One of the great things about the Instagram algorithm is that when you’re drawn towards certain themes and styles of content, and continually search for keywords which fall under those themes, Instagram remembers.
This translates into a search page which is directly influenced by the kind of content that you search for, look at, and engage with – as well as a search bar experience that is tailored towards your recent activity.
But what happens when everything changes, and you want to start searching for a new style of content?
On Instagram, it is possible to clear your Recent Searches in just a couple of quick moves. However, if you want to reset the search suggestions completely and take your Instagram in a different direction, this takes both more time and manual account management.
Let’s start easy by deleting your search history.
3 Steps to Clear Your Recent Search History
- On the Instagram app, click on the magnifying glass along the bottom of the screen
- Just below the search bar and suggested searches, you will see a heading ‘Recent’, with a list of all the accounts and keyword searches you have recently made. You can delete these manually by selecting the grey cross next to each search, or by clicking on the blue ‘See All’ – followed by ‘Clear All’ on the next page.
- A pop up will appear asking if you mean to clear your search history. Select ‘Clear All’.
Returning to your search page, you will see the screen is now clear and ready to be filled with a new search history and tailored experience.
Can You Change The Suggested Searches Under the Search Bar?
A relatively recent update on the Instagram app means that underneath the search bar, you will see a series of recommended searches that Instagram recommends.
These are not necessarily related to your own search history – rather, they are suggestions for trending topics and keywords that other users are searching for. As such, they tend to be very relevant topics, perhaps relating to a global event that is happening at the time, or a major celebrity scandal that has gone viral.
There are steps you can take to manage the suggested content that Instagram throws your way – although you cannot directly delete or clear these particular suggestions.
How to Adjust Your Suggested Content
- Click on the three horizontal lines in the top right hand corner of your profile screen, to open the menu
- Select ‘Settings and Privacy’
- Scroll down to the section marked ‘What You See’ and click on ‘Suggested Content’
- Here you can access and see the posts that you’ve marked as interesting, as well as control the way that sensitive content appears on your feed. Clicking into the Sensitive Content control zone will allow you to depict whether you want to see more, less, or the same amount of sensitive content as standard.
By tailoring this area of your account experience according to your preference and to the kind of content that you are interested in seeing and that which you want to keep hidden, you can tailor search suggestions and continue making Instagram an app that delivers the content you want, when you want it.
We hope that this makes your Instagram experience even more aligned with your lifestyle and the kinds of topics and content streams that you’re interested in!
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