram’s Explore page algorithm by taking charge of your data and experience in the app.

Get Discovered and Grow Your Account 

 

As you can see, there are many ways to aim for a featured spot with Instagram’s Explore page algorithm. But these methods do require a good deal of time and effort. If you’ve tried them all and your account is still stagnant, Superviral can help. 

Give your account a boost with Superviral and get more likes, views, comments, and engagement on your posts. All the extra attention can increase your chances of finally getting on the Explore page on Instagram. 

Partner with Superviral to get more Instagram followers today!