Instagram isn’t all about #foodporn, #cats and #pets, but these hashtags are very important. This popular social media website/app is often used to showcase great shots of locations, breathtakingly beautiful or not. Instagram’s location search option is pretty neat, not only for followers to know where a photo was taken, but also for other users to see more posts from a given location.
disadvantages
Although there are several ways to use this feature, Instagram’s location search option comes with some inherent issues. First, the option largely depends on how users use it. The user may skip the location or assign an incorrect location intentionally or accidentally. Additionally, the location suggestion when posting a photo is based on GPS, meaning any suggestions to post a photo of Tower Bridge in Amsterdam would be Amsterdam.
Another issue here is the lack of verification on Instagram. For example, nothing prevents you from entering “best day ever” in the location field. There are also many similar hashtags, with or without typos. This is obvious if you try searching for “Empire State Building”.
Basic Location Search
The first and most logical location search option would be to tap the magnifying glass icon and enter the location name into Instagram’s search bar. If you type a general location here, the default “Top” view will display everything related to your search, from various hashtags and locations to Instagram profiles. This may be the most basic approach, but the results may not be overly relevant.
Of course, you can always select the “Places” tab after searching and it will show you all the places relevant to your search (or to reuse the previous “Empire State Building” example). You can of course do this for “Tags” and “Contacts” as you can see.
Location Area
The less obvious but sometimes more effective option would be the location field. This field can be found under the username of the account that posted the photo, and you probably know it as what you accidentally clicked on when trying to open that person’s account page.
Tap here (without missing the link the first few times) and you’ll see best/last view options, photos taken at that location, and a handy map view.
Unfortunately, the aforementioned limitations of users’ freedom to assign a location on their own will also exist here.
Instagram Location ID
The most foolproof but also the most tedious way to use location space usually means you have to work with an app, plugin, or post that isn’t on Instagram but interacts with the social media app. While there’s no obvious way to find location-controlled words on Instagram, the app itself assigns a Location ID, which is essentially a string of numbers, to their saved location. However, finding this number takes some effort.
1. Login to Website
Login to the Instagram website using your browser. Logging in via the app won’t work here.
2. Search for Location
After logging in (don’t forget to use the browser again), type the name of the place you want to see more photos of. You’re looking for a location, so watch out for this marker icon:
3. Open Location Page
When you tap/click on the location page with the pointer shown above, your browser will open it and show a map view similar to the one in the “Location Area” section above and a series of related photos.
4. Copying Location ID
Now that you’ve opened this page in a browser, towards the end you’ll see a series of numbers in the address or search bar. This is the location ID. Select and copy.
5. Paste the Location ID
Now paste this string of numbers into the plugin/app/feed you are using and you will get a list of location-controlled photos. Essentially, you will get an accurate list of photos from the location you are looking for.
not ideal
As mentioned, and as you probably know, Instagram’s location search isn’t perfect. You either get mixed results where you have to filter manually or you have to use a relatively tedious method and third party apps/plugins.
Which of the above methods would you prefer? Feel free to let everyone know in the comments below and add your preferred Instagram location search method.
