Media Monday
Google’s New Feature Indexes Professional Instagram Content
By: Jade Brown - Media Coordinator, Situation
Heads up, professional content creators: your Instagram posts now have far higher visibility around the internet than before.
As of July 10th, all public posts from professional Instagram accounts will be indexed on Google. What does this mean? Going forward, when a user completes a Google search your social content could appear alongside news articles, blogs, shopping results, and Google’s AI summary. The feature applies to all types of posts, including photos, videos, carousels, and Reels. To ensure the setting is enabled on your account, just check Settings < Privacy < “Allow public photos and videos to appear in search engine results.”
As We are Social Media reports, this “means the lines between social strategy and search strategy just got blurrier.” While younger social media users have been increasingly using their platform of choice as a type of search engine, Google’s feed may start to mirror a social feed, collapsing the different means through which internet users seek information. To increase the likelihood of your account’s Instagram posts being picked up by a Google search, consider the following:
Optimize your post captions. Start thinking of your captions as the headlines future brand researchers may see. How might the meaning change when viewed in a different platform, and what will make someone click onto your Instagram to learn more?
Make your hashtags work harder. Try using words that match the Google searches that you want your content to appear in. If your brand also runs a Google Search campaign, can any of the words or terms on your list double as an Instagram hashtag?
Increase your content that educates. If a customer can have their question answered by clicking through your carousel shown to them by Google, that will make it easier for them to choose your brand.
Google Analytics 4 Updates
By: Bobby Kelly - Ad Tech - Domo Specialist, Situation
Expanded cost data import (beta) — GA4 now supports ingesting cost data from broader sources like Google Sheets, Amazon S3/Redshift, BigQuery, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Snowflake, and HTTP feeds. This enhances non-Google ad channel analysis
Annotations permission update — users with Analyst-level access (and up) can now create, edit, and delete annotations in GA4 reports
Item‑scoped custom dimensions in item data import — now you can upload custom attributes (like category, brand) for individual items without relying solely on item IDs
Import cost data from Reddit Ads — advertisers can now bring Reddit ad spend directly into GA4 reporting tools
When AI Answers First, How Do Ads Get Noticed?
By: Kelcey Joyce - Senior Media Planner, Town Hall
AI summaries are rapidly taking over Google search results, with nearly 60% of U.S. adults encountering them as of March 2025. These quick, auto-generated overviews answer user questions upfront without the need to scroll or click. While that’s great for convenience, it’s causing headaches for publishers and advertisers alike. Click-through rates are dropping, search sessions are ending sooner, and many users are unsure whether they’re reading AI-generated content or not.
For advertisers, this shift means the traditional rules of paid search are changing fast. With AI summaries hogging the spotlight and pushing both ads and organic links lower on the page, the days of simply “ranking high” are over. To stay in the mix, brands need to get laser-focused. Think super-relevant, high-intent keywords and ad copy that actually earns attention, because in this new world, the click comes after the AI takes a swing at your query. And don’t be surprised when Google drops shiny new AI-powered ad formats. Flexibility and a "let's give it a whirl" mindset will be vital.