An Instagram business bio is 150 characters with four jobs, one per line: what you do and for whom, one line of proof or personality, a nudge that points at the link, and — only if taps depend on it — a practical line such as hours or how to order. Everything else about your business goes in the fields around the bio, which is why 150 characters is enough.
Instagram's limits, checked October 2026: the bio is 150 characters ("You can write a bio of up to 150 characters", Meta's help center), and a profile can list up to 5 external links. The name field is widely quoted as 30 characters, but Instagram's help center doesn't publish a limit, so keep it short. Business and creator accounts add a category label and a Contact button on top.
Still on a personal account? Settings and activity → Account type and tools → Switch to professional account (under For professionals), choose your category, then Business or Creator. Free, a minute's work, and it unlocks the category label, contact buttons and profile analytics the formula leans on.
The four-line formula
150 characters is about four short lines. Give each one job:
- What you do, for whom — the one-sentence version a stranger understands.
- Proof or personality — a number, an award, a founding year, or the line that sounds like you.
- The nudge — what to do next, pointing at the link.
- (Optional) The practical line — hours, location, or how to order, if taps depend on it.
A bakery, about 100 characters counting the emoji as 2 and the two line breaks:
Sourdough & pastry, baked at 5am daily 🥐
Voted Portland's best bakery 2026
Order ahead for pickup ⤵
What you do, proof, nudge — and roughly 50 characters still unspent.
Five business types, written to the formula
All under 150 characters. Steal the structure, not the words.
Local service (plumber):
Same-day plumbing, no call-out fee
4.9★ from 800+ Auckland jobs
Book a time below ⤵
Why it works: line one answers the two questions a plumber's customer has (how fast, what it costs to ask), and the proof carries a rating, a count and a city, so it reads as local and real.
Online store:
Handmade silver, hallmarked in Sheffield
30-day returns, ships worldwide
New drop every first Friday ⤵
Why it works: "hallmarked in Sheffield" is proof disguised as description, line two removes the two reasons people don't buy jewellery from a stranger, and the nudge gives a date to come back on.
Coach / consultant:
I help freelancers double their day rate
1:1 spots open for October
Free rate calculator below ⤵
Why it works: the promise names the customer and the result in one line, "spots open for October" is scarcity with a date on it, and the nudge gives before it asks. A free tool in exchange for an email address is a lead magnet, and the Instagram lead magnet setup covers the form and the file.
Restaurant:
Neapolitan pizza, wood-fired since 2019
Walk-ins welcome · book for 6+
Tonight's specials ⤵
Why it works: the practical line does the job of a phone call ("do I need to book?"), and the nudge changes daily, which is the one reason to tap a restaurant's link twice. What that link should open, menu and bookings first, is set out on our page on link in bio for restaurants.
Agency:
Paid social for DTC brands doing $1–10M
Case studies + pricing in one place ⤵
Why it works: the revenue band filters out everyone the agency doesn't want to talk to, and "pricing" in the nudge tells the right prospect the tap won't waste their time. Two lines, under 80 characters, nothing missing.
Put the search term in the name field; let the category label say what you are
On a business profile the bio is one of four fields, and the other three each take a job off its hands.
The name field is where the search term goes. Instagram says search matches what people type against "usernames, bios, captions, hashtags and places", and that "using an Instagram handle or profile name that's related to the content of your posts is your best bet for showing up in relevant searches." "Rosa's" tells search nothing; "Rosa's · Wedding Florist NYC" matches what people type. Keep the brand, add the search term.
The category label shows "Coffee shop" or "Marketing agency" on your profile (Meta puts it directly below the profile picture), so the bio never has to say what kind of business you are. That's 15–20 characters handed back to you, and the address, phone number and email go in the Contact button the same way.
The link converts. The bio can only convince, so the tap has to land somewhere built for it — not your homepage, where the visitor starts over. Send them to this week's offer, the booking form, the menu, the new product.
One page that holds everything beats five raw links. Instagram allows up to 5, and Meta's help page doesn't say how the profile lays them out. A link in bio page gives every destination a label and an image, and tells you which one people came for. Every platform counts its link slots differently, which the rules table sets out.
InBio does exactly that. The advice holds whichever tool you pick, and the comparison says who else does it well.
Five mistakes that cost taps
1. The fancy-font bio. Those 𝓼𝓽𝔂𝓵𝓮𝓭 letters are Unicode symbols, not text: screen readers spell them out character by character, and a search for the plain word may never match the styled one. Pretty to you, invisible to the people looking for you.
2. Brand name in the name field, nothing else. You already own your username. The name field is for what customers type: "wedding florist," "personal trainer," "vegan bakery."
3. Hashtags as decoration. Bio hashtags are tappable, and each tap sends people away from your profile into a public feed of your competitors. Use one only if you run a branded hashtag customers actually post to.
4. Saying what the category label already says. "☕ Coffee shop" as your first line, under a label reading Coffee Shop, is 14 characters of nothing.
5. No next step. A bio that describes but never directs leaves the visitor to guess. The nudge line costs about 20 characters and is the whole reason the other 130 exist.
How to adapt one and post it
Take the example nearest your business and rewrite it line by line:
- Line one: swap the noun and the customer. "Same-day plumbing, no call-out fee" becomes "Mobile dog grooming, we come to you." Keep the shape: what you do, then the one thing that removes a doubt.
- Line two: replace the proof with yours. A rating and a count, an award and a year, or a line only you would write. No numbers yet? "Two sisters, one oven, no shortcuts" is proof of a kind.
- Line three: name the tap. Not "link below" but what's behind it: "Book a time," "Tonight's specials," "Free rate calculator."
- Add the practical line only if taps depend on it. Hours for a walk-in shop, yes. Your founding story, no.
- Count it. Paste the lines into a character counter, count each emoji as 2, and stay under 150 with room to edit later.
Then open Edit profile, paste the bio, put your search term in the name field, and point the link at a page that holds everything the bio promises (adding it takes thirty seconds).
The same four lines work on TikTok in a shorter space, and the TikTok bio formula shows how. More formulas, platform by platform, in Bio & profile ideas.
