Instagram's latest updates: What you need to know

30th July 2025 |

Instagram has been quietly making some moves over the past few months, with roll outs of new features and updates coming in for the summer. Here’s what you need to know.

Google indexing expands to more regions

The news that Instagram was allowing Google to index public profiles was treated as new but is actually just an expansion to more regions. What does it mean though? Well, any posts that have been shared on a public professional account since 2020 can be indexed by search engines. The idea is that this gives businesses and creators more exposure. You can find out more here.

RKH’s tip: This is another area where social and SEO can overlap so use this opportunity to review keywords and work out how you can incorporate them into evergreen content for both your website and your Instagram.

Edits adds more functionality

Edits - Meta’s answer to Capcut - continues to add more features which make it a strong prospect when it comes to mobile video editing. As CapCut keeps reducing free access to features, Edits is adding them. The latest updates include additional fonts and filters, safe zone and alignment guides, beat markers for soundtrack alignment, and more. The best update though is a teleprompter option. Previously free on CapCut, a teleprompter makes it much easier to get that script right while feeling natural and having it in-app makes life a lot easier.

RKH’s tip: You can adjust the speed of the teleprompter to match your natural speaking pattern. Using a video with a human in it can increase engagement so it’s worth thinking about how you can incorporate this into your video content.

New safety features for teen accounts

Meta has been updating safety features for teen accounts, with ‘Safety Tips’ popping up in DMs and chats to help young people sport scammers and how to take extra care for any engagement with strangers. In addition, there’s also options to immediately block accounts and do a combined block and report. They’ve also removed all teen accounts from recommendations. With child online safety a global talking point, expect to see more coming from platforms in the future, including agreement on raising access ages.

RKH tip: Every platform has options to help you manage your children’s online activity. It can feel a bit overwhelming but we’ve got some tips and links for you here.

Likes by frame

A clever feature, especially for content creators and social media managers, Instagram are also testing like counts for individual frames in a carousel. Part of post analytics, it’ll show you where in the carousel people dropped a like.

Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, has already said that carousels are a good driver of reach and engagement at the moment so this could be a really useful piece of additional insight to help shape your content planning.

Link in bio is fine

Mosseri has also spoken up about rumours that having the phrase “link in bio” in your content affects reach. Spoiler: it doesn’t. Mosseri, who does a lot of myth debunking on his Instagram and Threads accounts, said:

“I wanna take a second just to debunk a myth I hear often […] This one is that if you say ‘link in bio’ it’s going to decrease your reach. That is not true. You’re more than welcome to say ‘link in bio,’ it will not affect your reach one way or another. Adding ‘link in bio’ can be super helpful, I do it all the time, so please feel comfortable doing it as much as you like.”

Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram

RKH tip: You can have up to five links in your bio so make sure you keep them updated. If you have specific promotions or focus for your content, reflect that in your links as well as a general link to your website. And add that link in bio CTA to your post copy!

While some of these updates are more substantial than others, it's important that you're aware of them. From strategy to safeguarding, to slick edits of your next Reel, it pays to know what these updates mean for you, so that your socials can move seamlessly into this new phase of Instagram.

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