How to Add Multiple Locations on an Instagram Post

October 31, 2025

Tagging your location on an Instagram post seems simple, but what do you do when your content spans multiple spots? Whether you're sharing a road trip recap, a multi-stop city tour, or a photoshoot that moved between several beautiful backdrops, you've probably run into Instagram's one location limit. This guide breaks down the simple and creative workarounds you can use to effectively share all the locations that made your post special.

Why Geographic Location Matters on Instagram

Before jumping into the "how," it's helpful to understand why location tagging is such a powerful tool in the first place. It isn't just a label, it's a strategic feature that can significantly boost your content's performance and help you build a more engaged community.

1. Skyrockets Your Discoverability

When you tag a location on a post, Reel, or Story, your content is added to that location's specific page on Instagram. Users who are physically nearby or just browsing that location's feed can discover your content, even if they don't follow you. Imagine someone planning a trip to New York City. They might search the "SoHo, Manhattan" location page for inspiration. If you've tagged your post there, you've just put your content directly in front of a highly relevant audience.

2. Connects You with the Local Community

Tagging local businesses, parks, cafes, and landmarks helps you tap into a local audience. This is vital for small businesses trying to attract foot traffic, photographers looking for local clients, or influencers wanting to establish themselves as a go-to resource for a particular area. It shows you're a part of the community, not just a visitor passing through.

3. Builds Trust and Authenticity

Adding a location gives your content context and makes it more tangible. For brands, it can highlight physical stores or events. For travel creators, it provides practical, verifiable information that helps their followers plan their own trips. This layer of transparency builds trust and makes your content feel more authentic and reliable.

4. Enhances Your Storytelling

A location tag does more than just state where you are, it grounds your narrative. A photo of a beautiful plate of pasta is nice, but a photo tagged at a specific trattoria in Rome tells a much richer story. It allows your audience to imagine themselves there, creating a stronger emotional connection to your content.

The Official Way: Adding a Single Location to Your Post

First, let's cover the official method. Instagram allows you to add one geotag to each feed post, reel, or story. This is your primary location, and it's the one that will make your content appear on that location's map and discovery page.

Here's the standard process:

For a Feed Post or Reel:
1. Create your post as usual by uploading your photo(s) or video.
2. Proceed to the final screen before sharing, where you write your caption.
3. Tap on "Add Location."
4. Instagram will suggest nearby locations, or you can use the search bar to find a specific one.
5. Select your desired location, and it will appear above your content once published.
For an Instagram Story:
1. Take or upload your photo or video to your Story.
2. Tap the sticker icon (the smiley face in a square) at the top of the screen.
3. Select the "Location" sticker.
4. Search for and choose your location. You can then drag, resize, and position the sticker anywhere on your screen.

This method is straightforward, but it presents a problem when your story involves more than one place. So, how do you handle that?

Tackling the One-Location Limit: Smart Workarounds for Tagging Multiple Spots

Since Instagram doesn't have an official feature for multiple geotags, creators have developed several smart, effective workarounds. These methods don't technically put your post on multiple location pages, but they achieve the goal of informing your audience and enhancing your storytelling.

Strategy 1: The 'Primary Geotag + Caption' Method

This is the most common and effective strategy. It combines the discoverability of a single geotag with the descriptive power of a detailed caption.

Step 1: Choose Your Main Location

First, pick the most important location to use as your official geotag. This should be the place that is most visually prominent, relevant to your story, or has the highest potential for discovery. Ask yourself:

Which location is in the cover photo?
Which spot is most popular or likely to be searched?
If you're a business, which location do you want to drive traffic to?

For example, if you're posting about a day trip from Los Angeles to Malibu, you might choose to tag a specific, popular spot like "El Matador State Beach" as your primary location because it's visually stunning and frequently searched by travelers.

Step 2: List Other Locations Beautifully in Your Caption

Now, use your caption to list the other locations. Don't just throw them in as an afterthought. Format them so they are easy to read and visually appealing. Using emojis can help a great deal.

Example for a travel creator:

Primary Geotag: El Matador State Beach

Caption opener:
An incredible Southern California day trip. Feeling the sun on our skin and the salt in the air. ☀️ So glad we could finally make this happen!

Our stops for the day:
📍 Stop 1: Malibu Farm Restaurant & Bar
📍 Stop 2: El Matador State Beach Caves
📍 Stop 3: Point Dume Nature Preserve

Step 3: Tag Business or Landmark Accounts

Take it a step further by tagging the official Instagram accounts of the businesses or landmarks you mention. Use the "@" mention feature in your caption or tag them directly in the photo. This sends a notification to those accounts, and they might even re-share your post to their own Stories, giving you an organic boost in visibility.

Following the same example, you'd tag @malibufarm in your caption or directly on the photo from the restaurant.

Strategy 2: The Multi-Location Carousel Post

A carousel post is the perfect format for telling a story with a beginning, middle, and end. You can dedicate each slide to a different location, creating a mini-tour or itinerary for your followers.

How It Works:

This visual method allows you to give each spot its own moment to shine.

Set Your Primary Geotag: As before, choose one main location for the entire carousel. This could be the starting point of your trip or the most iconic spot.
Use the First Slide as Your Cover: The first image or video should be your strongest. This is what will draw people in from the feed.
Add Text Overlays to Each Slide: On each subsequent slide, use Instagram's text editor or an external design app to add a text overlay that names the location. Treat each slide like a chapter in your story.
Guide Them in the Caption: Your caption should introduce the entire journey and encourage people to swipe through to see all the stops.

Example for a coffee shop tour:

Primary Geotag: East Village, Manhattan

First Slide (Cover): A cool shot of you holding a coffee cup.
Text Overlay: My Top 3 Coffee Shops in the East Village

Second Slide: A photo inside the first coffee shop.
Text Overlay: 1. Abraco Espresso

Third Slide: A photo outside the second coffee shop.
Text Overlay: 2. Ninth Street Espresso

Fourth Slide: You at a table in the final coffee shop.
Text Overlay: 3. Cafe Grumpy

Caption:
Swipe through for my favorite spots to grab an oat milk latte in the East Village! ☕️ Let me know your go-to in the comments below!

Strategy 3: Using a Mix of Stickers and Text in Stories

Instagram Stories offer more flexibility for creative tagging. While you're still limited to one official Location sticker, you can mimic the effect with clever use of the text tool.

How to do it:

Add your base photo or video to your story.
Use the official Location Sticker for your primary, most important location.
Next, open the Text Tool (the "Aa" icon). Type out the name of your second location.
You can style this text to look similar to a location tag - try changing the background color or font to make it stand out.
Repeat the process for any additional locations, arranging them creatively on your screen for an engaging final look.

This Story technique is an excellent choice for real-time updates as you move from one place to another, such as when documenting an event, a shopping trip, or a walk through multiple neighborhoods.

Final Thoughts

While Instagram limits us to a single official geotag, you can absolutely communicate a multi-stop journey effectively. By choosing a primary location for discoverability and leveraging captions, carousel posts, and Story features, you provide value to your audience and tell a more complete, engaging story.

A strong social media presence is built on a solid content plan, especially when creating more complex posts like these multi-location guides. To keep everything organized, we built our visual calendar in Postbase to make mapping out content for Instagram, TikTok, and other platforms feel intuitive. Getting a clear view of your schedule helps you see the gaps, plan campaigns with confidence, and make sure that every part of your story gets told - without drowning in spreadsheets along the way.

Spencer Lanoue

Spencer's spent a decade building products at companies like Buffer, UserTesting, and Bump Health. He's spent years in the weeds of social media management—scheduling posts, analyzing performance, coordinating teams. At Postbase, he's building tools to automate the busywork so you can focus on creating great content.

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