I’ve just left Google’s offices with a realization that changes everything for travel brands.
Google is now indexing content from Instagram Professional accounts, so posts can show up directly in Google searches. It’s the moment social media and search have finally merged.
It’s a big step toward a more open, integrated content ecosystem. It could expand the reach of creators and brands, especially those already creating highly visual, story-led content.
At Beautiful Destinations, we’ve always paired our visuals with an educational component, like our own travel tips or local insights, in both the video and the caption. But now, our social-first optimized content is search-first optimized too.
Think about what this means:
Your Instagram reel of a sunset in Santorini can now appear when someone searches “Places to visit in Greece” because you’ve paired it with an informative caption. Google has basically made educational storytelling the new search engine optimization.
Combine this with building your AI “SEO” (how you show up in ChatGPT, Perplexity, etc) and…. 🤯🤯🤯
The leading travel brands in 2025 will be the ones creating scroll-stopping value-led content, not the ones with their old paid strategy in place.
My advice would be to prioritise being discoverable in-platform first with world-class storytelling and value-led captions and combining that with a good understanding of how you show up in AI search.
I’ll have more to share from today’s meeting at Google soon! 😉
