“Cleaning” your Instagram search page usually involves two main steps: clearing your recent searches and suggested accounts and training the Explore page algorithm to show you content you prefer.
Here are the steps for both:
🔍 Clear Search History and Suggestions
Clearing your search history removes recent entries that Instagram uses to suggest accounts and hashtags when you start typing.
On the Mobile App (Recommended Method)
- Go to your Profile: Tap your profile picture in the bottom right corner.
- Open the Menu: Tap the three horizontal lines (hamburger menu) in the top right corner.
- Go to Your Activity: Select Your activity.
- Find Recent Searches: Scroll down and tap Recent searches.
- Clear All: Tap Clear all in the top right corner, then confirm by tapping Clear all again in the pop-up.
Alternatively, you can delete individual searches from the Search page:
- Tap the magnifying glass icon at the bottom to go to the Search/Explore page.
- Tap the Search bar at the top.
- Tap the “X” next to any account or hashtag you want to remove from your recent searches.
✨ Clean Up Your Explore Page (Content Suggestions)
The Explore page is separate from your search history, but it’s based on your activity. To “clean” the Explore page and see different content:
1. Use “Not Interested” on Unwanted Posts
This is the most effective way to teach the algorithm what you don’t want to see.
- Go to the Explore page (magnifying glass icon).
- Tap on a post that you don’t like or want to see less of.
- Tap the three dots (…) in the top right corner of the post.
- Select Not interested (or See fewer posts like this).
2. Reset Suggested Content (Algorithm Reset)
Instagram offers a feature to reset the suggested content that appears in your Explore, Reels, and home feeds.
- Go to your Profile: Tap your profile picture in the bottom right corner.
- Open the Menu: Tap the three horizontal lines (hamburger menu) in the top right corner.
- Go to Settings: Select Settings and privacy.
- Find Content Preferences: Scroll down to the “What you see” section and tap Content preferences.
- Tap Reset suggested content and follow the on-screen instructions to confirm the reset.
3. Block and Unblock Stubborn Suggested Accounts
If a specific profile keeps appearing in your suggestions even after clearing your history, you can “reset” your engagement history with them:
- Go to the suggested account’s profile.
- Tap the three dots (…) in the top right corner.
- Select Block and confirm.
- Wait a few seconds, then tap Unblock on their profile.
This action often signals to Instagram that you are no longer interested in that account’s content.