How to Get on the Instagram Explore Page

What the Explore page actually is

Explore is the grid of photos, videos and Reels you reach through the Search tab. Its job, according to Instagram, is to help people discover content from accounts they don't already follow.

The key thing to understand: there isn't one Explore page. Each person's Explore is built for them. "Getting on Explore" really means your post being recommended to many different people whose activity suggests they'd be interested. That's why no trick guarantees it, and why the realistic goal is to make your posts strong candidates.

How Instagram chooses Explore content

Instagram describes Explore as a two-part process: first it finds candidate posts based on what someone has engaged with before, then it ranks those candidates by how likely that person is to be interested.

The signals Instagram names

In its "Instagram Ranking Explained" article, Instagram lists the most important Explore signals, roughly in order of importance:

1. Information about the post. How popular it seems, such as how many people are liking, commenting on, sharing and saving it, and how quickly.
2. The viewer's activity in Explore. Posts they've liked, saved, shared or commented on in Explore.
3. The viewer's history with you. Most Explore posts come from accounts the viewer hasn't interacted with, but if they have, that counts.
4. Information about the account that posted. Such as how many times people have interacted with that account in recent weeks.

What Meta's Explore system card adds

Meta's Transparency Center publishes a "system card" for Explore. It describes gathering a large pool of candidate content from accounts and topics related to what a person has engaged with, then narrowing and ranking it with models that predict actions such as likes and saves, and how much time someone is likely to spend. People's own feedback, such as marking a post Not interested, also feeds in.

Recent changes Meta has described

Meta's earnings calls give a sense of where recommendations are heading:

• Original content: In Q4 2025 Meta said 75% of Instagram recommendations in the US now come from original posts, after growing the prevalence of original content by 10 percentage points in that quarter.
• Freshness: In Q2 2026 Meta said over half of recommended content in Instagram Feed is now less than a day old, more than double a year earlier.
• Content understanding: Meta also said every public Reels and Feed post on Instagram is now automatically analyzed by a large language model across dimensions "from topics to tone."

Put simply: Instagram is increasingly good at understanding what a post is about without relying on hashtags, and it favors fresh, original work.

Step 1: Make sure your account is eligible for recommendations

Instagram holds recommended content to a higher standard than content shown to followers. Its Recommendation Guidelines describe content that can stay on Instagram but may not be recommended in places like Explore, Reels and Feed recommendations. Instagram's ranking explanation gives examples such as content depicting violence and content promoting regulated products like tobacco, vaping or pharmaceutical drugs. Accounts that repeatedly post content against these guidelines can temporarily lose recommendation eligibility. For Reels, Instagram also says it shows less low-quality content, such as videos with watermarks from other apps or reposted clips.

How to check Account Status

On a professional (creator or business) account, Account Status shows whether your content is eligible to be recommended to non-followers.

1. Go to your profile and tap the menu (three lines) in the top right.
2. Tap Settings and privacy.
3. Scroll to find Account Status (in some app versions it sits under Account).
4. Check the section on recommendations. If content is affecting eligibility, Instagram shows examples.
5. If you think Instagram made a mistake, tap Request a review.

Menu names move between app versions; if you can't find it, search "Account Status" in the Settings search bar.

Other eligibility basics

• Your account must be public. Private accounts' posts aren't recommended to non-followers.
• Avoid restricted hashtags. Tags associated with rule-breaking content can limit a post; screen yours with the banned hashtag checker.
• Don't use engagement bait or buy engagement. Fake likes, follows and engagement pods can hurt your standing and don't produce the real signals ranking looks for.

Step 2: Create posts people actually act on

Because post popularity is the top Explore signal Instagram names, the practical question is what makes people like, comment, save and share.

• Lead with the hook. For Reels, the first seconds decide whether someone keeps watching. Show the payoff or the question right away.
• Make it worth saving. Tutorials, checklists, recipes, before-and-after and reference carousels give people a reason to save.
• Make it worth sending. Relatable, funny or genuinely useful posts get shared in DMs.
• Invite real comments. Ask a specific question you actually want answered, not "comment below."
• Post original work. Meta says it's pushing recommendations toward original content. Reposting others' videos with a caption on top is unlikely to be recommended.
• Make it clear what the post is about. A descriptive caption, on-screen text and relevant hashtags help Instagram match your post with interested viewers.

Step 3: Help Instagram understand your content

Clarity helps the right people see your post:

1. Stick to a recognizable topic. An account that consistently posts about one area gives Instagram clearer signals about who'll be interested.
2. Write captions with searchable words. Describe what's in the post plainly.
3. Use up to five relevant hashtags. Instagram allows five per post or Reel. Choose specific tags over generic ones; our 5-hashtag explainer shows how to pick them.
4. Tag locations and collaborators when relevant, since they're genuine information about the post.

Skip tags like #explore, #explorepage and #viral. Our #explorepage page explains why they don't help.

Step 4: Test and learn from Insights

• Try trial reels. Instagram's trial reels feature lets eligible creators show a Reel to non-followers first and see how it performs before deciding whether to share it with followers.
• Compare non-follower reach. In a post's insights, look at how many views came from non-followers and where they came from.
• Look for patterns, not one-off hits. Which topics and formats consistently reach non-followers? Make more of those.
• Post consistently at a pace you can sustain. Our guide on how often to post covers what Instagram has said about frequency.

For a broader look at how the feed, Stories and Reels are ranked, see how Instagram works, and for context on how large Instagram's audience is, see our Instagram statistics. Niche pages such as #reels include hashtag sets built for the current 5-tag limit.