This page is for: understanding the officially documented factors behind Explore recommendations, not a list of circulating tricks like "secret" hashtags or trending audio that Instagram has never confirmed.
The direct answer: Explore is where Instagram shows you content from accounts you do not follow, chosen from the accounts you do follow, the posts you have engaged with, and your connections. Instagram publishes how it selects and ranks that content. Nothing in the Instagram and Meta sources we checked on 9 September 2026 documents any way to buy placement on it. This page answers two different questions: how to fix your own Explore page, and how to become eligible to appear on somebody else's.
Jump to: What Explore Is · How Posts Are Chosen · The Published Input Signals · One of Several Systems · Fix Your Explore · Why It's Mostly Reels · Why It's Full of One Thing · Does Explore Reset Itself? · How to Appear on Explore · Check Eligibility · What Vendors Sell · Hashtags and Explore · Measuring Explore Reach · FYP vs Explore · FAQ · Practical Summary · Official Sources
Key Takeaways
- Explore shows content from accounts you don't follow, selected from who you follow and what you've engaged with, and Instagram publishes exactly how, so no third party can buy placement on it.
- Eligibility comes before signals: Instagram states that accounts which have engaged in practices like purchasing likes, or which repost others' work with only minor edits, are not recommended.
- You control your own Explore with five documented controls: Not Interested, Your Algorithm (the control appears in the English-language interface, so you may need to switch your app language to reach it), Like, Report, and Reset suggested content. Nothing in the Instagram and Meta sources we checked on 9 September 2026 documents a hashtag or an outside service that can place you on someone else's.
1. What the Explore page is
You find it under the magnifying glass at the bottom of the app. Instagram's Help Center says Explore "shows you recommendations such as photos and reels to help you discover new things from accounts you don't follow", and that posts are "automatically selected based on a variety of factors including: Instagram accounts you follow; Photos and reels you've engaged with on Instagram; Your connection on Instagram".
The difference from Feed is simple: Feed is mostly people you follow, Explore is people you do not. Posts from private accounts do not appear in Explore for anyone outside their approved followers.
2. How posts are chosen for Explore
There are two official sources. First, Instagram's ranking post: "The most important actions we predict in Explore include likes, saves, and shares", and information about the post itself "matters much more in Explore than it does in Feed or in Stories".
Second, Meta's Explore system card in the Transparency Center (last updated 22 June 2026). It describes stages: a retrieval stage that fetches up to 1,500 media, an early ranking stage that narrows to the top 100, then late-stage ranking. Among the predictions it names: how likely you are to follow the author, how likely you are to watch more than 95 percent of a video, and how likely you are to click "Not Interested".
Important: 1,500 and 100 are pipeline sizes inside the system, not thresholds you have to pass. The card itself says the signals "are dynamic and change frequently". No weights are published.
3. The input signals Meta actually publishes for Explore
Meta's Explore system card (updated 22 June 2026) lists example inputs the ranking uses, and the list splits in two. One half measures how a post has performed on Explore. The other half measures what you have done. Both feed the same ranking, which is why two people can be shown the same post for completely different reasons.
| Signals about the post | Signals about you |
|---|---|
| "How many people have seen the post on Explore" | "The amount of time you've spent on Explore viewing posts from post's author in recent past" |
| "How many people have watched more than 95% of the video" | "The amount of time you've visited post's author's profile in recent past" |
| "How many follows button clicks received on a post in Explore" | "How many times you've commented on posts from post's author" |
| "How many times the post has been clicked on Explore" | "Which authors' profiles you've clicked in the recent past" |
| "How many people have clicked on the post in Explore to view in full screen" | "How many posts you've saved in Explore in recent past" |
| "How many people have clicked after being shown the post in Explore" | "How many authors you've seen and clicked not interested" |
| "How many comments the post received" | "Where data privacy laws permit, the posts you've reshared previously and the authors of those posts" |
Every cell above is quoted from the card. The two-column arrangement is ours, not the card's; it publishes one flat list. The card says these inputs feed a prediction of "how likely use will interact with the post". That "use" is a typo in the source. We've quoted it as published rather than tidy it up, because the sentence is the card's, not ours.
Two limits worth holding on to. The card offers these as examples of the signals used, not as a complete inventory, so a signal missing from the table isn't proof Explore ignores it. And the card attaches no weight to any of them, so nothing here tells you which input counts more than another. Anyone ranking these in order of importance is filling in a blank Meta left blank.
One practical reading: there is no "like" in the viewer-side column, and no follower count in either. What is there is time, clicks, comments, saves, reshares and the accounts you have dismissed. Section 7 comes back to that, because it means your Explore can be shaped by content you never tapped a heart on.
4. Explore is one of several ranking systems
Instagram states plainly that it does not have a single algorithm and that each surface has its own. Explore is one of them; Feed, Stories, Reels and Search read different signals. The full picture is in how the Instagram algorithm works.
5. How to reset or fix your Explore page
If your Explore has filled up with content you do not want, there are five documented controls:
Not Interested
- Open the post you do not want to see more of.
- Tap the three-dot menu.
- Select "Not Interested".
Meta's system card states that the system "will attempt to filter out similar content in the future".
Your Algorithm, also called Tune Your Algorithm
One control, two published names. Meta's Explore system card calls it "Tune Your Algorithm"; Instagram's own announcement post calls it "Your Algorithm". If you're searching either term in help pages, that's why the results differ.
Instagram announced this control for the Reels tab on 10 December 2025, extended it to Explore on 15 April 2026, and per the update dated 10 June 2026 it is now available across Feed, Reels and Explore globally in English. You open it from the icon in the upper right of Explore or Reels (the two lines with hearts). It shows the topics shaping your recommendations and lets you add or reduce them, and the change carries across surfaces.
These paths were checked on 9 September 2026. App interfaces move, so if the option is not where described, look under your suggested-content settings.
Like and Report
Both are named in Meta's Explore system card, which gathers its controls under one heading, "How to customize what you see". Tapping "Like" tells the system to recommend more media similar to what you liked. The card's Report entry carries no descriptive text at all, so we don't state a path for it here. Our own observation, not something the card says: these two are single taps, while the other controls need a menu or a settings screen.
Reset suggested content
This is the closest thing to starting over. Instagram's help page states: "You can reset your suggested content on Instagram to see posts and reels about topics you do not normally see."
- Open your profile, then the menu.
- Below "What you see", tap "Content preferences".
- Tap "Reset suggested content".
- Tap Next, then confirm.
Know the limit before you use it. The same page states that "Resetting your suggested content won't change who you follow or the ads you see". So it changes recommendations, not your following list and not advertising. Path and wording from Instagram's help page on resetting suggested content, checked 9 September 2026.
6. Why is my Explore page mostly Reels?
Explore mixes photos and reels, and the proportion follows your own behaviour. Watch more reels and your Explore becomes more reels.
Instagram has published one dated Explore change you can cite, and it's worth reading precisely. The Your Algorithm post records "April 15, 2026 at 8am PT: Expanded to Explore". That entry expanded a user control to Explore. It is not a documented change to how Explore ranks or selects content, and Instagram published no ranking change alongside it. So an article claiming Explore's ranking "changed in 2026" still owes you its own dated official source.
If you want the mix to change, use the five controls in the previous section. This is not a penalty and not a fault.
7. Why is my Explore page full of one kind of content?
Section 6 was about format, photos against reels. This one is about subject, why a particular topic keeps recurring for you specifically. Different questions, and the answer comes from the viewer-side half of the table in section 3.
Explore reads your own behaviour. Time spent viewing a particular author's posts, visits to that author's profile, comments you've left on them, posts you've saved in Explore, reshares where data privacy laws permit, and the accounts you've already marked Not Interested are all listed inputs. One kind of content recurring is those inputs doing what the card says they do.
No like is needed for any of this. That's the part most explanations miss. "The amount of time you've spent on Explore viewing posts from post's author in recent past" and "The amount of time you've visited post's author's profile in recent past" are signals in their own right, quoted from the card's own list. Watching without reacting is still an input. Nothing has to be liked, followed, saved or searched for a pattern to build.
There is no documented category answer, and that's not a dodge. Instagram publishes no taxonomy of Explore content types, so nobody can tell you why one category surfaces rather than another without guessing. The mechanism is identical whatever keeps appearing, whether that's fitness accounts, cars, nature, cooking or anything else. The content type changes nothing about the explanation.
Explore is also personalised per account, so what one account sees is built from that account's own history and not from a setting, a subscription or anything applied to the device.
To change it, use the five documented controls in section 5: Not Interested, Your Algorithm (the control appears in the English-language interface, so you may need to switch your app language to reach it), Like, Report, and Reset suggested content. Expect the effect to be cumulative rather than instant. The card's own wording keeps returning to "in recent past", so recent behaviour is what the inputs are drawn from, and shifting them takes a stretch of use rather than one refresh.
8. Does the Explore page reset on its own?
Instagram documents only a reset that you start. On 9 September 2026 we read both first-party pages that describe the feature, the help page on resetting suggested content and the announcement of 19 November 2024. Neither describes an automatic, spontaneous or periodic reset. Across both pages, the terms automatic, automatically, on its own, periodically and from time to time don't appear at all.
The announcement frames it as something the user asks for: "We're testing a way for people to reset the content recommendations they see in Explore, Reels and Feed when they want a fresh start." The same page also sets the expectation for afterwards, saying recommendations "will start to personalize again over time". So a reset is a starting point, not a permanent state. The steps are in section 5.
Read the limit of that finding. This is a negative scoped to two pages on one date, not a statement about what the system does internally. Plenty of people report their Explore changing character without touching anything, and we're not calling that imagined. What we can say is that Instagram doesn't document a scheduled or self-triggered reset, so anyone describing one is describing something the sources don't support.
There's a documented alternative that fits the same experience. The signals are behaviour-based and Meta's Explore system card describes them as "dynamic and change frequently". A week of different viewing, a few Not Interested taps, or a run of new accounts in your Explore can move it noticeably. That's the inputs shifting, which is a different thing from the page clearing itself.
9. How to get on the Explore page: the honest answer
There is no button and no trick. There are two conditions, in order:
- Eligibility. Explore is one of Instagram's recommendation experiences, so the Recommendation Guidelines apply, and Instagram calls them "a higher standard than our Community Standards". Content largely repurposed from another source with only minor edits is not recommended.
- Signals. After eligibility, the system predicts likes, saves, shares and full watches. Content worth saving or sending to someone has a better chance than content that is scrolled past.
In practice: original, clearly about something from the first second, and technically clean. Building the audience that saves and shares it is worked through in our organic growth guide. Production steps are in how to make Reels.
10. Check first: is your account eligible for recommendation?
Before you change your content, open Account Status and see whether anything has been removed or restricted. Instagram's Recommendation Guidelines state that accounts that have "repeatedly engaged in misleading practices to build followings, such as purchasing 'likes'" are not recommended.
The full procedure is in shadowban and Account Status.
The April 2026 originality rule, and what it does and doesn't say about Explore
In April 2026 Instagram published an eligibility rule aimed at re-uploaders. Its creators blog states that "content aggregators who primarily re-upload others' work in photos and carousel posts will no longer be eligible for recommendations across Instagram". The same post defines the behaviour as "Re-uploading someone else's work in a photo, carousel, or reel without adding meaningful creative input to enhance the original, such as just adding a border, watermark, subtitles, or a credit in the captions".
Read the scope before you apply it. That post does not use the word "Explore" anywhere. It says "across Instagram" and "places where we recommend content". Explore reaches this rule only by a two-step chain: the Recommendation Guidelines name Explore as one of Instagram's recommendation experiences, and this rule governs eligibility for recommendations. That chain is ours to state, not Instagram's. This is not an Explore-specific rule, and nobody should present it as one.
The loss of eligibility is reversible, and Instagram says how. "Aggregator accounts that have become ineligible for recommendations can become eligible again when most of their recently posted photos, carousels, and reels are considered original in a 30-day period. This is calculated on a rolling basis, and accounts can always check their standing in Account Status." So the recovery path is the same screen as the diagnosis: publish mostly original work, then watch Account Status.
The post also reports "75% of recommendations in the US now coming from original posts". Treat that as what it is: a US figure Instagram published about its own system, not a worldwide rate and not a target you can aim at. Source: Rewarding original creators on Instagram, April 2026.
11. What "Explore boost" services actually sell
| The claim | Classification | What is actually true |
|---|---|---|
| "We will put you on Explore" | Sales claim | None of the Instagram and Meta sources checked on 9 September 2026 documents any interface that lets a third party place content in Explore |
| "Fast engagement pushes a post to Explore" | Circulating theory | Instagram publishes no engagement threshold and no time window |
| "Purchased likes help" | Contradicted by the published rules | The Recommendation Guidelines name purchasing likes as a reason an account is not recommended |
What these services actually do is deliver numbers to a post. Numbers are not eligibility, and eligibility comes before ranking.
12. Do #explore hashtags get you on Explore?
Not on the evidence available. On 9 September 2026 we checked four sources: Instagram's hashtag help page, the Recommendation Guidelines, the Explore system card and the Reels chaining card. None of the four names hashtags as a route to Explore, and the Reels card doesn't mention hashtags among its signals at all.
The boundary is what makes this useful, because Instagram does tie hashtags to discovery, just to a different surface. How that surface actually works is covered in our Instagram SEO guide. Its reach-tips page advises "Making sure you include relevant keywords in your content, your caption, your bio, and your hashtags". That's Search advice. Search, not Explore. So a hashtag is a label that works on hashtag pages and in Search, and nothing we can cite makes it a route into anyone's Explore. The current limit and how to choose tags are in Instagram hashtags.
13. How to see whether Explore brought you viewers
Open the post's insights and look at Accounts reached, split between followers and non-followers. A rise in non-followers is the practical indicator that content travelled through recommendation surfaces. Instagram's own reach-tips page describes this split directly: "Within insights, you can break down Accounts Reached by followers and non-followers so you can see how much of your reach is coming from people who don't already follow you".
Pick the right metric, because two similar names sit next to each other. Accounts reached and Accounts engaged are two separate Insights metrics, and the reach-tips page ties the follower and non-follower breakdown to Accounts Reached, not to Accounts engaged. For the question "did Explore bring me viewers", reached is the metric the source points to.
Reading the rest of your Insights numbers, and what each metric actually counts, is covered in our Instagram Insights guide. If the number is low on Reels specifically, there is an ordered diagnosis in why your Reels views are low.
14. Is FYP the same as the Explore page?
No. "FYP" is TikTok's For You feed. Instagram's equivalents are Explore and the Reels tab, and they are ranked by different systems. Using #fyp on Instagram does not connect you to anything, because Instagram has no surface by that name.
15. FAQ
How do I get to the Instagram Explore page?
Tap the magnifying glass icon at the bottom of the app.
How does the Instagram Explore page work?
It retrieves candidate posts based on accounts you follow, content you have engaged with and your connections, then ranks them by predicted actions such as likes, saves and shares. Sections 1 and 2 cover it in detail.
Why is my partner's Explore page full of models?
Explore is personalised per account from that account's own following and engagement history. It reflects what that account has interacted with, not a setting you or they chose.
How do I get on the Instagram Explore page?
Be eligible for recommendation first, then publish original content people save and share. There is no shortcut and no purchasable placement. Section 9 covers it.
How many followers do you need to appear on Explore?
No threshold is published, and it's worth being precise about why. Follower count doesn't appear in Meta's Explore system card at all. Where it does appear is Reels ranking, in Instagram's own ranking post, which states: "We consider popularity signals such as number of followers or level of engagement". That's the same post's section on Reels, a different surface, not an Explore requirement.
16. Practical summary
Your own Explore is controlled by five documented controls: Not Interested, Your Algorithm (the control appears in the English-language interface, so you may need to switch your app language to reach it), Like, Report, and Reset suggested content. Appearing on other people's Explore starts with eligibility rather than tricks: check Account Status, publish original content worth saving and sharing, then read the non-follower share of Accounts reached in Insights to see whether it is working. Anyone promising you Explore placement is selling something they do not have.
The rest of the Instagram library is collected in the Instagram Resource Hub.
17. Official sources
- How posts are chosen for Explore (read 18 August 2026).
- Search and Explore on Instagram.
- Explore system card, Meta Transparency Center (updated 22 June 2026).
- Instagram ranking explained (31 May 2023): likes, saves and shares in Explore.
- Your Algorithm (10 December 2025 for Reels, extended to Explore 15 April 2026, updated 10 June 2026).
- Reels chaining card, Transparency Center: its only mention of followers is the followers a poster gained from the reel itself, an outcome of the post, not the account's follower count.
- Recommendation Guidelines.
- Account Status.
- Instagram tips for improving your reach: the Accounts Reached follower/non-follower breakdown, and keywords in hashtags for Search (read 9 September 2026).
- Reset suggested content: the fifth control and its stated limit (read 9 September 2026).
- Reset your Instagram content suggestions (19 November 2024): the reset described as user-initiated, and re-personalisation over time (read 9 September 2026).
- Rewarding original creators on Instagram (April 2026): the aggregator eligibility rule, the 30-day rolling recovery, and the 75% US figure. This post does not mention Explore by name.